Someday all this will be yours : a history of inheritance and old age /

Before a government-backed system of elder care (e.g., Social Security, Medicare, ERISA regulated pensions) and availability of private residential communities and care centers, the elderly had only their families and friends to rely upon to care for them as they aged. This tradition of taking care of one's own often resulted in disputes among a deceased person's family members and caretakers, who often were also family members or were employees or neighbors and who had been promised an inheritance in exchange for providing care. Princeton historian Hartog researched more than 200 New Jersey court cases involving these contract law disputes for Someday All This Will Be Yours, which is also the title of a 2003 lecture Hartog gave at the Indiana University School of Law. Aside from the history of development in this area of law, the book offers a social and cultural history of families caring for their elder members. This book will be of interest not only to those interested in estate law but also students and researchers of gerontology. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate and research collections. C. Ross University of Florida