Your empathy is admirable, too bad it's directed towards the party with thousands of refrigerators full of warehouse quantities of food and beer that the heirs could not possibly consume in several lifetimes. 
Honestly, why would these heirs be entitled to the money before the state? Currency belongs to the state, private possession of the cash enables debt payment and facilitates trade. 
Giving inheritance away to the scion of the wealth generator concentrates it in one place when it could benefit the public at large.