Choose their heirs Choose their heirs: Family recomposition and heritage successions in France and Quebec ; Choisir ses héritiers Choisir ses héritiers: Recompositions familiales et successions patrimoniales en France et au Québec

Abstract

This article discusses from the point of view of the ethnology of parenthood the legal rules and social practices of the transfer of property in reconstituted French and Quebec families. It examines the possibilities for legal recognition of elective and pluralistic ties born in reconstituted families, and confronts them with the practices of succession within French and Quebec families, through the results of a survey carried out in France in the early 2000s among reconstituted families, and a research carried out in Montreal in 2006 in several notarial studies. Despite the freedom of will prevailing in Quebec, which is in line with the more stringent nature of French legislation, practices suggest a comparable use of the transfer of goods as a means of continuation of the person's family. However, transmission is usually limited to the second spouse and to biological and legal descendants. Step-children and 'selected' relationships arising from family recompositions are rarely represented, and where this is the case, it is the educational dimension of the relationship and the concern for equality between "siblings" that underpins their recognition through succession. The more open Quebec legislation makes it easier for these chosen relationships to be embodied in the transfer of goods. ; International audience The Choice of the Heirs. Property Succession and Stepfamilies in France and Quebec An ethnological analysis of legal norms and social practices associated with property succession in stepfamilies in France and Quebec was conducted in order to examine potential recognition of elected and plural kin in these configurations. The results presented here are based on two studies, one concerned with French stepfamilies (2000) and the other one carried out with lawyers in Montréal at the end of 2006. In Quebec, where the law is less restricting than in France, a will can entitle people with the right to freely dispose of their property. Despite legal differences, social practices draw comparable meanings of ...