Law Commons^™

The Law Of Equitable Distribution: When Is Domestic Violence More Than Just A Factor In Divorce?, Ada Tonkonogy

Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development

(Excerpt)

Imagine you are married. After many years there are problems in your marriage. Some of these issues are beyond your control. You find out that your spouse is cheating on you. You plan to come home from work and confront your spouse about their infidelities. You even begin to think about the divorce process, confronting the concerns raised in your mind. I’ll be okay. I have a great career, I have worked my entire life, and I have saved. I will be okay.

That night you approach your spouse. After an argument breaks out, you tell your spouse that …

The Property Law Of Tokens, Juliet M. Moringiello, Christopher K. Odinet

Faculty Scholarship

Non-fungible tokens—or NFTs, as they are better known—have taken the world by storm. The idea behind an NFT is that by owning a certain thing (specifically, a digital token that is tracked on a blockchain), one can hold property rights in something else (either a real or intangible asset). In the early part of 2021, NFTs for items ranging from a gif of a pop-tart cat with a rainbow tail, to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s first tweet, to a New York Times column (about NFTs!) have sold for millions of dollars over the internet. Promoters assert that NFTs are the …

Libor Phaseout: Litigation Is Coming, John Michael Neubert

Michigan Business & Entrepreneurial Law Review

This paper will explore the different steps market participants should take to make sure they are prepared when LIBOR is phased out in December 2021. Part I will focus on the actions market participants should do before going into negotiations that can increase their potential to reach a consensual agreement. Part II will explore what financial firms should be prepared for during the negotiation process and what claims may arise when no agreement is reached. The decision for how to handle any LIBOR-linked financial instrument in their portfolio should be left to the discretion of market participants themselves. This paper …

The Law Applicable To Trademark Gift Deeds: A Study Of The Provision Of Article 49 Of Kuwait Law No. 5 Of 1961 Regulating Relationships With Foreign Elements Law Applicable To Trademark Gift Contract: A Study Of Article 49 Of Kuwaiti Law No. 5 Of 1961 Regulating Relations With Foreign Parties

UAEU Law Journal

This paper addresses the question of the law applicable to a trademark gift deed involving a foreign element as trademarks have become movable, intangible assets that can be transferred to third parties. The significance of studying the applicable law lies in the fact that it helps identify the law applicable to a trademark gift deed that involves a foreign element pursuant to Article 49 of Kuwait Law No. 5 of 1961. This paper attempts to clearly characterise a gift deed in order to avoid confusion with other forms of deeds, such as sale deeds and wills. It also tries to …

The Essential Roles Of Agency Law, Gabriel Rauterberg

Michigan Law Review

This Article suggests a fundamental shift in how we think about agency. The essential function of agency law lies not only in enabling the delegation of authority, as is widely suggested, but as significantly in its effect on creditors’ rights through asset partitioning. There is an increasing temptation in legal scholarship to treat agency law as a sideshow confined to the first day of corporations class. This is because much of what agency law does in commerce could simply be accomplished through standard-form contracts that provide default terms for the relationships among firms, their managers, and third parties. Even agency’s …

The Perils Of Self-Directed Iras, Kathryn Kennedy

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

Individual retirement accounts were created in 1974 as tax-sheltered retirement savings for employees whose employer did not offer an employer-provided retirement vehicle. Since then, they have been used primarily as rollover vehicles, such that amounts accumulated under employer-provided retirement plans can be rolled over into an individual retirement account. This Article examines the perils involved with a rollover IRA owner decides to invest his IRA assets in non-traditional assets.

Strengthening The Passivity Default, Ian Ayres, Edward Fox

Articles

In The Prudence of Passivity, Bryon Harmon and Laura Fisher (hereafter HF) argue that "passive management become the default approach for the investment of trust funds, to be abandoned only when circumstances specifically dictate the use of active management."' In this comment we argue that their thesis could be strengthened (i) by more clearly distinguishing between default law and default investment practices, (ii) by more clearly articulating their favored altering rules.

Venezuela Undermines Gold Miner Crystallex's Attempts To Recover On Its Icsid Award, Sam Wesson

Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

Risk-Averse Contract Interpretation, Aditi Bagchi

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Getting To Equal: Resolving The Judicial Impasse On The Weight Of Non-Monetary Contribution In Kenya's Marital Asset Division, Benedeta Prudence Mutiso

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

Marital property law reforms and changing international human rights standards in the late 20th and early 21st century prompted Kenya to end certain discriminatory practices against women, especially in the area of property rights. For 50 years, Kenya relied on England’s century-old law, the Married Women’s Property Act of 1882, to regulate property rights. In 2010, Kenya adopted a new Constitution that called for equality between men and women, and in 2013, Kenya enacted independent legislation in the form of the Matrimonial Property Act (MPA). The MPA provides a basis for trial courts to divide marital property upon divorce. Specifically, …

Equitable Sharing Aids Circumventing State Civil Asset Forfeiture, Ella Fisher

Economic Crime Forensics Capstones

Civil Asset Forfeiture (CIVIL ASSET FORFEITURE) is a disputable law enforcement asset utilized to combat the war on drugs and criticized as an abusive practice. Are law enforcement agencies really combatting the war on drugs using civil asset forfeiture law or just using the law for their own self interests? Civil Asset Forfeiture abuse relates to perverse incentives which are further aided by the federal equitable sharing program (ESP). Civil asset forfeiture law allows owners’ assets to be seized and forfeited, by law enforcement agencies without a warrant and/or a criminal conviction. When federal agencies adopt and prosecute, state and …

Integrating Micro And Macro Policy Levers In Response To Financial Crises, Daniel A. Crane, Markus Kitzmuller, Graciela Miralles

Michigan Business & Entrepreneurial Law Review

The 2008–09 Global Financial Crisis originated from a poor incentive structure in the asset market derived from subprime mortgages. The ultimate bursting and unwinding of an asset bubble (here highly overvalued real estate prices woven into a complex multilayer network of securitization, so called collateralized debt obligations or CDOs) put enormous stress on the financial system, spreading through the global network economy and ultimately resulting in the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Economists today agree that the severe economic fallout can be largely attributed to the poor systemic performance of international financial markets. Global macroeconomic imbalances, as well …

Till Offshore Do Us Part: Uncovering Assets Hidden From Spouses And Tax Authorities, Khrista Mccarden

Saint Louis University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Convention Providing A Uniform Law On The Form Of An International Will: Problems With State Probate Law, Jack N. Sibley

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

From Incentive To Commodity To Asset: How International Law Is Reconceptualizing Intellectual Property, Rochelle Dreyfuss, Susy Frankel

Michigan Journal of International Law

The intellectual property landscape is changing. As Jerry Reichman once observed, intellectual property rights were islands in a sea of the public domain until domestic laws expanded to include such “innovations” as business methods, software, scents, and sounds and turned the public domain into a pond surrounded by a continent of rights. Reichman spoke towards the end of the 20th century, and whatever problems accompanied this change, in truth (to paraphrase Voltaire’s view of the Holy Roman Empire), the concept of “intellectual property rights” was predominantly about neither “property” nor “rights” (nor was it always “intellectual”). Rather, copyright, patent, and …

The New York Llc Act At Twenty: Is Piercing Still “Enveloped In The Midst Of Metaphor”?, Miriam R. Albert

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Public Actors In Private Markets: Toward A Developmental Finance State, Robert Hockett, Saule Omarova

Saule T. Omarova

The recent financial crisis brought into sharp relief fundamental questions about the social function and purpose of the financial system, including its relation to the “real” economy. This Article argues that, to answer these questions, we must recapture a distinctively American view of the proper relations among state, financial market, and development. This programmatic vision – captured in what we call a “developmental finance state” – is based on three key propositions: (1) that economic and social development is not an “end-state” but a continuing national policy priority; (2) that the modalities of finance are the most potent means of …

A Simple Theory Of Complex Valuation, Anthony J. Casey, Julia Simon-Kerr

Michigan Law Review

Complex valuations of assets, companies, government programs, damages, and the like cannot be done without expertise, yet judges routinely pick an arbitrary value that falls somewhere between the extreme numbers suggested by competing experts. This creates costly uncertainty and undermines the legitimacy of the court. Proposals to remedy this well-recognized difficulty have become increasingly convoluted. As a result, no solution has been effectively adopted and the problem persists. This Article suggests that the valuation dilemma stems from a misconception of the inquiry involved. Courts have treated valuation as its own special type of inquiry distinct from traditional fact-finding. We show …

A Sea Change In Creditor Priorities, Kristen Van De Biezenbos

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Article argues that the operation of maritime law undermines a primary justification for creditor priorities under U.S. law. Under current law, when a debtor becomes insolvent, its secured creditors will be paid the full amount of their debt to the extent of their security interest, even if that leaves nothing to pay unsecured creditors. This is controversial with respect to involuntary unsecured creditors, particularly those with tort claims against the debtor. Defenders of this scheme of priorities have argued that allowing greater priority to involuntary creditors would hinder the availability or increase the cost of credit. However, involuntary creditors …

Tax Reform Proposals On A Gift Tax On The Transfer Of Property By Nonresidents, Daze Swift Lee

University of Massachusetts Law Review

This Note raises taxation issues pertaining to a gift tax on the transfer of property by nonresidents under current United States tax rules. It further illustrates patterns and trends to evade a gift tax using transaction maneuvers. These issues are defined in three categories: a gift tax on the transfer of property situated only within the United States by a nonresident, no gift tax on the transfer of intangible assets, and transferee liability. In response to such issues, this Note calls for corresponding proposals to resolve gift taxation problems. It proposes that a gift tax should be imposed on the …

Ip Basics: Managing Intellectual Property, Thomas G. Field Jr.

Law Faculty Scholarship

This provides an overview of the IP management process, including the key decisions to be made in the effort to make the most of intellectual property.

Expanding The Ponzi Scheme Presumption, David R. Hague

Faculty Articles

Ponzi schemes and other investment frauds inevitably end up in bankruptcy or receivership, leaving behind numerous victims—many of whom invested their life savings in the scheme without any knowledge of its fraudulent nature. Although trustees and receivers can sometimes recover some of the fraudulently acquired funds from the assets of the perpetrators, in most cases, those assets fall woefully short of the victims’ losses. This leads to fraudulent transfer lawsuits (claw-back actions) against those who are suspected to have profited from the wrongdoing.

A transfer is fraudulent if it was made with the actual intent to defraud, but actual fraud …

Reaffirmation Agreements In Consumer Bankruptcy Cases, Daniel A. Austin, Donald R. Lassman

University of Massachusetts Law Review

The following is from Chapter II of our book, Reaffirmation Agreements in Consumer Bankruptcy Cases. This chapter sets forth the debtor’s obligations in connection with reaffirmation of secured debt.

Inherit The Cloud: The Role Of Private Contracts In Distributing Or Deleting Digital Assets At Death, Natalie M. Banta

Fordham Law Review

We live in a world permeated with technology. Through our online accounts we write emails, we store pictures, videos, and documents, we pay bills and conduct financial transactions, we buy digital books and music, and we manage loyalty programs. Digital assets have quickly replaced physical letters, pictures, books, compact discs, and documents stored in filing cabinets and shoeboxes. The emergence of digital assets raises pressing questions regarding the treatment of digital assets at an account holder’s death. Unlike digital assets’ physical counterparts, an account holder does not control the ultimate fate of digital assets. Instead, digital assets are controlled by …

Kickstarter My Heart: Extraordinary Popular Delusions And The Madness Of Crowdfunding Constraints And Bitcoin Bubbles, David Groshoff

William & Mary Business Law Review

This Article builds on my existing research program that (a) broadly seeks to analyze laws, regulations, instruments, and policy levers that inhibit a market’s ability to recognize an asset’s intrinsic value, whether in terms of financial, social, or human capital, and (b) explores and advances interdisciplinary corporate governance theories by employing a heterodox economic analytic to derive its proposal to the paradox of an unregulated virtual currency market (Bitcoins) and an overly regulated crowdfunding market (Kickstarter).

The Article functions not only as an homage to Charles MacKay’s legendary 1841 book, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, which described …

How An Obscure Tennessee Opinion Uncovers The Veil Of Legal Malpractice Between Asset-Protection Trusts And The Uniform Trust Code., Charles Epps Ipock

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

In the year 2000, the Uniform Law Commissioners approved the Uniform Trust Code (UTC). This was the first effort to provide states with an all-inclusive model for codifying their trust laws. Since then, at least twenty-three states adopted some, or most of the UTC. But this enactment did not come without controversy. Most of the controversies stem from provisions regarding asset-protection trusts. The net result of asset-protection trusts within the UTC essentially disposes of discretionary trusts by requiring them to contain spendthrift language. The undesirable effect of these provisions is that without a spendthrift clause any creditor can attach a …

Crummey Trusts: An Exploitation Of The Annual Exclusion, Dora Arash

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Wills, Trusts, And Estates, J. William Gray Jr., Katherine E. Ramsey

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Transferring Wealth With The Grantor Retained Annuity Trust: Gratifying Results At Low Cost, Barbara Freedman Wand

Marquette Elder's Advisor

By using a Grantor Retained Annuity Trust (GRAT), a client can transfer significantly appreciating assets to family members at a reduced transfer tax cost. This article discusses strategies for maximizing the effectiveness of a GRAT.

Retirees Can Benefit From Roth Iras, Sara Buscher

Marquette Elder's Advisor

Contrary to past beliefs, Roth IRAs can benefit retirees. This article discusses retirement planning for individuals of retirement age. This article also discusses how Roth IRA conversions can optimize retirement income, strengthen estates, and reducing tax liabilities.