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Ethicists, policy makers, and care providers are increasingly concerned with helping the dying elderly to experience a \"good death.\" A \"good death\" is characterized by physical comfort, social support, acceptance, and appropriate medical care, and it should minimize psychological distress for the dying and their families. I identify the predictors of death quality and evaluate how the quality of an older adult's death affects the surviving spouse's psychological adjustment six months after the loss. Analyses use Changing Lives of Older Couples (CLOC) data, a prospective study of married persons ages 65 and older. Positive spousal relationships during the final days increase survivors' yearning yet reduce their anger. Having a spouse die a painful death is associated with elevated anxiety, yearning, and intrusive thoughts. The perception of physician negligence is associated with elevated anger. These findings suggest that improved end-of-life care and pain management will benefit both the dying and their bereaved spouses.

This study examines the correlation between resource protection and the intrahousehold distribution of bargaining power. Using data from the Health and Retirement Study, the analysis quantifies potential changes in the surviving individual's living standard to evaluate the adequacy of resource protection. Individuals who generate a larger share of family income, are more financially knowledgeable, or have the \"final say\" in family decisions leverage their bargaining power to secure higher protection of their hypothetical widowhood living standard. Consequently, spouses with more bargaining power are less likely to experience declines of their living standard in the event of their spouse passing away and are more likely to be overprotected.

Intestacy law is an important area of property and succession law because some people do not make valid wills. The values and expectations of a society will generally influence the framing of intestacy rules. The intestacy schemes presently operating in Australia, England and Singapore are no exception. This article describes how the law in each of these jurisdictions has changed since the 19th century. It compares and contrasts the major elements of the intestacy schemes in Australia, England and Singapore. It is argued that in Australia and England an important priority is the protection of the economic well-being of the surviving spouse (broadly defined). In recent decades, law reformers in both jurisdictions have articulated an emerging priority for intestacy law: the enhancement of the economic well-being of the aged surviving spouse. Singapore's statutory intestacy regime has remained stable since its implementation in 1967. It evidences the concern that not only the spouse, but also that in certain circumstances, lineal descendants and ascendants ought to inherit from the intestate. Therefore, the concept of immediate family not only includes the spouse, but the issue and parents of the intestate.

This paper reports on the findings from a large-scale study of public attitudes to inheritance law, particularly the rules on intestacy. It argues that far from the assumption that the 'family' is in terminal decline, people in England and Wales still view their most important relationships, at least for the purposes of inheritance law, as centred on a narrow, nuclear family model. However, there is also widespread acceptance of re-partnering and cohabitation, producing generally high levels of support for including cohabitants in the intestacy rules and for ensuring that children from former relationships are protected. We argue that these views are underpinned by a continuing sense of responsibility to the members of one's nuclear family, arising from notions of sharing and commitment, dependency and support, and a sense of lineage.

In recent years, legislative changes have been occurring worldwide to protect equality between spouses. This article specifically takes into account the Brazilian Civil Code of 2002 which, following a trend established by the jurisprudence, admitted the surviving spouse as a legitimate heir, while guaranteeing his/her right to property and the division of inheritance within the conventional separation of property regime. This article seeks to analyze the evolution of the protection of a surviving spouse’s assets according to a cultural redefinition of the jurisprudence by the Superior Court of Justice.  Nos últimos anos, verificou-se no cenário mundial uma onda crescente de alterações legislativas voltadas a proteger a igualdade e a situação patrimonial dos cônjuges. Neste cenário e considerada a mudança do papel das mulheres na sociedade, o Código Civil Brasileiro de 2002 elevou o cônjuge sobrevivente à condição de herdeiro necessário, além de lhe ter assegurado prerrogativas como o direito real de habitação e a particiação na sucessão no regime de separação convencional de bens. Este artigo terá como objetivo analisar a evolução da proteção patrimonial dos cônjuges sobreviventes a partir de uma ressignificação cultural da jurisprudência do Superior Tribunal de Justiça do Brasil.

Prior to the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, customary laws often deprived women in customary marriages of patrimonial benefits upon divorce and spousal death. Such consequences usually affected the most vulnerable parties, that is, women and children. Therefore, a need arose for the enactment of legislation, aimed at alleviating such hardships, encountered by women in customary marriages. The Recognition of Customary Marriages Act 120 of 1998 endeavoured, amongst other things, to alleviate the discriminatory and unequal treatment suffered by parties to customary marriages. Women had grounds for celebration when the Recognition of Customary Marriages Act was finally enacted. However as will be shown in this profile, little did they know of the hardship they would still encounter in customary marriages. In claiming patrimonial benefits, the law requires that the validity of a marriage be proved. This onus of proof has mostly affected women and compromises their right to equality in marriage and requires reform.

This paper is about the transition of ownership of shares in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) within the family (i.e. from parents to children). In spite of the fact that such successions are rather prevalent among SMEs, there are no explanations in the literature as to why transitions are preferred to outright sale. In this paper we assume that the decisive factor in the choice of succession mode is the desire for efficiency expressed as the highest possible firm value. A firm should stay in the family if this is the most profitable transition alternative. One reason for intergenerational succession to be the most profitable alternative is knowledge idiosyncrasy. However, the benefits of knowledge idiosyncrasy cannot be reaped without an institutional framework that constrains human activities in a proper way. A part of an institutional framework are the laws that act as constraints in successions. Do these laws foster or prevent efficient transition of family firms? This question is addressed in a study of the Swedish inheritance and inheritance tax laws in the light of the policy recommendations on succession made by the European Commission.