Increasing numbers of people must now decide how to structure wills and bequeath money and possessions across generations. This volume offers an empirical study of 800 English wills, and uses the material to reflect upon what it tells us of contemporary family and kin relationships.

Who leaves what to whom? English law allows testators considerable freedom to decide on how to dispose of property through their wills. But what choices do people actually make about who the beneficiaries of their property will be, and what to give to whom? Does everything normally go to close family? Which family members? Are women and men treated equally? Do different types of testator make different types of wills? This book presents a detailed analysis of patterns of formal bequeathing, based on a study of probated wills over the last forty years. It also provides an overview of the significance of wills as a means of transmitting property.

the work undoubtedly strengthens a weak area of socio-legal research / Elizabeth Kingdom, University of Liverpool / Social and Legal Studies, Vol 8/1