Estates and Trusts Commons^™

Honoring Probable Intent In Intestacy: An Empirical Assessment Of The Default Rules And The Modern Family, Danaya C. Wright, Beth Sterner

Danaya C. Wright

This article provides preliminary analysis of an empirical study of nearly 500 wills probated in Alachua and Escambia Counties in the State of Florida in 2013. The particular focus of the study is to determine if there are noticeable patterns of property distribution preferences among decedents based on their diverse family relationships. Earlier empirical studies of distribution preferences indicated that a majority of married decedents wanted to give all or most of their estates to their surviving spouses. As a result of these studies, most states amended their probate codes to give surviving spouses a sizable percentage of a decedent …

Inheritance Equity: Reforming The Inheritance Penalties Facing Children In Non-Traditional Families, Danaya C. Wright

Danaya C. Wright

This Article examines how more than 50% of children living today may be disadvantaged by 1950s era inheritance laws that privilege and protect only those children living in nuclear families with their biological parents. Because so many children today are living in blended families — single-parent families, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer/questioning (LGBTQ) families, or are living with relatives — their right to inherit from the persons who function as their parents are severely limited by most state probate codes, even though they would likely be entitled to child support under the parent-child definitions of most of those states' …

The Method In Fiduciary Law's Mixed Messages, Evan J. Criddle

Evan J. Criddle

No abstract provided.

Liberty In Loyalty: A Republican Theory Of Fiduciary Law, Evan J. Criddle

Evan J. Criddle

Conventional wisdom holds that the fiduciary duty of loyalty is a prophylactic rule that serves to deter and redress harmful opportunism. This idea can be traced back to the dawn of modern fiduciary law in England and the United States, and it has inspired generations of legal scholars to attempt to explain and justify the duty of loyalty from an economic perspective. Nonetheless, this Article argues that the conventional account of fiduciary loyalty should be abandoned because it does not adequately explain or justify fiduciary law’s core features.

The normative foundations of fiduciary loyalty come into sharper focus when viewed …

Virginia Survey Of Law: Property Section; Trusts And Estates Section, Lynda L. Butler

Lynda L. Butler

No abstract provided.

Bank Liability For Fiduciary Fraud, Marion W. Benfield Jr., Peter A. Alces

Peter A. Alces

No abstract provided.

Your Money Or Your Wife's?: Social Security Changes Considered, Neal Devins

Neal E. Devins

No abstract provided.

Of Piketty And Perpetuities: Dynastic Wealth In The Twenty-First Century (And Beyond), Eric Kades

Eric A. Kades

For the first time since independence, in a nation founded in large part on the rejection of a fixed nobility determined by birth and perpetuated by inheritance, America is paving the way for the creation of dynastic family wealth. Abolition of the Rule Against Perpetuities in over half the states along with sharp reductions in, and likely elimination of, the federal estate tax mean that there soon will be no obstacles to creating large pools of dynastic wealth insuring lavish incomes to heirs for generations without end. The timing of these legal changes could hardly be worse. Marshaling innovative economic …

Purpose Trusts As A Planning Tool For The 21st Century, Thomas E. Simmons, Brad Myers

Thomas E. Simmons

No abstract provided.

Unwinding Irrevocable Trusts, Thomas E. Simmons

Thomas E. Simmons

No abstract provided.

Conflict-Of-Interest-Infected Virtual Representatives And A Cure, Thomas E. Simmons

Thomas E. Simmons

The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll's Will: A Tale Of Testamentary Capacity, Stephen R. Alton

Stephen Alton

Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic novella, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, published in 1886, is the well-known tale of a respected scientist (Dr. Henry Jekyll) who transforms himself into an evil-doer (Mr. Edward Hyde). While the work raises issues of tort and criminal liability, this article analyzes the legal issues presented by one particular and crucial plot device that Stevenson employs—the last will of Dr. Jekyll. This will so obsesses Jekyll’s friend and solicitor, Gabriel John Utterson (through whose eyes the story unfolds), that he is impelled to seek the truth behind his friend’s relationship to Hyde. …

El Fideicomiso En América Latina: Reflexiones Para La Comparación Jurídica, Vanessa Villanueva Collao

Vanessa Villanueva Collao

No abstract provided.

Equitable Compensation For Public Trust Takings, James R. Rasband

James R. Rasband

No abstract provided.

The Inappropriate Imposition Of Court-Ordered Mediation In Will Contests , Victoria J. Haneman

Victoria J. Haneman

Mediation settlements that are shaped or driven by non-legal considerations are not problematic, unless and until the process of mediation is designed and imposed upon the parties through state action (namely, the judicial system). Because the approach taken in mediation ineradicably strains against the legal rules applied by the courts adjudicating those same cases, a legitimate question arises as to whether or not instituting court-ordered mediation programs that mandate mediation in will contest cases is appropriate. The contention of this Article is not that mediation is inappropriately used by the parties to a will contest case, but instead that court-ordered …

Dispensing (With) Electronic Wills, Thomas E. Simmons

Thomas E. Simmons

No abstract provided.

A Will For Willa Cather, Thomas E. Simmons

Thomas E. Simmons

Income Tax Concerns With Purpose Trusts, Thomas E. Simmons

Thomas E. Simmons

No abstract provided.

Introducing Virtual Representation, Thomas E. Simmons

Thomas E. Simmons

Fiduciary Governance, Paul B. Miller, Andrew S. Gold

Paul Miller

The fiduciary relationship is one of the most fundamental legal relationships, and its importance for both public and private law is increasingly recognized. Fiduciary mandates typically involve one person—the fiduciary—administering the affairs or property of other persons—an individual beneficiary or group of beneficiaries. Yet, as we will demonstrate, this is not the only way fiduciary relationships are structured. Most accounts of fiduciary law oversimplify the law because they exclude a categorically different form of fiduciary relationship. A significant set of fiduciary relationships feature governance mandates in which the fiduciary is charged with pursuing abstract purposes rather than the interests of …

A Novel Tool For Teaching Property: Starting With The Questions, Tim Iglesias

Tim Iglesias

Leach V. Hyatt: Recasting Indefiniteness, Thomas E. Simmons

Thomas E. Simmons

No abstract provided.

Wrongful Death Conflicts For Plaintiffs' Attorneys, Thomas E. Simmons

Thomas E. Simmons

No abstract provided.

A Chinese Inheritance, Thomas E. Simmons

Thomas E. Simmons

“I’M Not Quite Dead Yet!”: Rethinking Anti-Lapse Redistribution Of A Dead Beneficiary’S Gift, Eloisa Rodriguez-Dod

Eloisa C Rodríguez-Dod

Anti-lapse statutes create a category of substitute takers when a beneficiary prematurely dies. They are based on the legislature’s presumption of how a testator or settlor would want his property distributed in these circumstances. However, a testator’s or settlor’s intent may effectively be frustrated by this presumed intent. This Article critically examines the tension between an individual’s autonomy and societal goals in the context of anti-lapse statutes applicable to wills and trusts. It scrutinizes the current rules of construction regarding anti-lapse statutes and identifies their deficiencies in their application to wills and trusts. This Article analyzes and identifies the deficiencies …

The "Estate Planning" Interviewer, Thomas L. Shaffer

Thomas L. Shaffer

Professor Shaffer's article The "Estate Planning" Interviewer is the Introduction: Part II, in J.K. Lasser's Estate Tax Techniques on pages INT-25 to INT-51

Toward Economic Analysis Of The Uniform Probate Code, Daniel B. Kelly

Daniel B Kelly

Insights from economics and the economic analysis of law may be useful in analyzing succession law, including intestacy and wills as well as nonprobate transfers such as trusts. After surveying prior works that have examined succession from a functional perspective, I explore the possibility of utilizing tools like (i) transaction costs, (ii) the ex ante/ex post distinction, and (iii) rules versus standards, to illuminate the design of the Uniform Probate Code. Specifically, I investigate how these tools, which legal scholars have employed widely in other contexts, may be relevant in understanding events like the nonprobate revolution and issues like “dead …

A Review And Critique Of Selected Problem Areas From The Tax Reform Act Of 1976, Neil E. Harl, Michael D. Boehlje

Neil E. Harl

Rarely has agriculture enjoyed the attention it received in the Tax Reform Act of 1976. In addition to various provisions narrowing the scope of tax shelter opportunities, Congressional attention was drawn to the federal estate tax concerns that were believed to be unique to agriculture and other small firms. As a result, legislation was enacted providing two new methods for valuing land, an expanded and more attractive installment option or paying the federal estate tax attributable to a qualifying business, a new rule for taxing post-1976 joint tenancies at death,— an opportunity to continue "Section 303" stock redemptions for the …

Donative Trusts And Equity At Common Law, Thomas E. Simmons

Thomas E. Simmons

Family Surrogate Laws: A Necessary Supplement To Living Wills And Durable Powers Of Attorney, 38 Vill. L. Rev. 103 (1993), Ardath A. Hamann

Ardath A. Hamann

No abstract provided.