Talk:Inheritance

Systematic bias
As is usually the case here on the English 'pedia, more information is needed on this topic with respect to societies outside of the Euro-feudalistic and Anglo-American legal traditions. Ellsworth 00:52, 13 Feb 2005 (UTC) There is also an extreme American bias under "taxation". The states are, without defintion, assumed to be different American states. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.177.198.98 (talk) 18:52, 24 May 2009 (UTC)

This article is an extreme example of the tendency of most Americans to assume that the only country in the world that matters is the United States. Sam1930 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 10:52, 19 February 2010 (UTC).

Because it is. 12:48, 23 May 2014 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.188.175.108 (talk)

Yes, the article makes statements such as inheritance referring only to people dying without a testament which are true of legal vocabulary in certain US jurisdictions, but not others, and not at all true of normal English vocabulary. This sin't a legal disctionary where only specialized (and in this case mistaken) definitions are used. 82.224.103.123 (talk) 21:38, 9 January 2011 (UTC)

Inheritance can also be of, kingships intellectual property and intangible assets. It is a very wide subject as compared to present status of article. Also, will be nice if section on Inheritance laws in India governed mostly by Hindu Personal Laws like Hindu Succession Act, Transfer of Property Act and Muslim Personal laws, etc. can also be included along with their history.--Girish.shukla (talk) 17:02, 13 May 2011 (UTC)

How much?
I am wondering if anyone knows how much a person can inherit before they have to pay taxes? - Inheritance tax thresholds vary from country to country. If this article were titled 'Inheritance in the USA (and perceived eduation iniquities', then the US tax levels could be quoted. Shipsview (talk) 11:02, 30 January 2010 (UTC)

Who inherits?
This article is missing basic facts. Who gets to inherit? Spouse? Children? How does making a will affect things? SGJ 23:24, 11 May 2006 (UTC) yes

Another interesting question is that if inherited wealth is helping or damaging the society as whole. There are many arguments both ways. I cannot even tell if financial independence which followed death of my parents was good for me. Should we stand only on our own merit? Or should we inherit fortunes and social position of our parents? BR. Pekka Lehtikoski — Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.65.89.148 (talk) 21:50, 29 January 2014 (UTC)

Debt
Can someone who knows more about this topic add info about the passing on of debt? Like, what happens if you have some deadbeat parent who you don't even speak to that racks up a huge credit debt and then croaks? Can you refuse to accept this "inheritance"? Obviously this varies from country to country and over history, but its something I would like to know more about. Seyon 00:45, 25 June 2006 (UTC)
 * I can't speak for all cultures, but generally speaking, you shouldn't expect a negative inheritance. When a person dies, their assets are used to pay off any debts the individual had (whoever's administering the estate would make the decisions about which assets to sell to accomplish this). Anything left over then goes to the heir(s). If their aren't enough assets to cover the debts of the estate, the heirs simply get nothing. The debts become uncollectable to the collectors. --Q Canuck 01:21, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Unreferenced template
As far as I can see, this article does not cite any sources for the information. If this situation does not improve, I intend to propose the article for deletion. --Gerry Ashton 02:20, 4 January 2007 (UTC)


 * There's no point in deleting such an obviously necessary article. If you care to take a look around you'll see much of Wikipedia is unreferenced. Just improve the article or be happy with the tags and assessment. Richard001 02:28, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Business inheritance?
In terms of business, does ineritance also play a role in the ownership of a company, such as Marathon Oil and Ewing Oil? Angie Y. 21:02, 20 February 2007 (UTC)

The facts about Islamic law here is inaccurate.
Hi everyone,

The writer of this topic mentioned that "in principle, males inherit twice as females".

This is a logical fallacy let alone being academically inaccurate. Without going into academic complications about the Inheritance System in Islam, I have to tell you that only in 4 cases does a female ( this is an illogical overgenerilization as there are differences in Islam's Inheritance laws between sisters, wives, mothers, aunts, etc.) inherit half her male counterpart.That's not because of her being a female but because of such reasons as her relation to the dead person and some other reasons that needs another article.

On the other hand, there are more than 30(thirty) cases where a female inherits more than a male, sometimes twice as a male, and sometimes a male doesn't inherit because of the existence of a female.

This is just a fact about the issue to correct an inacademically-correct misconception. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Elsaffani (talk • contribs) 19:27, 14 October 2007 (UTC)
 * So include that, along with the Qur'anic or Hadithic basis. -LlywelynII (talk) 09:32, 24 July 2009 (UTC)

Inheritance and Education Section
The Inheritance and Education section of this article is full of personal opinions and is woefully undersourced. It needs help. 128.255.203.53 (talk) 16:49, 31 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Actually it is quite heavily sourced. The problem is that it seems to be in the wrong article.  That said, it is not obvious where it should go, so best leave it here until someone makes a positive proposal. --John Maynard Friedman (talk) 00:33, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
 * How about removal? The article should be about inheritance definitions, practices and history. The mass of it at the moment is a (US-based) ideological position paper on the injustice of inherited wealth and need for an estate tax. Maybe shunt it into a "Inheritance/purported sociological implications" subpage? -LlywelynII (talk) 09:46, 24 July 2009 (UTC)

Some basics missing
This article is missing a lot of basics and could probably loose a couple of the "political" paragraphs at the bottom instead. As already stated by others above some facts on what is inherited by whom and how would be needed. Also information on documents and processes would be informative. (will/no will/ filed with what authority/ paperwork needed etc. etc.)71.236.26.74 (talk) 15:29, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

I was terribly disappointed in the article myself, expecting lengthy dissertations of agnatic gavelkind or primogenitor or what else, but instead find subtle leftist factoid-propoganda. You'd think inheritance was invented to keep dem poor folks down. The whole thing needs to be hacked down and re-written by a legal scholar. --2602:306:C45E:9940:28AA:8C0C:2347:9379 (talk) 02:34, 1 September 2012 (UTC)

Wildly Schizophrenic Article
The sections on inheritance and education, equality, etc. really should go in separate articles--they are too far removed from the core idea of inheritance. Such topics don't necessarily relate to inheritance (i.e. passing down wealth) itself, but merely family wealth level.--达伟 (talk) 22:59, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

What is the opposite of ‘heir’?
(Re: ‘Terminology’) What do you call the decedent when they are still alive? A Google search for “opposite of heir” only gives “heiress,” which is hardly an opposite. Felicity4711 (talk) 12:54, 10 January 2013 (UTC)
 * The only term that comes to mind is "testator", but that is only someone who has made a will. Count Truthstein (talk) 06:49, 29 October 2013 (UTC)
 * "Ancestor" is another possibility, although it is ambiguous, obviously. Count Truthstein (talk) 03:42, 11 November 2013 (UTC)
 * "predecessor" or "legator"? (don&#39;t talk secrets) (talk) 10:51, 31 December 2014 (UTC)

Heir-general
Heir-general redirects to this page. The page mentions heir-general zero (0) times. Bad.Septimus.stevens (talk) 03:42, 9 August 2013 (UTC)

Napoleonic law and inheritance
I'm not sure whether this comes under Inheritance, historical inheritance, or landscape. The Napoleonic code is very strict about children inheriting equal parts of their parents' inheritance: to this day in France, it is very difficult for a will to favour one child over another. Where this code has had effect- e.g. in much of France and some other parts of Europe, the effect on the landscape has been enormous, with fields divided and subdivided into tiny plots. This contrasts with the large estates of, e.g., most of the UK. I think this might be worth a mention in one or the other of these pages. Gravuritas (talk) 13:26, 20 August 2013 (UTC)

Where can information about the development of inheritance law in specific jurisdictions be placed?
There seems to be missing a discussion of the history of inheritance in in English law. The difference between inheritance of real property and personal property, local customs of inheritance (gavelkind), the rules of who the heir is (formerly, a father could not be heir to his son) as well as what the current situation is need to be covered (what statutes are in force and so on). This article is very general and not accurate in some points (the concept of the "heir" does not play a part in modern English law). There is Historical inheritance systems which is a colossal, unreadable mess. Maybe we should have a new article. Count Truthstein (talk) 10:22, 14 October 2013 (UTC)

Last poet of the law
Neverthless survival is via births. (188.58.75.245 (talk) 07:18, 18 December 2013 (UTC)).

"Privilege"
Article is bloated with much talk of privilege and class inequality and its' supposed relation to inheritances. This issue belongs in a different article and should be removed/truncated. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Thelostsinner (talk • contribs) 19:03, 6 December 2016 (UTC)

Disinheritance
Should there be a separate article about Disinheritance? Or at least a subsection about it? With motivations, examples, etc.Zigzig20s (talk) 14:18, 19 June 2017 (UTC)

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