DOES BATAK TOBA WIDOWER GET THE WIFE’S FAMILY’S INHERITANCE - inheritance rights of a widower

Aug 25, 2026

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This article examines inheritance rights of a widower under Batak Toba customary inheritance. It asks whether a widower receives inheritance from his wife’s family and explains the normative legal research approach grounded in primary and secondary data. Results are analyzed qualitatively and described descriptively. The study concludes that a widower in Batak Toba customary law does not inherit from his wife’s family because the wife belongs to the husband’s family line, while heirs of the wife’s parents are sons, typically her brothers, rather than the husband.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages14

Reading Time35 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Patrilineal and individual inheritance system in Batak Toba

Marriage practices and who can be heirs

Widowhood, divorce, and asset/inheritance handling

Research Methods

Normative legal research and data sources

Qualitative analysis approach

DOES BATAK TOBA WIDOWER GET THE WIFE’S FAMILY’S INHERITANCE? Elfrida Ratnawati & Endang Pandamdari Faculty of Law, Universitas Trisakti Kyai Tapa Street No. 1 Grogol Jakarta Barat 11440 E-mail: [elfrida.r@trisakti.ac.id](elfrida.r@trisakti.ac.id); Phone Number: +62-5663232 Received: 11/09/2021; Reviewed: 04/10/2021; Accepted: 05/10/2021. DOI: [https://doi.org/10.24815/kanun.v23i3.21787](https://doi.org/10.24815/kanun.v23i3.21787) ABSTRACT The problem that will be discussed in this article is about the inheritance rights of a widower according to the customary inheritance of the Batak Toba, whether the widower according to the customary inheritance law of the Batak Toba gets an inheritance from his wife's family. The type of normative legal research used in this article is supported by references or secondary data as the basic material for research related to the issues discussed, that is the rights of the inheritance of widowers in Batak Toba. The data sources used are primary data and secondary data. The data from the results of this study will be analyzed with a qualitative approach, then will be described descriptively. The conclusion obtained from this study is that a Toba Batak widower, in the customary inheritance law of the Batak Toba does not inherit from his wife's family because the wife is a family member of the husband (honest marriage), because the wife herself does not also get an inheritance fromhis parents, because in Batak Toba community, only sons (his wife's brother) get a share of the inheritance and become the heirs of the wife's parents. Key Words: inheritance; batak toba; widower. INTRODUCTION The characteristic found in the inheritance system of the Batak Toba community is that it adheres to kinship characteristics but the pattern focuses on the Patrilineal kinship system, which is drawing the lineage from the father (Riste, 2015) . The Patrilineal kinship system emphasizes that the position in a family lineage is controlled by the position of men which seems to be more prominent when compared to the position of women in the inheritance law, and the inheritance system used can be classified as an individual inheritance system. This also applies to the Batak Toba community who are also part of the Batak indigenous community unit (Wiranata, 2005) . The individual inheritance system adopted by the Batak Toba indigenous people forms their society so that they have an identity and customary law that has always been binding on them to present. This system divides the inheritance according to their respective parts and of course, only sons can become heirs, which means that they can receive an inheritance from an heir. However, ifa son does not have an heir, the inheritance or inheritance from the heir, will fall to his brother, because it indicates that from this son, the heir does not have any heirs or legitimate successor when seen from the point of view of the Batak Toba customs (Purba, 2001) . Men who can become heirs according to Batak Toba customs are men who have married with honest payments or if viewed from the Batak Toba custom, this marriage tradition is called ataruhon jual marriage and its implementation is exogamous and patriarchal. Heirs are people who will later be entitled to get a share of the inheritance, but there are also people who are not actually heirs, but still receive an inheritance and are usually in the form of gifts from the related heirs (Rajamarpodang, 2002) . In Patrilineal kinship as embraced by the Batak Toba indigenous people, it is the son who becomes the heir, and none of the daughters becomes the heir, but in the future, it is possible to receive part of the inheritance in the form of a gift from his brother. as well as from the heirs themselves (Sinaga, 2019) . The level of a civilization and a way of life that has been affected by modernization, it turns out that it has not been able to eliminate the customs or habits that are usually carr

FAQs

Does a Batak Toba widower inherit from his wife’s family under customary law?

No. In Batak Toba customary inheritance, the widower does not inherit from his wife’s family because the wife is considered part of the husband’s family line (honest marriage).

Why does the widower not receive a share from the wife’s parents?

Only sons (including the wife’s brother) are regarded as heirs of the wife’s parents, while the husband is not positioned as an heir in the customary lineage pattern.

How does Batak Toba customary law determine who becomes an heir?

Heirs are men connected through “honest payments” (ataruhon jual marriage) within an exogamous and patriarchal practice; the system emphasizes patrilineal descent and an individual inheritance approach.

Aug 25, 2026

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