Inheriting as People Think It Should Be

What obligations to each other do people have or think they have? That question comes up in relation tofamily and marriage relationships, to law, and to moral reasoning. This novel and highly readable booktakes it up in relation to inheritances: to what people think they should leave or be left, who should receivewhat, when, how, and why.Making the book novel is its range. Here are views about more than money. Covered are also houses, landand, an often neglected but emotion-laden area, the personal and often indivisible things that mean one isremembered as an individual. Making it novel also is its emphasis throughout on meanings and on whatpeople see as matters of choice or flexibility. Even in countries where the legal codes specify who shouldreceive what after death (many European and most Islamic codes allow far less choice than British-basedlaw does), people still have room for decisions about what they give away to various heirs or spend beforedeath.What makes the book highly readable? One reason is its timeliness. Currently lively, for example, are debates over parents balancing their own needsand wishes against those of their children ("spending the kids' inheritance", in one description). Another is the book's style. The writing isstraightforward. Theory is not neglected but there is an absence of jargon. The material is also mostly based on narratives: on people's owndescriptions of arrangements that "worked well" or "did not work well" and on why they thought so. That base makes the book far from dry and farfrom being an account only of negative feelings, objections, challenges, and family rifts. It also makes it more relevant at times of indecision ormisunderstanding. In short, a book for many readers, both within the social sciences and beyond it.