Classical laissez-faire economics declares all wealth redistribution to be evil because government intervention interferes with the efficiency of the free market. The survival of the fittest in a free and competitive environment is the most efficient way available to ensure a prosperous and productive economy. However this argument ignores three facts. This doctrine has been used in the past to justify fascism as well as liberal capitalism. Second, inheritance is as much a redistribution of wealth as is taxation.
Inherited money is by nature unearned income.
Third, even assuming the truth of the survival of the fittest doctrine, it is not clear that family members deserve inherited wealth more than anyone else does. Having been raised in a family business and having married into another, I can attest to the fact that the second generation is not necessarily as fit as the first. This is the primary job of planned giving officers and there appears to be an inherent fairness in this transfer. Planned giving is a classic example of the American democratic and entrepreneurial spirit at work. One can almost hear the ghost of Teddy Roosevelt whispering, bully.