'Deadbeat Dads': Should Support and Inheritance Be Linked?

American inheritance law is base predominantly on status within the family—individuals inherit from relatives simply because they are linked by blood or adoption. Children do not have to be well-behaved to take from their parents under intestacy statutes and generally, unworthy heirs are not punished by forfeiture of their inheritance. In other words, American inheritance law is a status-based system rather than a behavior-based system. Most states do not require good behavior to inherit; nor, absent murder, do they prevent anyone from taking from an intestate relative. Should a parent who abandons a child forfeit his or her inheritance? Should we use the law of succession to achieve a goal other than the simple reallocation of a decedent's property at death? In other words, should we adopt a behavior-based model of succession rather than the status-based model which prevails in most states? This article explores those normative questions and evaluates the costs and benefits of shifting from a status-based model to a behavior-based model of inheritance.