Uniformity In State Inheritance Laws: How UPC Article II Has Fared In Nine Enactments

The Uniform Probate Code was drafted to facilitate modernization, simplification, and uniformity of state inheritance laws. Since its approval by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws and by the American Bar Association in August 1969, the Code has been enacted in various forms by 11 states. In this article, Messrs. Wellman and Gordon analyze significant deviations from the recommended version of article II in the first nine enactments of the UPC.

The authors argue that all but exceptionally meritorious changes in enacted versions of the UPC should give way to the goal of state uniformity in inheritance laws, and find the majority of the changes to be unjustifiable. In evaluating the merits of the changes, the authors consider UPC policies behind individual sections of the Code as well as state reasons for deviations.