Analysing the financial fate of the surviving spouse in French and Ontario law reveals him or her to be both a partner and an heir. The patrimonial union between the spouses is indeed a partnership which is terminated by the death of one spouse. Moreover, marriage introduces each spouse into his or her partner's family for the purposes of succession. The dual character of status of the surviving spouse is the basis of the argument, advanced in this thesis, that this duality represents an important commonality between the French and Ontario legal systems, notwithstanding the disparities between the two. One of these disparities is the surviving spouse's obligation, in Ontario, to choose between his or her matrimonial and inheritance rights, except when the deceased has expressly provided that he or she would not have to make this choice. Thus, while French law permits the surviving spouse to deduct the amount of his or her inheritance portion from the deceased's assets, even once the financial benefits of the marital partnership have been apportioned, Ontario law seems to be unable to distinguish between the partition of the marital partnership and the deceased's succession. After examining, in particular, the surviving spouse's rights pursuant to mandatory and suppletive rules of law, from the twin perspectives of spouse and heir, the thesis explores some examples of the tools used by spouses for estate planning. In particular, marriage contracts and life-insurance can dramatically affect, for better or worse, the fate of the surviving spouse.

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