The Right of Inheritance of the Surplus Spouse in Partial Communion of Property: The Controversy in the 2002 Civil Code

Over the decades, the property regime in Brazilian law has been trying to adapt to the rapid socio-cultural transformation of the present. The speed with which values and customs have been redesigned has led judges and legislators to the tough task of maintaining coherence and fairness in the property relations that govern family unions. With the adaptations of existing institutes and the insertion of new ones, certain legal aspects of family property ended up out of sync. Among them, the scope of the right to inheritance of the surviving spouse upon the death of the deceased, under the partial community of property regime. After a decade of debate on the subject, a definitive answer has still not been reached. The jurists who deal with this issue are divided into three currents and this book aims to explore each of them, showing their justifications, as well as their fits and starts in the national legal system.