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"I Just Want to Be Fair": Interpersonal Justice in Intergenerational Transfers of Non-Titled Property

1999; Wiley; Volume: 48; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2307/585079

1741-3729

Marlene S. Stum,

Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism

Just Want to be Fair: Interpersonal Justice in Intergenerational Transfers of Non-Titled Property* This study utilizes interpersonal justice concepts to examine issues of fairness in the intergenerational transfer of non-titled property. Individual family members who had experienced property transfers articulate previously unidentified distributive justice goals and decision rules, as well as procedural justice elements and guidelines. Future family inheritance research ideas using interpersonal justice concepts are suggested. Findings provide the basis for Ja mily focused educational resources addressing the meaning of fairness. My parents recently died within three months of each other. My sister, brother, and I have been going through the house and making decisions about who gets what. It's gone pretty smoothly. There is only one item in the whole house that all three of us really want-the Winnie-the-Pooh book that Mom and Dad read to each of us when we were young. It has always been kept in the corner bookshelf in the living room. For now it will stay there. My brother is moving into the house and my sister and I will be there to visit. I guess we're leaving it there because we can't figure out who should get it. How could we ever decide what would be fair? (45-year-old daughter) Family members have been transferring property and wealth to future generations for centuries. What's intriguing is how little attention inheritance has received as an intergenerational family issue. When issues of inheritance and family dynamics have been examined the focus has often been on understanding decision making related to property with a title (or proof of ownership) and of significant financial value such as land, a home, or stock portfolio (Cates & Sussman, 1982a; Hanks & Sussman, 1991; Salamon, 1992; Sussman, Cates, & Smith, 1970; Titus, Rosenblatt, & Anderson, 1979). What's even more intriguing is how little is known about the dynamics of transferring non-titled property, or personal property without a title, such as Grandpa's watch, Mom's doll collection, or a Winnie-the-Pooh book. It is intriguing because the transfer of non-titled property is a decision making issue that impacts families regardless of their financial worth, heritage, or cultural background. Paring down and transferring personal possessions is inevitable when a family member moves or dies. On the surface, decisions regarding who gets what non-titled personal property may appear minor and trivial as an intergenerational family issue. Anecdotally shared experiences of attorneys and family members suggest that the transfer of non-titled property creates more challenges among family members than the transfer of titled property. Although the process to legally transfer non-titled property is fairly simple in most states, it is not always well known. Experiences suggest that it is not legal technicalities behind family members' avoidance of inheritance issues, but complex social and psychological issues. In reality, decisions about non-titled personal property involve dealing with the emotions and sentimental value connected to objects accumulated over a lifetime and across generations of family members. Although personal possessions may have financial as well as sentimental value, it is the impossibility of dividing personal property with sentimental value in a way considered to all involved that presents challenges. Different perceptions among siblings, older parents, estate executors, and other family members of what fair means have quickly emerged when inheritance issues have been examined (Cates & Sussman, 1982b; Hanks & Sussman, 1991; Sussman et al., 1970; Titus et al., 1979). How family members perceive and talk about the meaning of fairness has yet to be examined in any depth. Not only have family inheritance issues been largely ignored in the literature, but interpersonal justice theories which provide frameworks for examining fairness issues have also received little application. …