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Full-Text Articles in Estates and Trusts

The Holy Grail? Designing And Teaching An Integrated Doctrine And Drafting Course, Claire C. Robinson May Oct 2018

The Holy Grail? Designing And Teaching An Integrated Doctrine And Drafting Course, Claire C. Robinson May

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

I’ve long considered teaching doctrine and skills together in a single course to be the holy grail of legal education. If we could do so successfully, we might make significant strides in providing a legal education that better prepares our students to be practicing lawyers. In spring 2016, my colleague Professor April Cherry and I took the plunge and collaboratively offered a course titled Estates and Trusts: Doctrine and Drafting at our institution, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. This essay describes our experience and lessons learned pursuing the holy grail.


The Will As An Implied Unilateral Arbitration Contract, E. Gary Spitko Jan 2016

The Will As An Implied Unilateral Arbitration Contract, E. Gary Spitko

Faculty Publications

A consensus has begun to develop in the case law, the academic commentary, and the statutory reform movement that a testator’s provision in her will mandating arbitration of any challenge to the will should not be enforceable against a beneficiary who has not agreed to the arbitration provision, at least where the will contestant, by her contest, seeks to increase her inheritance outside the will. Grounding this consensus is the widespread understanding that a will is not a contract. This Article seeks to challenge both the understanding that the will is not a contract and the opposition to enforcement of …


Case Note: In Re Estate Of Brown (Tenn. 2013), Lee T. Nutini Jun 2013

Case Note: In Re Estate Of Brown (Tenn. 2013), Lee T. Nutini

Lee T Nutini

A case note analyzing the current conflict in Tennessee precedent concerning contract-based will contests and their jurisdictional challenges. This article is now published in the Tennessee Law Review and is available on Westlaw or LexisNexis at 80 Tenn. L. Rev. 883.


Oral Will Contracts And The Statute Of Frauds In California, 1896-1980: A Summary And Evaluation , Marc P. Bouret Feb 2013

Oral Will Contracts And The Statute Of Frauds In California, 1896-1980: A Summary And Evaluation , Marc P. Bouret

Pepperdine Law Review

There is no longer any certainty that one can successfully argue that purely oral mutual promises to bequeath property are unenforceable due to the Statute of Frauds. The author traces the trends in the oral will contract area during the past eighty years. He then analyzes various exceptions to the Statute of Frauds which have developed to allow oral will contracts to be enforced during the lifetime of the promisor, or more frequently after his or her death.


Enforcing Family Promises: Reliance, Reciprocity, And Relational Contract, Melanie B. Leslie Jan 1999

Enforcing Family Promises: Reliance, Reciprocity, And Relational Contract, Melanie B. Leslie

Faculty Articles

Courts are willing, in commercial contexts, to enforce promises even without consideration when enforcement supports a norm of reciprocity-a norm which recognizes that promises are seldom totally gratuitous, but are often made in furtherance of reciprocal, long-term, trust-based relationships. In this article, Professor Leslie argues that relational contract principles are firmly embedded in wills law. Courts enforce the reciprocity norm in the family context just as they do in commercial contexts; this enforcement is seen, however, not in breach of promise suits, which occur rarely between family members, but rather in will contests. Despite the prevalent ideology of wills law, …


Certain Evasive And Protective Devices Affecting Succession To Decedents' Estates, Alvin Evans Feb 1934

Certain Evasive And Protective Devices Affecting Succession To Decedents' Estates, Alvin Evans

Michigan Law Review

In Anglo-American law for many generations the power of an owner of property to determine the disposal of his estate at death has met with but comparatively few limitations. The statute creating this power was motivated by the assumption that the interest of the owner, reaching even beyond death, is paramount to other social interests. This power is an important item in a capitalistic system. And even if he does not exercise his power, the decedent may rest assured that another statute will do for him approximately what he may be supposed to have desired.


Conveyancing In The Province Of Quebec, Howard S. Ross Apr 1915

Conveyancing In The Province Of Quebec, Howard S. Ross

Michigan Law Review

A solicitor who has had experience as a conveyancer in any of the other Canadian provinces is at first disappointed when he finds on coming to Quebec to practice that in Quebec the bulk of the conveyancing is done by Notaries who, as is well known, belong to a distinct profession founded on the French Notarial system. An Advocate may not be a Notary or a Notary an Advocate, at one and the same time. In a few cases young men take the examinations and qualify as Advocates and Notaries and then elect. Occasionally after practicing a number of years …


The Public Policy Of Contracts To Will Future Acquired Property, Joseph H. Drake Jan 1909

The Public Policy Of Contracts To Will Future Acquired Property, Joseph H. Drake

Articles

The general subject of wills upon consideration seems to have given courts and jurists a good deal of trouble, not only in England and America, but also in the continental countries. The Code Napoleon appears in terms actually to prohibit the making of reciprocal or mutual wills in the same instrument.