Robert K. Merton's Structural Functionalism Analysis in The Determination of Heir in The Slawi Religious Court Decision Number: 3596/Pdt.G/2022/PA.SLW

Abstract

Unregistered marriages blur family relationships between families, one of which is in inheritance rights. When a marriage is not registered, the husband or wife cannot inherit from each other, as well as children who only have a civil relationship with the mother, one of which is in the Slawi Religious Court Decision Number: 3596/Pdt.G/2022/PA.Slw, where the panel of judges granted the plaintiffs' request as heirs, but there was no attachment of the plaintiffs' parents' marriage certificates as evidence to prove the sibling relationship between the plaintiffs and the heirs. The research is a qualitative juridical-sociological study using descriptive-analytical methods. The empirical analysis technique uses an evidence-based approach by integrating based on Robert K. Merton's structural functionalism sociology theory. The results of this study refer to the decision of the Slawi Religious Court Number 3596/Pdt.G/2022/PA.Slw, the dysfunction in the decision is by determining the heirs without considering the marriage certificate of the plaintiff's parents, weakening the perfect evidentiary power of the marriage certificate as authentic evidence of a marriage and this consideration triggers a sense of injustice for other parties so that the fulfillment of legal certainty from the decision becomes unclear in the long term. The real and visible function, where the decision provides legal certainty to the plaintiffs as siblings of the heir to be entitled to a share of the inheritance from the heir, as well as proving the existence of a family relationship as siblings between the plaintiffs and the heir. The intangible and hidden function, where the decision can confirm the legitimacy of the authority of the Religious Court in examining and adjudicating disputes, and the results of the decision must be obeyed by all parties in the case.