Article: Natural Objects and Testamentary Freedom

Kevin Bennardo (University of North Carolina School of Law) recently published, Natural Objects and Testamentary Freedom, 2025. Provided below is an Abstract: 

This Article explores the tension between the incorporation of the “natural objects of the decedent’s bounty” into various standards in inheritance law and the claimed organizing principle of inheritance law–granting freedom to testators to direct the distribution of their estates.

In brief, the “natural objects of the decedent’s bounty” has been defined to mean the individuals to whom the court would expect a decedent to desire to leave their estate to (i.e., close family members), and inheritance law favors such “natural objects” in numerous ways to the detriment of other potential beneficiaries. Granting certain potential beneficiaries preferred status as the legally recognized “natural” beneficiaries means that all other beneficiaries are disfavored. Indeed, the law either expressly or impliedly labels any other disposition as “unnatural.” The very idea that the law prefers some beneficiaries to others flies squarely in the face of the foundational concept of freedom of testation, which proclaims that decedents should be free to control the distribution of their estates.

After exposing the tension between testamentary freedom of disposition and the integration of the natural objects of the decedent’s bounty into certain legal standards in inheritance law, the Article concludes by suggesting that one or the other must yield. The current approach–claiming that the law prioritizes testamentary freedom above all else while simultaneously orchestrating legal rules to frustrate testamentary freedom for the benefit of family maintenance–is misleading, confusing, and inconsistent in its application.