Estates and Trusts Commons^™

Dispensing With Administration, Paul E. Basye

Michigan Law Review

With an elaborate system existing in every state for the administration of decedents' estates, it should not be assumed that every estate is or need be subjected to official supervision by a probate court. According to studies made in this connection there is approximately one administration for every four deaths. In some cases there is no estate to be administered. In others it is of such small value that administration is neither required nor justified. Even when a decedent dies possessed of a moderate or large estate, it does not follow that administration is absolutely essential. It is the experience …

Abstracts, Mary Jane Plumer

Michigan Law Review

The abstracts consist merely of summaries of the facts and holdings of recent cases and are distinguished from the notes by the absence of discussion.

Abstracts, Mary Jane Plumer

Michigan Law Review

The abstracts consist merely of summaries of the facts and holdings of recent cases and are distinguished from the notes by the absence of discussion.

Abstracts, Mary Jane Plumer

Michigan Law Review

The abstracts consist merely of summaries of the facts and holdings of recent cases and are distinguished from the notes by the absence of discussion.

The Present Status Of "Illusory" Trusts-The Doctrine On Newman V. Dore Brought Down To Date, Edward A. Smith

Michigan Law Review

It has long been the policy of the law to provide for a widow by setting aside some portion of her deceased husband's estate for her future support. Such a policy, it has been said, dates back to the laws of Hammurabi and later evidences of it may. be found in the Justinian Code of the Roman Law, and in English law from the earliest times; its final manifestation being in the well-known common law dower. It is not with dower, however, that we are here concerned, for that institution is sufficiently well understood to require no discussion in this …

Abstracts, Mary Jane Plumer

Michigan Law Review

The abstracts consist merely of summaries of the facts and holdings of recent cases and are distinguished from the notes by the absence of discussion.

Administration Of Estates-Requirement Of Notice For Probate Of Will Or Grant Of Letters Of Administsration, Elizabeth Durfee

Michigan Law Review

To lawyers and judges in states which require notice for the initiation of probate or administration, it may come as a shock to discover that there are many jurisdictions in which these proceedings can be had without any notice whatever. It is the purpose of this note to investigate the situation in the various states, in order to show that in nearly half of them notice is not considered essential. The sole question to be considered is notice or no notice; this comment is not concerned with the kind of notice required, nor with the possibility of waiver of notice …

Joint Tenancy-Effect Of Word "Jointly"-Parol Evidence As To Intent

Michigan Law Review

The common law rule was well settled that a conveyance to two or more, not husband and wife, made them joint tenants, not tenants in common, unless language was used to show an intent that they were not to be joint tenants. The reason for such a rule having passed, the modern rule is to the opposite effect-two or more conveyees, with certain exceptions, are presumptively tenants in common. The Illinois statute, for example, declares that "no estate in joint tenancy in any lands ... shall be held or claimed under any grant . . . unless the premises therein …

Construction Of Private Instruments Where Adopted Children Are Concerned: Ii, J. Wesley Oler

Michigan Law Review

Thus far in the discussion the attempt has been to consider a number of common terms of general designation, such as "children," "issue," and "heirs," detached from other language with which they may be found and disassociated from the circumstances under which they may be used, with a view to estimating their intrinsic significance in resolving questions as to the effect of adoption upon the identification of persons designated by them. The examination from this point: of view could lead to the deduction that in themselves the particular terms of designation furnished varying degrees of assistance to the interpreter of …

Future Interests-Worthier Title Doctrine Applied To Remainder To Next Of Kin Where The Subject Matter Is Personalty, Margaret Groefsema S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The trustee bank petitioned for instructions as to the proper disposition of the remainder of a trust of personal property, the principal of which amounted to some $29,000 upon the life beneficiary's death in 1942. The donor had provided for a life estate in the income, the principal to go to the settler's statutory next of kin under the laws of intestacy of the state of Massachusetts in default of the exercise by the settler of a reserved power of appointment. The court, having held that a will which Nicolls, the settler, had executed in favor of various friends of …

Abstracts, Katharine Loomis

Michigan Law Review

The abstracts consist merely of summaries of the facts and holdings of recent cases and are distinguished from the notes by the absence of discussion.

Wills-Necessity Of Signature-Statutory Requirements Satisfied By Typewritten Name, Craig E. Davids S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Testatrix, having predeceased her husband by three hours, was believed to have died intestate, and her property passed to her husband's estate. Appellee, mother of testatrix, filed a claim against the estate for money owed by her daughter and son-in-law. A year after her claim had been settled by appellants, appellee filed for probate testatrix's will, in which appellee was named the sole legatee. The signature affixed to the instrument was not in the handwriting of testatrix but consisted only of her typewritten name, which testatrix had acknowledged as her signature before two witnesses on separate occasions. The lower court …

Trusts-Statute Of Frauds-Oral Trust Of Land And Proceeds, Margaret Groefsema S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

A conveyance was made of real property impressed with an oral trust unenforceable because of the statute of frauds requiring trusts of interests in land to be in writing. The land was later sold and the plaintiff as beneficiary of the parol trust sought to reach the proceeds of the sale. Held, the statute of frauds does not apply to personal property. Therefore the oral trust may be impressed upon the proceeds even though it could not have been enforced while the trust res remained realty. Simpson v. Clark, (Mass. 1944) 55 N.E. (2d) 10.

The Administration Of A Decedent's Estate As A Proceeding In Rem, Lewis M. Simes

Michigan Law Review

For over a century American courts and text writers have referred to the administration of a decedent's estate as a proceeding in rem. Indeed, it has recently been asserted that a probate proceeding is "universally recognized as a proceeding in rem." But more cautious persons have been content to suggest that it is at least "quasi in rem," or have carefully skirted the fog which is wont to envelop this area of the law and given it silent treatment. Thus, the American Law Institute Restatement of the Law of Judgments ( which purports to include the law of probate decrees) …

Construction Of Private Instrument's Where Adopted Children Are Concerned: I, J. Wesley Oler

Michigan Law Review

The institution of adoption is of ancient tradition, knowing primitive origin and tracing its history through many civilizations. Today its universality still bespeaks the human needs from which it springs.

Recent growth of statutory reforms, procedural and substantive, in our adoption system reflects the increasing social interest of the state in this field. Procedurally, extensive strides have been made to safeguard those directly concerned in adoption, and through them to protect the public in general. Substantively the lagging but nonetheless noticeable trend is toward complete legal equivalence between relationship by adoption and relationship by blood. At present, however, such equivalence …

Revocation Of Wills-Dependent Relative Revocation, L. M. S.

Michigan Law Review

Testator, after providing in his will for the payment of debts and expenses of administration, devised and bequeathed the residue of his estate "to my wife, Alice B. Houghton, if she is living at the time of my death; and if she is not living at the time of my death, then . . . to my brother-in-law, Stephen M. Stuart, of Fort Myers, Florida," The will was duly-executed in this form, but thereafter the words "my brother-in-law, Stephen M. Stuart, of Fort Myers, Florida," were lined out and the testator inserted the following: "Give to Louisa Paquin the shop …