Law Commons^™

Trust Law, Corporate Law, And Capital Market Efficiency, Robert H. Sitkoff

Law & Economics Working Papers Archive: 2003-2009

In both the publicly-traded corporation and the private donative trust a crucial task is to minimize the agency costs that arise from the separation of risk-bearing and management. But where the law of corporate governance evolved in the shadow of capital-market checks on agency costs, trust governance did not. Thus, even more than that of close corporations, the law and study of private trusts offers an illuminating counterfactual -- a control, as it were -­ for a playful thought experiment about the importance of capital market efficiency to the law and study of public corporations. The animating idea for this …

An Agency Costs Theory Of Trust Law, Robert H. Sitkoff

Law & Economics Working Papers Archive: 2003-2009

This Article develops an agency costs theory of the law of private trusts, focusing chiefly on donative trusts. The agency costs approach offers fresh insights into recurring problems in trust law including, among others, modification and termination, settlor standing, fiduciary litigation, trust-investment law and the duty of impartiality, trustee removal, the role of so-called trust "protectors," and spendthrift trusts. The normative claim is that the law of trusts should minimize the agency costs inherent in locating managerial authority with the trustee and the residual claim with the beneficiaries, but only to the extent that doing so is consistent with the …

30th Annual Midwest/Midsouth Estate Planning Institute, Office Of Continuing Legal Education At The University Of Kentucky College Of Law

Continuing Legal Education Materials

Materials from the 30th Annual Midwest/Midsouth Estate Planning Institute held by UK/CLE in July 2003.

Spousal Election: Suggested Equitable Reform For The Division Of Property At Death, Angela M. Vallario

All Faculty Scholarship

Testators have traditionally enjoyed immense discretion in directing the disposition of their wealth upon death; however, when a spouse survives the testator, public policy dictates a limitation on the testator's ability to dispose of property. American jurisdictions impose this limitation through the elective share in common law states and by the nature of property ownership in community property states. Ideally, this limitation should ensure equitable financial protection for the surviving spouse and protect his or her interest in assets that were accumulated with the decedent, yet the current elective share methods fall short of these goals.

Estate Planning Malpractice: Is Strict Privity Here To Stay?, Angela M. Vallario

All Faculty Scholarship

Under Maryland case law, a plaintiff in an estate planning malpractice action must be in strict privity with the attorney who drafted the will. To date, Maryland has not extended the third-party beneficiary exception to the estate planning arena.

Legatees specifically identified in a will by name or class are generally precluded from bringing a cause of action against the attorney for the attorney's alleged negligence, because in Maryland in order to recover for legal malpractice, a plaintiff must:show: "(1) the attorney's employment; (2) his neglect of a reasonable duty; and (3) loss to the client proximately caused by that …

Estate Tax Repeal Under Egtrra: A Proposal For Simplification, Sergio Pareja

Faculty Scholarship

This Article generally discusses the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 and proposes a relatively simple change that would simplify and reduce the costs of estate planning. Specifically, the Article proposes that the first spouse's unused basis step-up should be transferred to the surviving spouse automatically at the death of the first spouse

I Say It's Spinach: Charitable Trusts To Remedy Market Failures In The Performing Arts, Jeffrey G. Sherman

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Separation, Custody, And Estate Planning Issues Relating To Companion Animals, Rebecca J. Huss

Law Faculty Publications

This article first discusses the domestication of companion animals, including the impact of anthropomorphism and neoteny on how animals are viewed in U.S. society. Second, it reviews the current legal status of animals. Third, it considers the voluntary and involuntary separation of companion animals from their human families. Fourth, it examines custody issues in the context of the placement of animals after the divorce of the human family members. Finally, it analyzes estate planning issues relating to companion animals.

Wills, Trusts And Estates (Annual Survey Of Virginia Law, 2002-2003), J. Rodney Johnson

Law Faculty Publications

The General Assembly of Virginia enacted legislation dealing with wills, trusts, and estates that added or amended a number of sections of the Virginia Code in its 2003 Session. In addition, there were three opinions and one order from the Supreme Court of Virginia, and one Virginia Circuit Court opinion, that raised issues of interest to the general practitioner as well as the specialist in wills, trusts, and estates during the period covered by this review. This article reports on all of these legislative and judicial developments.

The Kansas Uniform Trust Code, David M. English

Faculty Publications

Senate Bill 297, which was enacted by the Kansas legislature in 2002 and which became effective on January 1, 2003, is a substantial adoption of the Uniform Trust Code (2000) (“UTC”). The Kansas UTC is codified in a new chapter, Kansas Statutes Annotated chapter 58a. The UTC is the Uniform Law Commissioners' first effort to provide the states with a comprehensive model for codifying their law on trusts.

Sample Forms, In Estate Planning Law And Taxation, 4th Ed., Bridget J. Crawford

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Sample estate planning forms.

When The Endowment Tanks, Jeffrey J. Haas

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

The Uniform Probate Code's Elective Share: Time For A Reassessment, Lawrence W. Waggoner

Articles

In this Article, Professor Waggoner proposes reforms to the Uniform Probate Code's (UPC) treatment of the elective share of the surviving spouse. First, the Article recommends that the UPC adopt a form of presentation that more transparently reflects the normative theories and empirical assumptions underlying the UPC's elective share framework. Second, the Article presents demographic data suggesting that the UPC's current elective share approximation schedule may be inappropriatef or a sizable faction of married couples, those remarryingf ollowing widowhood. Finally, the Article proposes two substantive revisions to the UPC's election share framework-the first proposal is to lengthen the approximation schedule; …

The Rise Of The Perpetual Trust, Jesse Dukeminier, James E. Krier

Articles

For more than two centuries, the Rule against Perpetuities has served as the chief means of limiting a transferor's power to tie up property by way of successive contingent interests. But recently, at least seventeen jurisdictions in the United States have enacted statutes abolishing the Rule in the case of perpetual (or near-perpetual) trusts. The prime mover behind this important development has been the federal Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax. This Article traces the gradual decline of the common law Rule against Perpetuities, considers the dynamics behind the recent wave of state legislation, examines the problems that might result from the rise …