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Making the ‘principal heir’ a gender neutral concept and giving ‘half blood’ relatives the same rights as ‘whole blood’ relatives are among the changes that could be made to Jersey’s bafflingly outdated law around wills and successions.
While these antiquated rules surrounding inheritance sound more like something from the Middle Age – or even Game of Thrones – it is an unavoidable fact that the Island's laws still dictate that the preferred inheritor is the eldest male son.
The Legislation Advisory Panel, which provides advice to the Chief Minister on laws which do not fall under the responsibility of a specific minister, is now running a consultation on proposed changes to the Wills and Successions (Jersey) Law 1993.
These potential changes aim to modernise the law, bringing it up to speed with current attitudes around gender equality and how families work today.
Members of the general public and islanders with more specialised knowledge, such as lawyers, are encouraged to respond to the consultation before 6 September.
So, what changes are set to be made? Express explains...
This is not simply about having a good time while living in the home, but something far more serious: the right to live in it.
Currently, if an islander's spouse or civil partner dies and does not leave the home to them in their will, they are entitled only to claim one third of all the immovable property (land or buildings on land) of the deceased.
For example, if the deceased owned a family home and several fields for farming, the surviving spouse or civil partner could claim one third of this property but may not be entitled to actually live in the family home.
Pictured: Spouses and civil partners don't have the right to life enjoyment of a family home if their other half does not leave it to them in their will.
While this is rare, and there is a court procedure for determining which part of the 'immovable property' the surviving spouse can have, the procedure is lengthy, complex, and often leads to disputes.
The Panel is therefore proposing that a spouse or civil partner should have the legal right to life enjoyment of the family home if their spouse or civil partner dies and does not leave it to them in their will.
The 'right to life enjoyment' does not mean they own the property, but may 'enjoy its use and fruits' – it is still the person named in the will who owns it, but the spouse or civil partner has the right to enjoy it during their lifetime.
"The Panel believes that this change will reflect the circumstances of the majority of spouses and civil partners in Jersey who are likely to own just one property that cannot be divided to enable a surviving spouse to enjoy one third of it," the report accompanying the consultation said.
It added: "This change may reduce the scope for conflict to arise between the surviving spouse and other members of the family who inherit ownership of the deceased's immoveable property, including the family home."
A parent dies and leaves two children – an older daughter and a younger son. Which child inherits the rights for certain legal procedures?
In the UK, and in most modern countries, it is the oldest daughter. In Jersey? It's the younger son.
What about if a parent has a son (who has children) and a daughter, and the son has already passed away when the parent dies? Who is the heir, then?
In the UK, the daughter steps up to claim it. In Jersey? It's the son's children who can "step into his shoes and be the principal heir in preference to the daughter", the report states.
Even the British Royal Family's line of succession is more modern, with the laws updated in 2011 to ensure that the Crown passes to the oldest child, whether it is a girl or boy.
Pictured: Even the Royal Family's line of succession is more modern...
Only several decades behind the curve, the island is now seeking to correct centuries of sex discrimination and change the concept of 'principal heir' so that it will be the eldest heir, regardless of gender.
"The privileges of the principal heir have been eroded substantially over time. However, the concept still has some significance in practice," the Panel said, explaining their decision not to abolish the concept entirely – but rather to imbue it with a modern hue, and a helping of gender equality.
It added: "This will avoid unintentionally changing areas of the law without giving them due consideration, but at the same time it will remove an obvious element of inequality between male and female heirs."
In Jersey, if someone dies without a will and without a surviving civil partner, spouse or child, then the relatives (siblings, cousins, uncles, aunts) of the 'whole blood' and 'half blood' have different rights when it comes to succession.
As bizarre as it sounds, a 'whole blood' relative is entitled to a whole share of the property while a 'half blood' relative is entitled to a half share (half of what the relative of the whole blood is entitled to).
For example, if someone dies without a will and is only survived by a 'whole blood' sibling and a half-sibling, both are entitled to inherit the house – however, the half-sibling will take one third where the other sibling takes two thirds.
The proposed change seeks either to restore a pre-1993 Law position to embed this law even further by applying it to immovable (land and buildings) and movable (personal) property or to abolish the rule altogether so that both siblings would inherit the same proportion of a person's estate, whether 'whole' of 'half'.
The Panel said: "It could be argued that the concepts of whole and half blood no longer reflect modern family relationships and should be abolished altogether.
"Brothers and sisters of the deceased would inherit immovable and movable property in equal shares regardless of whether they are relatives of the whole or half blood."
Interestingly, in Guernsey, which has similar Norman customary law roots for its law of succession, the equivalent rule of whole and half blood differences was abolished in 2011.
Islanders are invited to give feedback on specific questions set out in the consultation as well as any other feedback on the proposed changes.
This can be given by completing this survey or answering the questions in this document and sending responses to policyengagement@gov.je.
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