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Full-Text Articles in Law

The Testamentary Foundations Of Commercial Arbitration, Peter B. Rutledge Jan 2015

The Testamentary Foundations Of Commercial Arbitration, Peter B. Rutledge

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This Article offers the first systematic treatment of the relationship between commercial arbitration and testamentary arbitration. (By testamentary arbitration, I mean an arbitration clause contained in a will requiring beneficiaries to resolve differences over the estate by means of an enforceable decision by a private party rather than judicial resolution in a probate court.) Recent scholarship and jurisprudence have questioned the enforceability of these arrangements as incompatible with the requirement of a written "agreement" between parties to the arbitration. Contrary to these views, close examination of the historical record of testamentary arbitration leading to the Federal Arbitration Act's enactment reveals …


Georgia's Proposed Dynasty Trust: Giving The Dead Too Much Control?, Verner F. Chaffin Sep 2000

Georgia's Proposed Dynasty Trust: Giving The Dead Too Much Control?, Verner F. Chaffin

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Georgia should resist the urge to join the parade of states that have overturned the Rule Against Perpetuities. We do not neet the dynasty trust in Georgia. The repeal of perpetuities laws ignores the reasons for the Rule Against Perpetuities and uncritically assumes that preserving family wealth in perpetuity is a desirable social goal. The Rule is still needed to prevent persons long removed from the current scene from tying up wealth without restriction and from unduly influencing the behavior of those living in the present. For background purposes, this Article reviews the legislative history of Georgia's Rule Against Perpetuities …


Estate Creditors, The Constitution, And The Uniform Probate Code, Sarajane Love Mar 1996

Estate Creditors, The Constitution, And The Uniform Probate Code, Sarajane Love

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The United States Supreme Court's decision in Tulsa Professional Collection Services, Inc. v. Pope caused the usually staid legal enclave of estate administration to sit alert. The Court declared unconstitutional an Oklahoma statute that barred creditors of decedents from filing claims against the decedents' estates two months after published notice of the commencement of probate proceedings. The statute violated the due process rights of known and reasonably ascertainable creditors because it did not require a better form of notice to them. In failing to require actual notice to known creditors, the statute was not drastically atypical of other statutes regulating …


Ethical Considerations In Medicaid Estate Planning: An Analysis Of The Aba Model Rules Of Professional Conduct, Eleanor Crosby Lanier, Ira M. Leff Jan 1994

Ethical Considerations In Medicaid Estate Planning: An Analysis Of The Aba Model Rules Of Professional Conduct, Eleanor Crosby Lanier, Ira M. Leff

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The purpose of this article is to provide a starting point for discussion of ethical issues related to the practice of Medicaid estate planning. The authors explore the history of attorney involvement in planning and financing long-term care. They also analyze how the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct address the ethical dilemmas that arise in practice, using a case study to illustrate some of these issues. The individual authors' perspectives on this practice differ with respect to certain issues. One is a former Legal Services lawyer, and the other has a private practice which focuses on Medicaid estate planning.


Broken Promises Revisited: The Window Of Vulnerability For Surviving Spouses Under Erisa, Camilla E. Watson Mar 1991

Broken Promises Revisited: The Window Of Vulnerability For Surviving Spouses Under Erisa, Camilla E. Watson

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While there are pervasive problems with the current ERISA legislation, this Article will focus only on survivor benefits and will concentrate in particular on the short-term marriage provision. This Article will maintain that facial neutrality notwithstanding, the short-term marriage provision is discriminatory in effect, grounded in dubious logic, and unsupportable from a historical perspective. In order to demonstrate this, this Article will delve thoroughly into the historical development of ERISA, with particular emphasis on the survivor benefit provisions. The depth to which this Article plumbs the general development of ERISA is intended to demonstrate the weak historical foundation on which …


Transfers Prior To Marriage And The Uniform Probate Code's Redesigned Elective Share - Why The Partnership Is Not Yet Complete, Rena C. Seplowitz Jan 1991

Transfers Prior To Marriage And The Uniform Probate Code's Redesigned Elective Share - Why The Partnership Is Not Yet Complete, Rena C. Seplowitz

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No abstract provided.


Testamentary Substitutes: Retained Interests, Custodial Accounts And Contractual Transactions—A New Approach, Sidney Kwestel, Rena C. Seplowitz Jan 1988

Testamentary Substitutes: Retained Interests, Custodial Accounts And Contractual Transactions—A New Approach, Sidney Kwestel, Rena C. Seplowitz

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No abstract provided.


Testamentary Substitutes—A Time For Statutory Clarification, Sidney Kwestel, Rena C. Seplowitz Jan 1988

Testamentary Substitutes—A Time For Statutory Clarification, Sidney Kwestel, Rena C. Seplowitz

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No abstract provided.


Transfer -On-Death Securities Registration: A New Title Form, Richard V. Wellman Apr 1987

Transfer -On-Death Securities Registration: A New Title Form, Richard V. Wellman

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This article is inspired by a new form for registering corporate shares that is now available to certain stockholders of Southwestern Bell Corporation (SBC). Designed to replace stock registrations that make two or more persons appear to be co-owners, the new form, referred to herein as a transfer-on-death (TOD) registration, enables a sole owner to register a designation of a death beneficiary in whose favor a transfer on death of the registered shares may occur outside the probate process. The new registration form extends a key provision of the Uniform Probate Code (U.P.C.) that was designed to encourage development of …


The Rule Against Perpetuities As Applied To Georgia Wills And Trusts: A Survey And Suggestions For Reform, Verner F. Chaffin Jan 1982

The Rule Against Perpetuities As Applied To Georgia Wills And Trusts: A Survey And Suggestions For Reform, Verner F. Chaffin

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The prevalent criticism seems to be that the Rule Against Perpetuities, as presently applied, does not further the best interests of society and therefore should be changed to make it work better. To determine how well the Rule is operating, a critical examination will be made of Georgia statutory law and decisions involving its application to class gifts, private trusts, charitable gifts, commercial transactions, powers of appointment, and to various types of future interests including reverters, rights of entry, and executory interests. This Article will also explore techniques for avoiding the lethal effect of the Rule through draftsmanship, judicial construction, …


Dispensing With Administration, Estates Of Absentees, Simultaneous Death, Appointment And Qualification Of Domestic And Foreign Personal Representatives: A Critique Of Statutory Requirements, Verner F. Chaffin Jul 1980

Dispensing With Administration, Estates Of Absentees, Simultaneous Death, Appointment And Qualification Of Domestic And Foreign Personal Representatives: A Critique Of Statutory Requirements, Verner F. Chaffin

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This Article will survey certain aspects of decedent's estate administration, including the situations where administration may be avoided, the administration of estates of absentees and missing persons, and the problems involved where simultaneous death occurs. The various types of personal representatives, their appointment and qualification, and the distinctions between foreign and local personal representatives will be considered. Georgia law will be given a critical appraisal, its shortcomings will be delineated, and suggestions will be made for improvement in areas where the need is greatest.


Imperfect Gifts As Declarations Of Trust: An Unapologetic Anomaly, Sarajane N. Love Jan 1979

Imperfect Gifts As Declarations Of Trust: An Unapologetic Anomaly, Sarajane N. Love

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This article will address circumstances under which 'gifts' of personalty, made without legal supervision by lay people, should be construed as declarations of trust in order to carry out the wishes of the property owner. The declaration of trust doctrine may salvage some attempted gift transactions because the property which is the subject of the trust need not be delivered to the trust beneficiary.


The Probate And Establishment Of Domestic And Foreign Wills: An Analysis Of Statutory Requirements, Verner F. Chaffin, Donna G. Barwick Sep 1978

The Probate And Establishment Of Domestic And Foreign Wills: An Analysis Of Statutory Requirements, Verner F. Chaffin, Donna G. Barwick

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In our mobile society, ownership of property in Georgia by nonresidents is increasing. Few, if any, nonresidents prepare separate wills to dispose of their property in a foreign state or make sure that the one will adheres to the formalities of every state in which they own property. Thus, it is reasonable to expect that the problems of probate of foreign wills will increase in future years. Likewise, Georgia testators increasingly desire to name family members or friends domiciled in other states to serve in a fiduciary capacity under their wills. This Article will describe contemporary statutory patterns which deal …


A Reappraisal Of The Wealth Transmission Process: The Surviving Spouse, Year's Support And Intestate Succession, Verner F. Chaffin Jan 1976

A Reappraisal Of The Wealth Transmission Process: The Surviving Spouse, Year's Support And Intestate Succession, Verner F. Chaffin

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This Article will attempt to describe and evalute certain aspects of the wealth transmission process. Attention will be given to the surviving spouse's intestate share and its size, the spouse's protection against disinheritance through forced share legislation or otherwise, and, more significantly, whether such a drastic legislative intrusion on freedom of testation is really needed. The adequacy of the support allowance for the decedent's family during the period of administration will also be explored. Attention will also be focused on selected provisions of the intestacy scheme, such as the order of succession, the doctrine of advancements, whether distribution is per …


Multiple Party Accounts: Georgia Law Compared With The Uniform Probate Code, Richard V. Wellman, J. Foster Clark Jul 1974

Multiple Party Accounts: Georgia Law Compared With The Uniform Probate Code, Richard V. Wellman, J. Foster Clark

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Joint accounts established in financial institutions have become increasingly popular as inexpensive and convenient means of nontestamentary disposition of wealth. Varied and often unsuitable legal theories which have been relied upon to validate such attempts have, however, resulted in inconsistent case results in what should otherwise be a fairly simple area. In their article, Professor Wellman and Mr. Clark explain this disparate treatment and demonstrate the desirability of Article VI, Part 1 of the Uniform Probate Code as a statutory solution for the problems presented.


Descendible Future Interests In Georiga: The Effect Of The Preference For Early Vesting, Verner F. Chaffin Apr 1973

Descendible Future Interests In Georiga: The Effect Of The Preference For Early Vesting, Verner F. Chaffin

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In past issues of the Review Professor Chaffin has illuminated many areas of Trust and Estates Law. In this Article he treats the inscrutable area of descendible future interests. Future interests which do not terminate at death obviously result in nonpossessory property passing through the estates of their holders. This Article first shows the unhappy consequences of such passage of property. It then points out not only that most draftsmen and testators are unaware of the undesirable consequences of creating descendible future interests, but also that many such interests exist as a result of Georgia's constructional preference for early vesting …


An Update On Federal Estate And Gift Taxation: Recent Decisions And Revenue Rulings, Verner F. Chaffin Sep 1972

An Update On Federal Estate And Gift Taxation: Recent Decisions And Revenue Rulings, Verner F. Chaffin

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"Tax law is constantly evolving, never static, and always in the process of becoming something other than it was." In the following survey, Professor Chaffin brings us abreast of the latest changes in the field of estate and gift tax and gives us insight into the future direction of the law in this area.


The Time Gap In Wills: Shifting Assets And Shrinking Estates--Obsolescence And Testamentary Planning In Georgia, Verner F. Chaffin Jul 1972

The Time Gap In Wills: Shifting Assets And Shrinking Estates--Obsolescence And Testamentary Planning In Georgia, Verner F. Chaffin

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If estates were static, property inalienable and assets immutable, this article would serve as nothing more than an academic exercise. However, estates grow and shrink, and the assets comprising an estate shift from one form of wealth to another. Obviously, such changes in the composition of property affected by a will can materially disrupt the testamentary plan of the decedent. In his Article Professor Chaffin investigates the effects of changes in property passing under a will and the legislative and judicial response in Georgia to the problems posed by such changes.


The Time In Gap In Wills: Problems Under Georgia's Lapse Statutes, Verner F. Chaffin Jan 1972

The Time In Gap In Wills: Problems Under Georgia's Lapse Statutes, Verner F. Chaffin

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The makeup of the class of beneficiaries and the composition of the property affected by a will may be substantially altered by events occurring after the execution of the will by the testator. Naturally, such alterations may materially disrupt the testamentary plan. Such changes in beneficiaries typically involve the application of the state's so-called lapse statutes. In his Article, Professor Chaffin explores the Georgia statutory scheme and the problems which have arisen thereunder. In a subsequent article to appear in this volume, he will investigate the effects of ademption and abatement of property passing under the will.


Improving Georgia's Probate Code, Verner F. Chaffin Apr 1970

Improving Georgia's Probate Code, Verner F. Chaffin

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No one would deny that our laws should provide an efficient and rational system for the transmission of wealth, whether by intestacy or under the terms of a will. The purpose of this article is to suggest several specific reforms and to attempt to explain why they should be made. No effort is made to enumerate all the troublesome areas. The changes recommended are not definitive or comprehensive, but are simply illustrative of matters that a complete study would bring to light. Total agreement with the writer's conclusions would be undesirable and certainly unexpected.


An Unprincipled Decision On A Will, Alan Watson Feb 1969

An Unprincipled Decision On A Will, Alan Watson

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In this article Professor Alan Watson reviews the decision of Alfenus from Ancient Rome (D.28.5.45 Alfenus 5 dig).