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Full-Text Articles in Law
Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Holmes: A Tale Of Two Testaments, Stephen R. Alton
Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Holmes: A Tale Of Two Testaments, Stephen R. Alton
Faculty Scholarship
Author's Note: This Article takes the form of an epistolary exchange across the centuries, comparing and contrasting two noted wills in Victorian literature. To preserve verisimilitude, the author lets these letters and emails speak for themselves, without any formal introduction, just as would have occurred in Victorian epistolary fiction. It is the author's hope that the relevant testaments and the legal issues they present will make themselves clear as these exchanges proceed. Any reader desiring a more formal introduction to this Article is directed to the first email (below) written by the author to Mr. Utterson and Mr. Holmes; this …
Disrupting The Wealth Gap Cycles: An Empirical Study Of Testacy And Wealth, Danaya C. Wright
Disrupting The Wealth Gap Cycles: An Empirical Study Of Testacy And Wealth, Danaya C. Wright
UF Law Faculty Publications
In an empirical study of all decedents dying in 2013 in Alachua County, Florida whose estates were probated, either testate or intestate, the data show striking correlations between intestacy and lower wealth, and testacy and greater wealth. And the demographics of those who died intestate correspond to the demographics of those people at risk of falling into the cycle of wealth-dissipation. To explore the possible effects of intestacy and testacy on wealth and property succession, I analyzed 408 estates (293 testate and 115 intestate) across a variety of categories, including wealth, age, race, sex, and marital status. All of these …
Wills Formalities In The Twenty-First Century, Bridget J. Crawford
Wills Formalities In The Twenty-First Century, Bridget J. Crawford
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
Individuals have executed wills the same way for centuries. But over time, traditional requirements have relaxed. This Article makes two principal claims, both of which disrupt fundamental assumptions about the purposes and functions of wills formalities. First, the traditional requirements that a will must be in writing and signed by the testator in the presence of (or acknowledged before) witnesses have never adequately served their stated purposes. For that reason, strict compliance with formalities cannot be justified by their cautionary, protective, evidentiary, and channeling functions. Reducing or eliminating most of the long-standing requirements for execution of a will is consistent …
The Decline Of Revocation By Physical Act, Barry Cushman
The Decline Of Revocation By Physical Act, Barry Cushman
Journal Articles
The power to revoke one’s will by physical act was enshrined in Anglo-American law in 1677 by the Statute of Frauds. It remains the law in Great Britain, in such developed Commonwealth countries as Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and in each of the United States of America. Yet the revocation of wills by physical act has become badly out of phase with the law governing nonprobate transfers, which as a general matter requires that an instrument of transfer be revoked only by a writing signed by the transferor. This article surveys the place of revocation by physical act in …