Public Attitudes About Property Distribution at Death and Intestate Succession Laws in the United States |
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| Authors: | Mary Louis Fallows Rita J. Simon William Rau |
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| Affiliation: | Mary Louise Fellows, who is Associate Professor of Law, University of Illinois, and Affiliated Scholar, American Bar Foundation, is for academic year 1978–79 Visiting Associate Professor of Law, University of Michigan. B.B.A., 1970;J.D. University of Michigan, 1975.;Rita J. Simon is Director, Law and Society Program, University of Illinois, and Professor of Sociology, Law and Communications Research, University of Illinois. B.A. University of Wisconsin, 1952;Ph.D. University of Chicago, 1957.;William Rau is Research Assistant, Law and Society Program, University of Illinois. B.A. Northwestern University, 1965;Ph.D. candidate, University of Illinois. |
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| Abstract: | Intestate succession statutes should reflect the distributive preferences of intestate decedents. To date, these distributive preferences could only be inferred from distributive patterns found in wills. This telephone survey of 750 persons living in Alabama, California, Massachusetts, Ohio, and Texas supplements prior will studies and provides new insights concerning public attitudes about property distribution at death. The distributive preferences of the respondents revealed few significant differences that could be attributed to age, education, income, wealth, or occupational status. Two other important findings of this study suggest that a modern intestacy statute should provide that (1) the surviving spouse inherit the entire estate in preference to the decedent's issue or family of orientation and (2) issue who are in the same generation share equally in the estate. |
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