succession laws
Heir determination rules
Succession laws are the rules governing how property, titles, or positions pass from one holder to the next.
In inheritance law, they determine who receives a deceased person's estate: The succession laws in that state favor surviving spouses.
In monarchies and other hereditary systems, succession laws dictate the order of claimants to thrones or titles—whether by primogeniture, proximity of blood, or other principles.
Corporate succession laws govern leadership transitions in organizations.
- probateWill validation proceedings
- heirshipSuccessor's legal standing
- primogenitureEldest inherits all
- regencySubstitute monarch's authority
- abdicationFormal surrender of power
intestacy · next of kin · lineage · royal bloodline · family tree · entail · constitutional monarchy · estate planning · will · throne · beneficiary · executor · legacy · coronation · royal · firstborn · trust · monarchy
- monarchyking, queen, prince, princess, crown
- royal heritagebirthright, bloodline, crown jewels, heir apparent, hereditary titles
- Bourbon FranceVersailles, the Sun King, Louis XV, Colbert, Edict of Nantes
- death lawdeath certificate, death certificates, death tax, death penalty, death benefits
- inheritanceinheritance, inheritances, heir, heirs, heiress
- royal recordsroyal decrees, royal edicts, royal lineage, birth records, death records
succession lawsdemocratic elections
Voting by the populace
electoral systems · popular vote · voting rights · term limits · ballot
succession lawscoup d'état
Violent government seizure
usurpation · violent overthrow · palace coup · power grab · revolution
succession lawsrevolution
Violent governmental overthrow
overthrow · regime change · republicanism · insurrection · constitutional reform