The Genuine Strip or Death? Long live The Husband! (De Legitieme Ontbloot of Dood? Leve De Echtgenoot!)

Abstract:     
This book is the extended version of my Inaugural Lecture at the University of Tilburg in 2000. It offers a comparative legal analysis of the forced heirship entitlements creating a typology of such rights both for a surviving spouse and for blood relatives. It then criticizes the concept of forced heirship claiming that a forced inheritance claim may only be justified if it is based on an acceptable ground such as obligation of maintenance or support or a contribution rendered to the estate, and to the extent the claim is in proportion with that end. The book claims that in modern marital property and inheritance law, the primary position is for the surviving spouse. It therefore argues for more imperative law in marital property law, entitling both spouses to an equal participation of sorts in the marital gains, and less imperative law in inheritance law, abolishing forced heirship rights and introducing proportionate claims to the estate.

Note: Downloadable document is in Dutch.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 107

Keywords: Comparative Law, Marital Property Law, Inheritance Law, Forced Heirship, Family Provision, Marital Contract

JEL Classification: K11, K12

Accepted Paper Series