As household income and home ownership rates increase, more people are having to decide how their assets will be distributed following their deaths. The focus of this research project is to explore the dilemmas which arise when people think about leaving an inheritance. The research is about the ways in which testators seek to balance competing rights and obligations between the self, the family, charitable organisations and the state. This research will be an intra-generational study which will explore whether potential dilemmas are approached differently depending on the testator’s gender, ethnicity and religion. This study should provide an insight into how the relationship between civil society, the state and the individual is regarded.