Inheritance disputes between full or half siblings: Towards an equity correction in intestate inheritance law?

Belgian intestate inheritance law aims for mathematical equality between all children of the deceased. However, an equal division is not always perceived as equitable, leading to various inheritance conflicts. Consider, for example, two children who receive an equal share of the inheritance, while one child was the only one to take care of the parent for many years, protecting the value of the inheritance from the costs of at-home care. The proposed research first seeks to uncover the different types of inheritance disputes, and to examine how case law currently deals with them. It then proposes to draw inspiration from the law of obligations and contract law, as well as from foreign legal systems (France, the Netherlands and England). In this way, it will be possible to finally explore the role an equity correction mechanism could play in Belgian inheritance law.

Keywords:INHERITANCE LAW, EQUITY, FAMILY LAW

Disciplines:Civil law, Comparative law, Family law