The Succession Act 1965 brought,
it was said, a ‘revolutionary change’ in the law of succession to Ireland (Re Urquhart [1974] IR 197 at 208). However,
despite the enormous impact it has had on citizens, in the fifty years since
its enactment, the Act has never been subject to a comprehensive review or
reform. This lack of legislative engagement in Ireland stands in marked
contrast to a number of other common law jurisdictions. In the past decade
alone, the Law Commission for England and Wales (2011), the Scottish Law
Commission (2009), the New South Wales Law Reform Commission (2007) and the
British Columbia Law Institute (2006) have each placed their respective succession
law regimes under the microscope. Responding to this gap in the literature, this
article considers the extent to which surviving spouses or civil partners are
adequately protected on intestacy, specifically, in Ireland. Highlighting the
potentially serious shortcomings of the Irish fractional share approach, and
drawing on the experience of a number of common law jurisdictions, the article
presents a proposal for reform. In this regard, it places a particular focus on
the need to strike an appropriate balance between the competing interests of
spouses/civil partners and children in the distribution of an intestate estate.