YeshivaThe torah world Gateway
Beit Midrash
- Sections
- Chemdat Yamim
- P'ninat Mishpat
- Family and Society
- Financial Laws and Tzedaka
- Inheritance
[This case is not a din Torah of two sides arguing, but of people planning to arrange a system to obviate a halachic situation, which for apparently emotional reasons, they wanted to avoid.]
Case: A couple got divorced after having children (Reuven, Shimon). The ex-wife (Sarah) [who is apparently a woman of means] has property, which if she dies, would be inherited by her children. Subsequently, if Reuven or Shimon die before their father (Yaakov), the father/ex-husband would gain control over his ex-wife’s property for himself. Alternatively, if Reuven or Shimon die without children, Yaakov or their half-brothers from Yaakov and a different mother (Yosef, Binyamin) would inherit Sarah’s property that her sons had inherited from her. The husband/father has agreed to take steps to prevent this, but what can be done?
Ruling: It is not possible for Yaakov to relinquish inheritance rights, as this does not work for Torah-level inheritance, which occurs automatically.
The only system that will work is, as is done in a shtar chatzi zachar (a device which makes brothers share inheritance with sisters), for Yaakov to obligate himself in a large sum of money to someone from Sarah’s side of the family. This is to be done with a stipulation that the loan is payable when Yaakov or his family (other than from Sarah’s children) receives inheritance of Sarah’s property. That would cause Yaakov and his family to have to forgo inheritance from Reuven or Shimon in order to avoid paying the large debt.
Does this system work if Yaakov dies and then Reuven dies? Then Yaakov’s brother (Eisav) would inherit Reuven, and even though Yaakov would turn out to be a debtor, Eisav does not have to pay Yaakov’s debts from the property he inherits from Yaakov. This is apparent from the halacha (Shulchan Aruch, Choshen Mishpat 104:16, as explained by the Shach (104:21), that a grandson who inherits from his grandfather, when the middle generation died, does not have to use the inheritance to pay the middle generation’s debt. This is because the grandson is deemed to be a direct inheritor of the grandfather. So too here, Eisav will inherit Reuven directly, without paying the large debt Yaakov accepted to prevent that situation.
It is true that the Baal Haterumot (48:3) says that only a grandson can claim to inherit while skipping the linking generation and his debts, but when it goes through brothers, the inheriting brother has to use the property to pay the deceased’s debt. Even according to this opinion that Eisav would have to pay, if Yaakov remarried and Yosef and Binyamin were born to him, they can inherit their half brother Reuven directly and not pay Yaakov’s debt. (This is if we hold like the Beit Yosef (CM 253) that brothers are natural inheritors of each other, without going through their joint father as an intermediary (mishmush). The Darchei Moshe does say that brothers inherit only through mishmush (ad loc.). However, we have never heard the practice of brothers’ inheritance being subject to paying their joint father’s debts. Therefore, the suggestion I have made only solves some of the problems, but does not preclude the possibility of Sarah’s property going to Yaakov’s family in stages.
P'ninat Mishpat (829)
Various Rabbis
345 - Rabbi Akiva Eiger (Introduction)
346 - Agreeing to Not Receive Inheritance from One’s Children
347 - Rules of Bar Metzra (Neighbor’s Precedence)
Load More
P'ninat Mishpat P'ninat Mishpat: Multiple Agreements and Parties – part II
based on ruling 80082 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
P'ninat Mishpat P'ninat Mishpat: Tuition Payment after Withdrawing Student
based on ruling 85142 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
P'ninat Mishpat P'ninat Mishpat: Undoing a Problematic Partnership – part III
based on ruling 84061 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
P'ninat Mishpat P'ninat Mishpat: A Contractor’s Leaving the Job in the Middle – part II
based on ruling 84013 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
fast navigation
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 9 - "Seeing is Believing" (parag. 21-30)
These paragraphs elaborate on the theme that seeing and knowing is better than any attempt to prove logically, and begins explaining the difference between Israel and gentiles.
Ein Aya Various Universal Stages of the Geula Process
Rav Kook examines the various stages of redemption, explaining how (in addition to the obvious oft-mentioned stages of ingathering the exiles, reviving the Hebrew language, army, state etc.) the messianic dream of world prosperity, the State of Israel and world unity can and are realistically and logically gradually coming true.
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 8- "Answering Questions on the Kuzari's Proof from Mass Revelation
How do we know that the "claim" of mass revelation to 2,000,000 witnesses at Mt. Sinai is really true? This important class answers all of the questions skeptics ask about this claim of the Kuzari.
Ein Aya Armies Still Necessary for Balance & the War Against Wars
Rav Kook explains why the world was originally divided into the various seemingly contradicting ideologies and cultures, in order to develop each one respectively. Swords or armies symbolize how each respective ideology defends themselves, as well as deters their opposing ideologies and cultures. On the other hand, the messianic era will be one of peace, and Rav Kook explains the transition to that stage, which mankind is already undergoing.
The Land of Israel LGBT'S IN ISRAEL
The question was asked, how can one make Aliyah with the LGBT parades?
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 7 - Five Accumulative Proofs of G-d
As a preparation for the Kuzari's classic proof of G-d from the mass-revelation at Sinai, we start here with 5 other directions to strengthen our belief which also contribute to what the Kuzari will present as well.
Ein Aya Muscle & Meaning: The Dual Nature of Gevurah (Physical Strength)
Is physical strength and fitness a necessity or an ideal? Although it if often totally overlooked among topics of Judaism, Rav Kook writes that it clearly is also a necessity to deter the many enemies of Israel, but even in Y'mot HaMashiach, in the Messianic era, to a certain extent, it's ideal continues even after our enemies will have been finished off.
