Estates and Trusts Commons^™

Sperms And Estates: An Unadulterated Functionally Based Approach To Parent-Child Property Succession, Lee-Ford Tritt

UF Law Faculty Publications

The Article argues that the sanguinary nexus test, the dominant standard for determining whether an individual has a right to inherit property when another dies, has become an increasingly frustrating, and arguably arcane, legal tool in light of the diversity of family relationships extant in modern American life. The sanguinary nexus test determines child status based upon ties of “blood.” Considering the evolving notions of family structures and advances in reproductive technologies involving cloning, surrogacy and egg/sperm donation, serious questions arise about whether the existing sanguinary nexus test can produce results consistent with the fundamental principle of testamentary freedom underlying …

A Comment On Unification, Grayson M.P. Mccouch

UF Law Faculty Publications

This Article discusses recent proposals aimed at unifying the law of wills and nonprobate transfers. The author notes that default rules of construction present the strongest case for unification, but contends that distinctions between wills and nonprobate transfers remain important in the areas of formalities and restrictions affecting third-party rights. The author concludes that the policy goal should be to allow wills and nonprobate transfers to operate smoothly as complementary methods of deathtime wealth transmission.

Probate Law Reform And Nonprobate Transfers, Grayson M.P. Mccouch

UF Law Faculty Publications

The advent of widespread, large-scale probate avoidance has added a new dimension to the project of probate law reform. When the Uniform Probate Code made its debut in 1969, its primary goal was to modernize traditional probate procedures and make them more uniform, flexible, and efficient. The Code's reforms were in part a response to the rise of will substitutes which offered a ready means of transferring property at death outside the probate system. In the intervening years, however, will substitutes have continued to proliferate, while traditional probate procedures have resisted comprehensive reform. The probate system has not become obsolete …

Will Substitutes Under The Revised Uniform Probate Code, Grayson M.P. Mccouch

UF Law Faculty Publications

Recent years have witnessed a dramatic increase in probate avoidance. Revocable trusts, joint-and-survivor or pay-on-death (“POD”) bank accounts, transfer-on-death (“TOD”) security registrations and other will substitutes have proliferated and emerged as successful competitors of the probate system. In response to this “nonprobate revolution,” the drafters of the Uniform Probate Code (“UPC”) have begun to reconsider the scope and direction of probate reform. The 1989 and 1990 UPC revisions reflect a new emphasis on integrating the law of probate and nonprobate transfers.

Nevertheless, the nonprobate revolution remains incomplete. Although the revised UPC establishes uniform constructional rules for wills and will substitutes, …