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Question: The law has accommodated for the succession rights of a posthumously born child, but overlooked the inheritance rights of a child who was conceived after the death of its father.
Undertake a comparative analysis of the law in the United Kingdom and other countries in regard to inheritance rights of posthumously conceived children.
(Module - Testate and intestate succession)
Answer: One of the main concerns of inheritance law is defining the relatedness of individuals. Unlike today previous worries were ones of paternity and illegitimacy, problems which are seldom thought of today. However for children born posthumously in the past the thoughts of illegitimacy and paternity were vital questions, as an illegitimate child was considered to be nullius filius , the ‘son of nobody’, and excluded from any inheritance. However although times have now moved away from these questions the responses to questions of paternity when dealing with children born through new reproductive technologies suggest a different approach - one of exclusion.
‘The beginning of the human gestational process after the death of one or both biological parents .’ This is what posthumous conception has become defined as, through modern day technology and the advancements in treatments s...(short extract)
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- Subject: Law
- Course: Property Law
- Level: Degree
- Year: 2nd/3rd
- Mark: 67%
- Words: 2468
- Date submitted: April 12, 2012
- Date written: February, 2011
- References: Yes
- Document type: Essay*
- Essay ID: 4069
