Abstract: With the development of society,all countries haoe attached greater importance to the protection of the spouse's right of inheritance. In China,the spouses,children and parents are classified as the first successors in the same order in Inheritance Law who are entitled to equal share of the estate. This obviously does not conform to the close relationship between the spouse's and the decedent and their significance in and contributions to the family,and may not balance the succession interests between spouses and relatives effectively. Drawbacks also exist in practice. The present paper suggests that the spouse's succession order not be defined as in other countries in China's context. According to the order of succession,different inheritance should be set to establish the system of prerogative spouse inheritance,spouse housing benefit system and the system of deduction,so as to better protect the spouse's right of inheritance.

Key words: Inheritance Law, spouse, inheritance right, legal protection, inheritance order, inherited share