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Law of Succession (Spr) (M3020)

15 credits, Level 6

Spring teaching

This module is concerned with the devolution of assets on death, often representing the culmination of a person’s accumulation of good in a lifetime of work and saving.

The module considers both the law of intestacy (where property devolves by rules of law because there is no will) and the law of wills. It will:

• explore the modes of transferring inherited wealth and property on death in a social context
• be particularly interested in the idea of freedom of testation (which is particularly strong in this jurisdiction) and in the social context in which that principle operates
• consider the consequences that freedom of testation may have for poverty and the impact that that may have on the State’s obligation to alleviate poverty
• look at the adequacy of current legislation to provide for the meeting of support obligations to family and dependants in this light.

The module will cover not only wills and intestacy, but also probate and the administration of estates (although in this regard the outline ideas rather than the technical details will be relevant to our study).

Contact hours and workload

This module is approximately 150 hours of work. This breaks down into about 22 hours of contact time and about 128 hours of independent study. The University may make minor variations to the contact hours for operational reasons, including timetabling requirements.

We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We’re planning to run these modules in the academic year 2025/26. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum.

We’ll make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.