Inheritance

Many inheritance laws in Norway date back to Viking times.  They are sacred and impossible to change, but some are trying.

A huge issue with inheritance has to do with the family farm.  The farm always went to the eldest son, or daughter, if there were no sons.  There are no property taxes in Norway so inheriting a chunk of land with many buildings hasn’t been a burden to anyone, except for the younger siblings, who get nothing.  Siblings get a portion of other assets, but the farm itself can’t be divided among them.  A recent change, however, now allows the oldest child, male or female, to get the farm. 

I know of a woman whose been taunting her siblings with the fact she gets the farm when their mother dies.  Once she’s the owner, she plans on dividing up the farm and selling off pieces for cabin lots, which strangely, she’s allowed to do.  She brags about how rich she’ll become by doing this.  It’s caused such a disturbance in their family that her mother has lawyers trying to stop her from inheriting the farm, but it requires changing this very ancient law. The case is going before Norway’s version of the Supreme Court, but no one believes anything will change. 

Another law that can’t be ignored is that no one is allowed to disinherit their children or spouse.  The law governs who gets what, so very few people have a will, since it wouldn’t make much difference.  The children share in two thirds of the assets and the spouse gets one third, but the spouse is allowed to live in the house until it’s no longer needed, if it was not jointly owned to begin with. 

Norway does not have community property. Everyone has their own assets.  It’s uncommon to own things jointly, so each person’s assets are distributed according to their survivors.  If they have no spouse or children, their money goes to their next of kin - even if it’s their cousin that moved to America fifty years ago - because if they don’t find some surviving relative, the government takes it all.  Nice backup plan.

An elderly woman we know has been living with her “man” for thirty years.  They were both widowed and had children from previous marriages.  She has significantly more assets than him.  They figured it wouldn’t be fair to her children if they got married, because her kids would lose one third of their inheritance.  So they traveled to the Canary Islands, found an empty church up in the mountains and exchanged vows and rings in the sight of God.   They wanted Him to be part of their relationship, but because of Norway’s inheritance laws, they needed to keep the government out.