# The Knaster Inheritance Procedure

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The Knaster inheritance procedure is a fair division method for determining how an object of value (such as a house) should be equitably divided among three or more heirs. In this Demonstration, you choose 3, 4, or 5 heirs and enter the bids for each heir. The Demonstration then illustrates the Knaster procedure in a step-by-step fashion, showing who gets the house, how much money that person must put into the kitty, and how that money is subsequently divided among all heirs.

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In the end, each person gets at least as much value as the fraction of what he or she bid. For example, in the default case, Red had bid $120,000 but gets$40,000; this is more than one-quarter of $120,000, which is$30,000. Ned got the house for $140,000; he valued it at$200,000, so from his point of view he gained $60,000, which is better than one-quarter of$200,000, which is \$50,000.

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Contributed by: Marc Brodie  (August 2011)
(Wheeling Jesuit University)
Open content licensed under CC BY-NC-SA

## Details

Reference

[1] COMAP, For All Practical Purposes, New York: W. H. Freeman and Company, 2009.

## Permanent Citation

Marc Brodie

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