Who Is The Heir Persuasive Essay

Who is the heir? This is an age-old question. Simply, an heir is the person who inherits a decedent’s property if the decedent left no will. (If the decedent left a will, those who inherit are typically called beneficiaries, not heirs.) Throughout history the answer to who is an heir has changed many times. Keep in mind that statute determines who the heir is. There is no “right” of inheritance. The law has long dealt with family relationships and procreation. Legislatures have passed laws to determine who inherits a decedent’s property based on what most people would want. Doctrines have evolved to cover all sorts of situations. Now, due to new medical technologies and changing mores, “times, they are a-changing.” New situations are …show more content…
Sometimes, there are children born from donated sperm or eggs. Is the baby an heir of the sperm donor? Babies are born to surrogate mothers into whose womb a fertilized egg has been implanted. Is the baby an heir of the surrogate mother? Is the baby an heir of the woman who produced the egg? Spouses have not always been entitled to inherit any of their deceased husband or wife’s property. In the United States today, all fifty states consider a surviving spouse an heir, entitled to a portion of the estate. Common law marriage is a legal concept that evolved to give support and inheritance rights to men and women who live together, holding themselves out as husband and wife, but never having been legally married. In Pennsylvania, doing this for six years gives you the status of a husband or wife at common law, if established prior to January 1, 2005. (There are also similar doctrines for adoption where a child is taken in by a family and held out as a son or daughter even though there is no legal adoption.) In addition, society is now looking to answer a new question: what’s a spouse? Laws are being shaped that may define spouses to include others than a couple consisting of a man and a woman, either legally married or in a common-law …show more content…
Dad’s second wife, Mrs. Gardiner, was born a man and had undergone sex reassignment surgery and then married Dad. Is she (or he) a wife? Entitled to inherit? Or does the son get everything? Dad could have done anything he wanted in a will. But like so many, he died without a will. His heirs are determined by the Kansas intestacy statute which gives half of his property to his surviving spouse. Kansas law prohibits same-sex marriages. Is this a same-sex marriage? Or does someone who undergoes sexual reassignment surgery have a new gender? What is