Contrary to the usual image of the modern family as an emotional haven, this essay traces the resurgence of inheritance-based inequalities under 21st century capitalism.

Why do women accumulate fewer assets than men? Why do marital separations impoverish women while they do not prevent men from becoming wealthy?
The answers to these questions lie in the legal intricacies of familial wealth. Such an approach implies breaking with the common conception of the family as an emotional haven of peace in a brutal capitalist world. In reality, the family should be seen as an economic institution unto itself: one that produces, circulates, controls, and evaluates assets. One whose true purpose is revealed during matters of inheritance or marital separation.