Should a Grandchild Rather Than a Child be First in Line as the Primary Heir?

Kristine S. Knaplund (Associate Professor of Law, Pepperdine University School of Law) has recently published her article entitled Grandparents Raising Grandchildren and the Implications for Inheritance, 48 Ariz. L. Rev. 1 (2006).

Here is the conclusion of her article:

As thousands of grandchildren continue to live with their grandparents, the effects of these living arrangements on inheritance must be examined. Current intestacy laws in all states provide that the grandchild does not inherit if her parent is alive. Doctrines applied in other inheritance contexts, such as equitable adoption and pretermitted heir, do not allow the grandchild to inherit in most instances. Proposals to modify existing law, such as by adopting a family maintenance system or by redefining who is one’s “child,” threaten to either swamp the probate system with litigation or to allow a vast array of new beneficiaries, far more than most decedents probably intend. Instead, legislation should be enacted that will benefit these grandchildren and society as a whole by creating bright-line, easily interpreted rules. Statutes construing all bequests to a minor to be made under the UTMA or in trust, plus efforts to make the execution of wills much simpler and less intimidating, will go far in solving the problem a grandchild in our common scenario has with inheritance.