Article On Inheriting A Home Rather Than A House

Shelly Kreiczer-Levy (Senior Lecturer, College of Law And Business) recently published an article entitled, Can One Inherit A Home As Opposed To A House? A Normative And Comparative Perspective,  31 Ariz. J. Int’l & Comp. L. 735-759 (2014).  Provided below is an excerpt from the article:

This article asks whether one can inherit a home as opposed to a house–conceptually and legally–and offers a comparative analysis of the question. The sociological understanding of inheriting a home relies on the concept of home as a personal creation. To inherit a home means to live in the home of the decedent. If the heir decides to sell the property or rent it, then she did not inherit a home, but rather a house, a piece of property. This sociological argument by Janet Finch & Lynn Hayes emphasizes the living arrangement and explains that a successor inherits a home only if he or she chooses to live at the home of the previous owner. Because most people are reluctant to leave their own home and move into the home of the deceased, the sociological conclusion is that a home is so strongly connected with its creator that it dies with him or her and cannot be inherited.