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The Case Against Living Probate, Mary Louise Fellows

Michigan Law Review

This Article presents the case against living probate in hopes of preventing a reform that was appropriately discarded a century ago. Part I describes the various living probate proposals, highlighting their similarities, differences, and procedural complexities, and the benefits they seek to realize. Part II lays out four failings of living probate that call the desirability of this reform into question. Finally, in Part III, I propose an alternative reform which concentrates on the underlying problem inspiring living probate proposals - the expense and uncertainty of a mental capacity requirement for executing a valid will.