Inheritance Law and Family Change

David C. Thorns

This paper looks at the law of succession and its appropriateness in the context of changing family relations. The present law is shaped by Acts that limit the freedom of the testator, and that are based on the traditional nuclear family, with the father as breadwinner and mother as unpaid housekeeper.

However, family structures now commonly include single-person households, sole-parent and blended families, same-sex partnerships, and households of unrelated people. Debate on this issue is occurring in the context of a changing model of welfare ? from “collective provision” to a more “market”-based model.

Specific issues relating to social policy on property transmission include the need for the law of succession to reflect the increasing complexity of family relations, whether there should be greater testamentary freedom, the need for policy that is free of  “patriarchal” bias and recognises the differing views on individual ownership among Māori and Pākehā, and whether accumulated assets should be vulnerable to asset testing and other forms of equity release.

The paper concludes that the law of succession does need changing to recognise the present social environment in which relationships have become more complex and less stable.