The Future of Family Property in Europe

This book covers five areas of family property law in Europe: matrimonial property law, family contracts (issues of autonomy), the legal protection of older people, the freedom of testation and protection of family members, and the unification of private international law. All of these issues are highly relevant as Europe is at a key stage in its development with all societies experiencing broadly similar demographic trends and facing the social and legal policy challenges that accompany them. The increase in international mobility and multi-jurisdiction couples poses increased pressure to provide private international law solutions and prompts calls for substantive harmonization. The high divorce rate in many jurisdictions means that matrimonial property and maintenance issues affect more families. Other social changes - such as an increased maternal labor market attachment - invite reconsideration of the basis for financial relief between spouses in divorce. All jurisdictions are also experiencing growth in cohabitation and extra-marital births. In short, family structures are becoming more complex. This raises questions concerning the division of property, both on separation or following death, where the appropriate priority among the diverse range of surviving family members needs to be resolved. Moreover, as fertility rates decline and populations age, increasing numbers of older people require costly personal and medical care, prompting a new set of questions for law and society to resolve. These issues are discussed throughout the book. (Series: European Family Law - Vol. 29)

Katharina Boele-Woelki is Professor of Private International Law, Comparative Law and Family Law at Utrecht University, The Netherlands and Extraordinary Professor at the University of the Western Cape, South-Africa. Since 2001 she has been the chair of the Commission on European Family Law which was established upon her initiative.  She is president of the Dutch Association of Family Law, member of the board of the Dutch Association of Comparative Law, and member of several editorial boards of Dutch and European and South-African law journals. She is also a member of various associations, such as the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Völkerrecht as well as the Wissenschaftliche Vereinigung für Familienrecht. Since 2003 she has been one of the editors of the European Family Law Series. In 2007 she established the Utrecht Centre for European Research into Family Law (UCERF). She is a titular member of the International Academy of Comparative Law. She has organized prestigious international conferences, delivered numerous guest lectures at various universities around the world and has acted as a reporter, speaker, expert and panel member in many international conferences. In 2011 she has been awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Uppsala. In 2012 she has received the Anneliese Maier Forschungspreis of the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung (Germany) for her work in the field of international and European family law. In 2013 she has been elected member of the International Advisory Board of the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung. In 2014 she had been elected President of the International Academy of Comparative Law. Since 2015 she is taking on a new position as president of the Bucerius Law School.

Dr Jens M. Scherpe, M.A. (Cantab), MJur (Oxon) is a Senior University Lecturer in Law at the University of Cambridge and a Lecturer and Fellow of Gonville and Caius College and an Honorary Fellow of St. John’s College/ University of Hong Kong. He also is an Academic Door Tenant at the Barristers’ chambers Queen Elizabeth Building (QEB) in London. He is the Honorary Professor at the University of Aalborg and Cheng Yu Tung Visiting Professor in Law at the University of Hong Kong. In Cambridge Jens teaches comparative law and family law – and comparative family law. Before taking up his position in Cambridge, he was a Research Fellow and Head of the Department for the Law of the Nordic Countries at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law in Hamburg. He has held visiting positions at a number of institutions, including the Australian National University/Canberra, the University of Sydney, the University of Auckland/New Zealand and the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona/Spain. In addition he has lectured on a variety of subjects in numerous countries around the world, including Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, Greece, the Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, Poland, Latvia, Ukraine, Singapore, Mauritius and the People’s Republic of China. Jens has published widely on a variety of topics. His major publications include several comparative family law studies. His PhD thesis on the out-of-court settlement of consumer disputes (2002) was awarded two prizes, the DIS-Förderpreis 2003/2004 by the German Institution of Arbitration (DIS) and the Otto-Hahn-Medal of the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science for outstanding research achievements of young researchers (2002). He is an Associate Member of the International Academy of Comparative Law/Académie internationale de droit compare, an Associate Fellow of the International Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and a member of the Wissenschaftliche Vereinigung für Familienrecht e.V and of the international board of the “Zeitschrift für das gesamte Familienrecht” (FamRZ).