How to adjudicate the legal and moral effects on Marriage and Widowing, Estates and Inheritance, and Line of Successions

Recent events in my sometimes weekly tabletop game have raised an unforeseen issue on my part.

Several party members perished including a 15th level cleric of Torm. His death prompted a rival faction in the temple that he had been cleaning out to rally. The two living party members are afraid to take his body to the temple of Torm to be raised. They have a decent supply of "gentle repose" scrolls to keep the bodies fresh. The party is currently implicated in crimes by a high ranking paladin of Tyr who is actually a servant of Bane. So the party can't turn to allied churches for assistance either.

The cleric had recently married a high ranking npc mage who may be carrying his child. To a follower of Torm such as he, it was his duty. To her, it was more of a marriage of convenience that solved various legal and property issues.

Now with his death, she has decided to further oppose his resurrection until such time as she can be legally widowed and inherit the full estate.


My question is how would societies handle these issues if legal contingencies were not already in place?

Does a spouse have a legal right to oppose resurrection or delay it?

What happens to inherited property and estates, if someone is returned to life at some point later on? Or immediately for that matter?

How does this affect Lines of Succession? What if an old King or Queen is brought back after a hundred years?



I suspect the Lines of Succession boils down to who has the most support as it usually is settled. But how would you handle the other situations? I have my own ideas but would like some other perspectives before implementing them.

I'd suggest that's it is indeed a matter of support. e.g. once officially decalred dead then you're done for and all stuff passes irrevocably to others according to prevalanrt laws/contracts/wills etc.
Before that point the dead person would be considered to be "resting".

Wait? Turic is dead?

I see trouble ahead....

I think it would depend on the society you're in, and what sort of laws they have.

If it were up to me, I'd probably have a grace period where a person can be raised and still keep all of their estate and assets. If that deadline passes, then legally there is nothing they can do about it. How long the grace period should be is up for debate. I'd probably go with a week.

It's waterdeep... So yeah they probably have met this issue more than once!

I would have to agree on a short period. Neither the government nor businesses could go long without someone in charge. And an appointed warden could be tempted to drag things out indefinitely.