Dutch Abstract: In onze maatschappij zijn mannen en vrouwen juridisch gelijk of gelijkwaardig. In de feiten stellen we echter vast dat vrouwen het vaak veel moeilijker hebben om gezin en carrière te combineren. Zij nemen vaker dan mannen gas terug, in het belang van het gezin. Sommige vrouwen...

This article gives an analysis of the resolution, both as to the conflict of laws implications and the rules on a European inheritance certificate. We also discuss how this relates to the existing national certificates

In dit artikel vergelijk ik de Nederlandse erfrechtwet van 2003 met andere rechtsstelsels. Het artikel is in drie onderdelen opgevat. Intestaatserfrecht voor bloedverwanten, de langstlevende echtgenoot en dwingend erfrecht. Voor elk onderdeel becommentarieer ik de nieuwe Nederlandse regels en...

In this article we comment on the Belgian Cour de Cassation decision of 10 December 2010. The Supreme Court approves the legal and fiscal validity of a clause in marital contracts of community property whereby the entire community is awarded towards one spouse nominatim. This clause is used in...

In this Op Ed I argue that the trend of pushing common people into estate planning, forcing them to donate assets inter vivos at low rates as 3% in order to avoid the higher inheritance taxes of 27 % makes no sense. Better would be to abolish inheritance taxes between spouses and children up to...

This presentation is the backbone of a lecture I gave on March 25, 2011, in Brussels, at the Belgian Federal Parliament at a conference organized by the Christian Democratic Party on the Reform of Inheritance Law. It is based on research of the last ten years. In the presentation, five...

In this report, I argue that the protective rules for non common children of the parents of article 1465 Belgian Civil Code should not be applied to a child of the deceased that was adopted by the surviving spouses even if such adoption was not full but ordinary, limiting the legal consequences...

This book is the extended version of my Inaugural Lecture at the University of Tilburg in 2000. It offers a comparative legal analysis of the forced heirship entitlements creating a typology of such rights both for a surviving spouse and for blood relatives. It then criticizes the concept of...

The Belgian Conflict between Dutch speaking Flemish and Francophones has a long history that has come to a culmination point with the political and institutional crisis since June 2007. After a brief analysis of the conflict, this article focus is on the role of the media in such conflict. Media...

Dutch Abstract: Het principe van de globale erfovereenkomst;Het evenwicht bij een globale erfovereenkomst;Preliminaire fase van een globale erfovereenkomst: de rol van family dynamics;Impact van family dynamics op de correcte toepassing van de wettelijke formaliteiten ter bescherming van het...