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Articles 1 - 28 of 28
Full-Text Articles in Law
Review: Compassionate Care For The Living And The Dying, Browne C. Lewis
Review: Compassionate Care For The Living And The Dying, Browne C. Lewis
Law Faculty Articles and Essays
This is a review of "The End of End-of Life Law" (92 N.C.L. Rev. 1693 (2014), by Lois L. Shepard. In light of medical advances and increasing health care costs, conversations about end-of-life care will continue to occur. A significant portion of the discussion will focus on ways to handle surrogate decision-making. The practical suggestions Professor Shepherd includes in her article could be a valuable part of that dialogue.
Alms To The Rich: The Facade Easement Deduction, Wendy G. Gerzog
Alms To The Rich: The Facade Easement Deduction, Wendy G. Gerzog
All Faculty Scholarship
This article presents the case for repeal of the façade easement deduction. Proponents of this benefit argue that the deduction encourages historic preservation by reimbursing property owners for relinquishing their right to alter the façade of their property in a way inconsistent with that conservation goal; however, this article shows that there are many reasons to urge its repeal: the revenue loss, the small number of beneficiaries, the financial demographics of that group of beneficiaries; the dubious industries that are supported by the deduction; and the continual marked overvaluation and abuse despite Congressional, court, and administrative review and expense.
After …
Elaine Hightower Gagliardi On Flipping The Lens Of Estate Planning: An Examination Of The Effectiveness Of Lifetime Transfers To Achieve Federal And State Tax Savings, Elaine H. Gagliardi
Elaine Hightower Gagliardi On Flipping The Lens Of Estate Planning: An Examination Of The Effectiveness Of Lifetime Transfers To Achieve Federal And State Tax Savings, Elaine H. Gagliardi
Faculty Journal Articles & Other Writings
Estate planners are recalibrating their planning focus in response to recent tax modifications at the federal and state levels. The need to refocus planning emanates from changes wrought by recent federal tax acts, beginning in 20011 and ending in 20132 with enactment of “permanent” provisions which increase the basic exclusion amount for federal estate and gift tax and generation skipping transfer tax exemption to an inflation adjusted $5,340,000 as of 2014,3 institute the portability election for federal estate tax purposes,4 alter the transfer tax rate to essentially a flat 40 percent,5 and eliminate the state death tax credit in favor …
A Principled And Structured Approach For Ascertaining Beneficial Interests In Property Disputes: Chan Yuen Lan V See Fong Mun [2014] Sgca 36, Alvin W. L. See
A Principled And Structured Approach For Ascertaining Beneficial Interests In Property Disputes: Chan Yuen Lan V See Fong Mun [2014] Sgca 36, Alvin W. L. See
Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law
In Chan Yuen Lan v See Fong Mun [2014] SGCA 36, the Court of Appeal provided important clarifications about the relationship between a resulting trust and a common intention constructive trust for the purpose of ascertaining beneficial interests in cases of property dispute. This issue, which has attracted much speculations, was left open in Lau Siew Kim v Yeo Guan Chye Terence [2007] SGCA 54 where the same court merely confirmed the continued relevance of the twin presumptions of resulting trust and advancement.
The Home: Where Our Heart Resides, David M. English
The Home: Where Our Heart Resides, David M. English
Faculty Publications
Helping a client maximize the use of his or her home for these purposes is no simple task. It requires knowledge of options and resources across many domains. But stepping back and taking a broader look at these strategic opportunities and pitfalls is useful in appreciating the knowledge and skill set needed to competently counsel and represent aging clients. This article looks first at a variety of consumer protection issues, examines the interrelationship between the home and a variety of government benefits, and concludes with a discussion of technology that may enable an elderly person to remain in the place …
The Creeping Federalization Of Wealth-Transfer Law, Lawrence W. Waggoner
The Creeping Federalization Of Wealth-Transfer Law, Lawrence W. Waggoner
Articles
This article appears in a symposium issue published by the Vanderbilt Law Review on The Role of Federal Law in Private Wealth Transfer. Federal authorities have little experience in making law that governs wealth transfers, because that function is traditionally within the province of state law. Although state wealth-transfer law has undergone significant modernization over the last few decades, all three branches of the federal government—legislative, judicial, and executive—have increasingly gone their own way. Lack of experience and, in many cases, lack of knowledge on the part of federal authorities have not dissuaded them from undermining well-considered state law. The …
Impact Of Uniform Laws On The Teaching Of Trusts And Estates, David M. English
Impact Of Uniform Laws On The Teaching Of Trusts And Estates, David M. English
Faculty Publications
Beginning in 1969 with the approval of the Uniform Probate Code (UPC), uniform laws have had a major impact on the teaching of the basic Trusts and Estates course. This is not the place to list the close to thirty uniform acts relating to Trusts and Estates that have been approved. Rather, this Article will focus on the impact that uniform laws have had on the content of what is taught in the Trusts and Estates course. Uniform laws are not written in a vacuum. Like other legislative enactments, they are the product of societal changes and changes in legal …
From Here To Eternity: The Folly Of Perpetual Trusts, Lawrence W. Waggoner
From Here To Eternity: The Folly Of Perpetual Trusts, Lawrence W. Waggoner
Law & Economics Working Papers
Trusts that can operate for as many as a thousand years or even forever, typically for the benefit of the settlor’s descendants living from time to time, now and in the future, are all the rage in banking and estate-planning circles. Before 1986, when Congress passed the federal generation-skipping transfer tax (GST tax), settlors had little incentive and probably little desire to establish perpetual trusts, even though they were permitted to do so under the law of Wisconsin, South Dakota, or Idaho. The GST tax created an artificial incentive for the wealthy to establish such trusts. The origin of the …
What's Wrong With A Federal Inheritance Tax?, Wendy G. Gerzog
What's Wrong With A Federal Inheritance Tax?, Wendy G. Gerzog
All Faculty Scholarship
Scholars have proposed a federal inheritance tax as an alternative to the current federal transfer tax, but there are serious flaws with that idea. In existing inheritance tax systems, those problems include: (1) different tax rates and exemptions based on the decedent’s relationship to the beneficiary; (2) the lack of a tax on lifetime gratuitous transfers, including gifts with retained interests or control; and (3) the persistence of most current valuation distortion abuses. In any inheritance tax model, moreover, there would be significantly decreased compliance rates and increased administrative costs because by focusing on the transferees instead of the transferor, …
Accidental Inheritance: Retirement Accounts And The Hidden Law Of Succession, Stewart E. Sterk, Melanie B. Leslie
Accidental Inheritance: Retirement Accounts And The Hidden Law Of Succession, Stewart E. Sterk, Melanie B. Leslie
Articles
Americans currently hold more than $9 trillion in retirement savings accounts. Those accounts, together with the family home, are the principal source of wealth for most working and retired Americans. But when a retirement accountholder dies prior to exhausting retirement savings, what governs the distribution of the account? Most often, not the accountholder’s will or trust, but a one-page fill-in- the-blanks beneficiary designation form that the accountholder filled out, typically without advice of counsel, when she or he opened the account.
When accountholders fill out beneficiary designation forms, they are focused on starting a new job or beginning to save …
Van Alen: A Reasonable Consistency, Wendy G. Gerzog
Van Alen: A Reasonable Consistency, Wendy G. Gerzog
All Faculty Scholarship
In Van Alen, the Tax Court held that the duty of consistency required that two of the decedent’s children use the section 2032A basis valuation figures to determine gain on the sale of their interest in the decedent’s ranch, which was left to them in trust. The siblings had argued that their stepmother erroneously completed their father’s estate tax return.
Review: Linking The Certainty Of Death And Taxes, Browne C. Lewis
Review: Linking The Certainty Of Death And Taxes, Browne C. Lewis
Law Faculty Articles and Essays
This is a review of "Wills for Everyone: Helping Individuals Opt Out of Intestacy" (53 B.C.L. Rev. 877 (2012)), by Reid Kress Weisbord. Lewis praises Weisbord’s attempt to simplify the testamentary process. She agrees with his assertion that in failing to execute a will, most people are not fearing their own mortality and instead are just not willing or able to navigate a complicated testamentary process. She supports his suggestion to make executing a will more like filing a simple tax return, when possible. In sum, she praises his efforts to reduce the rate of intestacy by simplifying the testamentary …
Contemporary Trusts And Estates - An Experiential Approach, Jerome Borison, Naomi R. Cahn, Susan N. Gary, Paula A. Monopoli
Contemporary Trusts And Estates - An Experiential Approach, Jerome Borison, Naomi R. Cahn, Susan N. Gary, Paula A. Monopoli
Faculty Scholarship
In this essay in a special issue dedicated to teaching trusts and estates, the co-authors of Contemporary Trusts & Estates: An Experiential Approach (2d. ed. Aspen 2014) reflect on how the teaching of trusts and estates can integrate policy, practice, doctrine, and centuries of tradition. They describe the genesis of their problem-based casebook and the influence of the Carnegie Report on their choice of pedagogic framework. Each of the co-authors embraced the fundamental principles advocated by the Carnegie Report, which counsels that legal education should integrate “theoretical and practical legal knowledge and professional identity.” This essay goes on to outline …
Notarized Wills, Anne-Marie E. Rhodes
Notarized Wills, Anne-Marie E. Rhodes
Faculty Publications & Other Works
No abstract provided.
Valuation Lessons From Estate Of Adell, Kerry A. Ryan
Valuation Lessons From Estate Of Adell, Kerry A. Ryan
All Faculty Scholarship
In Estate of Adell, the Tax Court determined that the correct value of a decedent’s interest in a closely held corporation was the figure reported on the original estate tax return. The court rejected alternative values as either using the incorrect valuation method or failing to account for the significant value of a key employee’s personal goodwill.
Perpetuities And The Genius Of A Free State, Joshua C. Tate
Perpetuities And The Genius Of A Free State, Joshua C. Tate
Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters
The recent rise of perpetual trusts has brought new attention to previously obscure state constitutional prohibitions of perpetuities. This symposium commentary examines the historical origins of the first such prohibition, Clause 23 of the 1776 North Carolina Constitution and Declaration of Rights, which provided that “perpetuities and monopolies are contrary to the genius of a free State, and ought not to be allowed.” Although many good reasons can be offered for the provision, it is curiously absent from the constitutions of the twelve other original states. Why did this provision emerge only in North Carolina, and not in Virginia, Massachusetts, …
When Is A Trust Protector A Fiduciary?, Richard C. Ausness
When Is A Trust Protector A Fiduciary?, Richard C. Ausness
Law Faculty Scholarly Articles
The use of trust protectors has become increasingly popular in the past twenty years. This is largely due to the fact that settlors can use trust protectors to provide more flexibility in trust management, especially for long-term trusts. However, the use of trust protectors is not without some risk. First of all, the legal status of trust protectors is not explicitly recognized in some states. Furthermore, even in those states which do recognize the legality of trust protectors, the nature and extent of their powers is sometimes not always clear. Finally, there is the vexing question of whether trust protectors …
Shakespeare In The Classroom: How An Annual Student Production Of King Lear Adds Dimension To Teaching Trusts And Estates, Karen E. Boxx
Shakespeare In The Classroom: How An Annual Student Production Of King Lear Adds Dimension To Teaching Trusts And Estates, Karen E. Boxx
Articles
I always begin the first day of my Trusts and Estates course by discussing the reasons for taking the class. While I note that some students may take the class to help in passing the bar exam or because family members have already asked them to draft wills, my list of reasons instead include: (1) exposure to the fiduciary relationship; (2) the real life ethical dilemmas faced by the lawyers; (3) learning to read and interpret state statutes; and (4) consideration of how law responds to societal changes and governs human relationships. This last reason is critical: Trusts and Estates …
Tax Court Sends Message On Valuation In Richmond, Kerry A. Ryan
Tax Court Sends Message On Valuation In Richmond, Kerry A. Ryan
All Faculty Scholarship
In Estate of Helen P. Richmond, the Tax Court determined the proper value for estate tax purposes of a minority interest in a family-owned corporation holding mostly appreciated securities. The court also sustained an accuracy-related penalty against the estate, finding that it used an unsigned draft report by a noncertified appraiser as the basis for the stock valuation reported on Form 706.
A Critical Research Agenda For Wills, Trusts And Estates, Bridget J. Crawford
A Critical Research Agenda For Wills, Trusts And Estates, Bridget J. Crawford
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
The law of wills, trusts, and estates could benefit from consideration of its development and impact on people of color; women of all colors; lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals; low-income and poor individuals; the disabled; and nontraditional families. One can measure the law's commitment to justice and equality by understanding the impact on these historically disempowered groups of the laws of intestacy, spousal rights, child protection, will formalities, will contests, and will construction; the creation, operation and construction of trusts; fiduciary administration; creditors' rights; asset protection; nonprobate transfers; planning for incapacity and death; and wealth transfer taxation. This Article …
Memento Mori: Deaths And Wills, Karen J. Sneddon
Memento Mori: Deaths And Wills, Karen J. Sneddon
Articles
Death. The mere mention of the word sends a shiver down the spine or provokes a nervous giggle. Modern reactions to death range from avoidance, as shown by the abundance of death euphemisms, to fascination, as shown by the number of movies and television shows centered on death, including Twilight's vampires and The Walking Dead's zombies. Estate planning is the legal environment in which a person con.fronts his or her mortality and participates in the formulation of his or her legacy. Contextualizing the experience as a memento mori experience promotes the function of the estate planning process, specifically …
Tax Recognition, Barry Cushman
Tax Recognition, Barry Cushman
Journal Articles
This article was prepared for the St. Louis University Law Journal’s “Teaching Trusts & Estates” issue. Many law students take a course in Trusts & Estates, but comparatively few enroll in a class devoted to the federal wealth transfer taxes. For most law students, the Trusts & Estates course provides the only opportunity for exposure to some of the basic features of the estate tax, the gift tax, the generation-skipping transfer tax, and some related features of the income tax. The coverage demands of the typical Trusts & Estates course do not allow for intensive discussion of these issues, but …
The White Whale: Bringing Emotion And Relevance To The Contemporary Trusts And Estates Course, Wayne M. Gazur
The White Whale: Bringing Emotion And Relevance To The Contemporary Trusts And Estates Course, Wayne M. Gazur
Publications
No abstract provided.
A Fresh Look At State Asset Protection Trust Statutes, Ronald J. Mann
A Fresh Look At State Asset Protection Trust Statutes, Ronald J. Mann
Faculty Scholarship
This Article examines the rise of state asset protection trust ('APT) statutes. It juxtaposes two apparently contrary trends: an increase in formal legal responses suggesting that the trusts created under these statutes are likely to have at best limited enforceability and an increase in the adoption and use of these statutes. After summarizing the legal background out of which these two trends arise, I analyze the characteristics of the states that have chosen to adopt them to date and conclude that the size of a state is less predictive of adoption than broader social and economic characteristics of the populace. …
A Critical Research Agenda For Wills, Trusts And Estates, Bridget J. Crawford, Anthony C. Infanti
A Critical Research Agenda For Wills, Trusts And Estates, Bridget J. Crawford, Anthony C. Infanti
Articles
The law of wills, trusts, and estates could benefit from consideration of its development and impact on people of color; women of all colors; lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered individuals; low-income and poor individuals; the disabled; and nontraditional families. One can measure the law’s commitment to justice and equality by understanding the impact on these historically disempowered groups of the laws of intestacy, spousal rights, child protection, will formalities, will contests, and will construction; the creation, operation and construction of trusts; fiduciary administration; creditors’ rights; asset protection; nonprobate transfers; planning for incapacity and death; and wealth transfer taxation. This essay …
Rethinking Erisa's Promise Of Income Security In A World Of 401(K) Plans, Lawrence A. Frolik
Rethinking Erisa's Promise Of Income Security In A World Of 401(K) Plans, Lawrence A. Frolik
Articles
This article discusses the evolution of retirement income funds from defined benefit packages to 401(k) and IRA accounts and how the changing dynamic has reshaped the way retirees think about post-retirement income. The article outlines the mechanics of 401(k) accounts and rollover IRAs in the post-retirement period and presents questions about the ability of retirees to successfully address the complex issues relating to investment choices including, what entity they entrust their savings to, the volume and source of distributions, and long-term sufficiency planning. The article suggests that an increase in the use of annuities may help to resolve some of …
The Digital Death Conundrum: How Federal And State Laws Prevent Fiduciaries From Managing Digital Property, Christina L. Kunz, Damien A. Riehl, James D. Lamm, Peter J. Rademacher
The Digital Death Conundrum: How Federal And State Laws Prevent Fiduciaries From Managing Digital Property, Christina L. Kunz, Damien A. Riehl, James D. Lamm, Peter J. Rademacher
Faculty Scholarship
This article discusses four types of fiduciaries, each of which is affected by the vast growth in and the need to manage digital property. The article begins by defining digital property and discussing why it must be managed. The article then discusses how digital property affects powers of attorney, conservatorships, probate administration, and trusts. After illustrating the problems that digital property creates for each fiduciary, the article shifts to resolving these problems. It begins by debunking purported solutions by both private and governmental entities. It concludes by offering a holistic approach to resolving the conflicts facing account holders, fiduciaries, and …
Dispatches From The Trenches Of America's Great Gun Trust Wars, Lee-Ford Tritt
Dispatches From The Trenches Of America's Great Gun Trust Wars, Lee-Ford Tritt
UF Law Faculty Publications
Without question, the national dialogue pertaining to the right to bear arms and the possible expansion of gun control regulations is shaping up to be one of the more heated political topics of the twenty-first century. At the moment, fervent participants on both sides of this ongoing debate have focused a spotlight on an estate planning instrument commonly referred to as a “gun trust.” Typically, estate planning products rarely cause the kind of nationally impassioned discussion as seen with gun trusts. So why have trusts, a commonly used estate planning tool, become entangled in this lively, and often vitriolic, national …