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Articles 1 - 26 of 26
Full-Text Articles in Law
Ademption And The Domain Of Formality In Wills Law, Gregory S. Alexander
Ademption And The Domain Of Formality In Wills Law, Gregory S. Alexander
Gregory S Alexander
The 1990 revision of the Uniform Probate Code ("UPC") marks the second stage of probate reform in the second half of this century. The first stage was the adoption of the original UPC. While it included some changes in the substantive law of wills, its primary objective was to simplify probate procedure. The second stage, by contrast, focuses almost entirely on the substantive law of wills and will substitutes. It changes several of the primary rules of wills law, including the traditional rule requiring strict compliance with execution formalities. It also makes significant changes in the subsidiary rules of wills …
The Transformation Of Trusts As A Legal Category, 1800-1914, Gregory Alexander
The Transformation Of Trusts As A Legal Category, 1800-1914, Gregory Alexander
Gregory S Alexander
Sometimes we are least aware of that which most affects us. So it seems with respect to legal categories. Lawyers do not take legal categories very seriously today. But they should. Legal categories are central to legal reasoning; indeed it is almost impossible to imagine legal reasoning without the use of categories. Categorical thinking affects every area of law. The purpose of this article is to illuminate, through a case-study, the contingent and ideological character of legal categories. It focuses on the development of trusts into and then as a discrete legal category during the period between the beginning of …
Forty Years Of Codification Of Estates And Trusts Law: Lessons For The Next Generation, Gregory S. Alexander, Mary L. Fellows
Forty Years Of Codification Of Estates And Trusts Law: Lessons For The Next Generation, Gregory S. Alexander, Mary L. Fellows
Gregory S Alexander
In this paper we develop two theses. First, we argue that uniform law proposals that ask courts and practitioners to abandon revered legal traditions and ways of thinking about estates and trusts, even when they are intent-furthering proposals, face resistance until in time the glories of the past and the risks of a new legal regime fade in importance in legal thought. Second, we argue that, especially within an environment in which states seek to gain competitive advantage over their counterparts in other states, the glories of the past and the risks of a new legal regime fade fastest when …
Alternative Models Of Ante-Mortem Probate And Procedural Due Process Limitations On Succession, Gregory S. Alexander, Albert M. Pearson
Alternative Models Of Ante-Mortem Probate And Procedural Due Process Limitations On Succession, Gregory S. Alexander, Albert M. Pearson
Gregory S Alexander
Ante-mortem probate stands as a significant recent development in the American law of wealth succession. It confronts a problem that seriously impairs our probate system, the depredatious will contest, and promises to help revitalize the probate process. Already enacted in several states and currently under active study by the Joint Editorial Board of the Uniform Probate Code and the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, ante-mortem probate is likely to be widely implemented in some form. But while legislators and academics alike support ante-mortem probate as a general idea, disagreement has emerged over the specific form it should …
The Conservatorship Model: A Modification, Gregory S. Alexander
The Conservatorship Model: A Modification, Gregory S. Alexander
Gregory S Alexander
Reform-minded probate lawyers have discussed the idea of ante-mortem probate for many years. Yet, owing to several seemingly unavoidable defects, it has never attracted widespread support and only recently has been implemented anywhere in the United States. In his article, Living Probate: The Conservatorship Model, Professor John Langbein has eliminated many of those defects and has made the idea much more feasible. In doing so, he has contributed to the development of simple, convenient, and efficient systems of probate. However, his proposal introduces new flaws that threaten the practical working of his procedural model. Basically, Langbein proposes that living probate …
The Dead Hand And The Law Of Trusts In The Nineteenth Century, Gregory Alexander
The Dead Hand And The Law Of Trusts In The Nineteenth Century, Gregory Alexander
Gregory S Alexander
This article discusses a basic paradox at the core of liberal property law. Individual freedom to dispose of consolidated bundles of rights cannot simultaneously be allowed and fully maintained. If the donor of a property interest tries to restrict the donee's freedom to dispose of that interest, the legal system, in deciding whether to enforce or void that restriction, must resolve whose freedom it will protect, that of the donor or that of the donee. Although post-realist American property lawyers acknowledge this conflict, at least nominally, it did not emerge in legal consciousness in so starkly visible a form until …
Sperms And Estates: An Unadulterated Functionally Based Approach To Parent-Child Property Succession, Lee-Ford Tritt
Sperms And Estates: An Unadulterated Functionally Based Approach To Parent-Child Property Succession, Lee-Ford Tritt
Lee-ford Tritt
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 …
Family Limited Partnerships: Discounts, Options, And Disappearing Value, Karen C. Burke, Grayson M.P. Mccouch
Family Limited Partnerships: Discounts, Options, And Disappearing Value, Karen C. Burke, Grayson M.P. Mccouch
Karen Burke
Family partnerships have been become increasingly popular as a means of avoiding estate and gift taxes. As other estate freezing techniques have been closed off by statutory anti-abuse rules, estate planners have increasingly resorted to partnerships as a vehicle for transferring assets within a family at deeply discounted values. Discounts ranging from one-third to over one-half of the value of the underlying assets are routinely claimed, and often allowed, based on lack of marketability and lack of control, even where these disabilities have no lasting or ascertainable economic effect. Nevertheless, the use of family partnerships to suppress value for transfer …
A Malthusian Analysis Of The So-Called Dynasty Trust, William J. Turnier, Jeffrey L. Harrison
A Malthusian Analysis Of The So-Called Dynasty Trust, William J. Turnier, Jeffrey L. Harrison
Jeffrey L Harrison
Select financial institutions and members of the Bar have seized upon the presence of the limited exemption from the generation skipping transfer tax provided under the Internal Revenue Code to promote so-called dynasty trusts as a means whereby individuals can build dynastic wealth for a family forever free from transfer taxes. To realize such benefits, state law that does not impose the Rule Against Perpetuities must govern the trust. The promise of dynastic wealth is unlikely to be realized due to several factors. Administrative and tax costs are likely to reduce the yield on such trusts to a level where …
Probate Law Reform And Nonprobate Transfers, Grayson M.P. Mccouch
Probate Law Reform And Nonprobate Transfers, Grayson M.P. Mccouch
Grayson McCouch
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 …
Family Limited Partnerships: Discounts, Options, And Disappearing Value, Karen C. Burke, Grayson M.P. Mccouch
Family Limited Partnerships: Discounts, Options, And Disappearing Value, Karen C. Burke, Grayson M.P. Mccouch
Grayson McCouch
Family partnerships have been become increasingly popular as a means of avoiding estate and gift taxes. As other estate freezing techniques have been closed off by statutory anti-abuse rules, estate planners have increasingly resorted to partnerships as a vehicle for transferring assets within a family at deeply discounted values. Discounts ranging from one-third to over one-half of the value of the underlying assets are routinely claimed, and often allowed, based on lack of marketability and lack of control, even where these disabilities have no lasting or ascertainable economic effect. Nevertheless, the use of family partnerships to suppress value for transfer …
Contemporary Trusts And Estates: An Experiential Approach (2nd Ed)., Susan Gary, Jerome Borison, Naomi Cahn, Paula Monopoli
Contemporary Trusts And Estates: An Experiential Approach (2nd Ed)., Susan Gary, Jerome Borison, Naomi Cahn, Paula Monopoli
Paula A Monopoli
Contemporary Trusts and Estates: An Experiential Approach uses cases and statutory materials, along with exercises and problems, to integrate legal analysis and practice skills. Consistent with the Carnegie Report‘s call for more practice skills, it includes exercises in document drafting, role-playing, and letter writing to clients.
Proposals For Revising Georgia's Probate Code, Mary F. Radford
Proposals For Revising Georgia's Probate Code, Mary F. Radford
Mary F. Radford
No abstract provided.
Advantages And Disadvantages Of Mediation In Probate, Trust, And Guardianship Matters , Mary F. Radford
Advantages And Disadvantages Of Mediation In Probate, Trust, And Guardianship Matters , Mary F. Radford
Mary F. Radford
Mediation is the ADR process by which a neutral third party works with disputants to reach a mutually agreeable resolution. Mediation is arguably the oldest and most popular ADR technique in use today. Part I of this essay discusses the commonly accepted advantages of mediation as an alternative to litigation, and, in some instances, questions whether those advantages become disadvantages in the context of probate, trust, and guardianship cases. Part II examines the use of mediation as a component of the actual estate planning process rather than as an alternative to litigation.
Spendthrift Trusts: It's Time To Codify The Compromise, Anne S. Emanuel
Spendthrift Trusts: It's Time To Codify The Compromise, Anne S. Emanuel
Anne S. Emanuel
No abstract provided.
The Fiduciary Duty Of Care: A Perversion Of Words, William Gregory
The Fiduciary Duty Of Care: A Perversion Of Words, William Gregory
William A. Gregory
No abstract provided.
Restricting Testamentary Freedom: Ex Ante Versus Ex Post Justifications, Daniel B. Kelly
Restricting Testamentary Freedom: Ex Ante Versus Ex Post Justifications, Daniel B. Kelly
Daniel B Kelly
The organizing principle of American succession law — testamentary freedom — gives decedents a nearly unrestricted right to dispose of property. After surveying the justifications for testamentary freedom, I examine the circumstances in which it may be socially beneficial for courts to alter wills, trusts, and other gratuitous transfers at death: imperfect information, negative externalities, and intergenerational equity. These justifications correspond with many existing limitations on the freedom of testation. Yet, disregarding donor intent to maximize the donees’ ex post interests, an increasingly common justification for intervention, is socially undesirable. Doing so ignores important ex ante considerations, including a donor’s …
Tax Recognition, Barry Cushman
Tax Recognition, Barry Cushman
Barry Cushman
This article was prepared for the St. Louis University Law Journal’s “Teaching Trusts & Estates” issue. Many law students take a course in Trusts & Estates, but comparatively few enroll in a class devoted to the federal wealth transfer taxes. For most law students, the Trusts & Estates course provides the only opportunity for exposure to some of the basic features of the estate tax, the gift tax, the generation-skipping transfer tax, and some related features of the income tax. The coverage demands of the typical Trusts & Estates course do not allow for intensive discussion of these issues, but …
Contemporary Trusts And Estates - An Experiential Approach, Jerome Borison, Naomi R. Cahn, Susan N. Gary, Paula A. Monopoli
Contemporary Trusts And Estates - An Experiential Approach, Jerome Borison, Naomi R. Cahn, Susan N. Gary, Paula A. Monopoli
Paula A Monopoli
In this essay in a special issue dedicated to teaching trusts and estates, the co-authors of Contemporary Trusts & Estates: An Experiential Approach (2d. ed. Aspen 2014) reflect on how the teaching of trusts and estates can integrate policy, practice, doctrine, and centuries of tradition. They describe the genesis of their problem-based casebook and the influence of the Carnegie Report on their choice of pedagogic framework. Each of the co-authors embraced the fundamental principles advocated by the Carnegie Report, which counsels that legal education should integrate “theoretical and practical legal knowledge and professional identity.” This essay goes on to outline …
Defective Decision-Making And Mistakes, Man Yip
Assisted Reproductive Technology Poses New Estate-Planning Questions, Lindsey Paige Markus, Assistance From Evan D. Blewett
Assisted Reproductive Technology Poses New Estate-Planning Questions, Lindsey Paige Markus, Assistance From Evan D. Blewett
Evan Blewett
Due to the deferral of pregnancy, environmental issues and a host of medical factors, infertility rates are on the rise. The Centers for Disease Control estimated that as many as 12 percent of U.S. women and their partners experience infertility, and experts posit that this statistic continues to rise. The increased prevalence and effectiveness of Assisted Reproductive Technology, or ART, creates myriad legal issues for individuals and couples to consider.
Inheritances And Death: Legal Strategies In The United States, England And France, Ray Madoff, Pierre-Alain Conil
Inheritances And Death: Legal Strategies In The United States, England And France, Ray Madoff, Pierre-Alain Conil
Ray D. Madoff
No abstract provided.
Letters Non-Testamentary, Deborah Gordon
Letters Non-Testamentary, Deborah Gordon
Deborah S Gordon
Letters written in anticipation of death, so-called “last letters,” appear frequently in American case law, especially when inheritance is at issue. One common appearance is when such letters are offered to serve as wills for decedents who leave no other written indication of testamentary intent. Even where a properly attested will exists, though, many courts have construed letters as codicils – addenda – to the more traditional instruments, though such letters sometimes contradict or substantially alter the original wills. Courts also use letters as tools for interpreting ambiguous documents and as mechanisms for determining whether a formal property arrangement, a …
Where Strict Meets Substantial: Oklahoma Standards For The Execution Of A Will, Katheleen R. Guzman
Where Strict Meets Substantial: Oklahoma Standards For The Execution Of A Will, Katheleen R. Guzman
Katheleen R. Guzman
No abstract provided.
Rethinking The Testamentary Capacity Of Minors, Mark Glover
Rethinking The Testamentary Capacity Of Minors, Mark Glover
Mark Glover
Minors lack the legal capacity to execute wills. Subject to limited exceptions in some states, a will executed by a child is void. Because this testamentary age requirement conflicts with the primary objective of the law of wills, which is to allow decedents to freely choose how their estates will be distributed, this rule should be founded upon a coherent and compelling policy rationale. Nonetheless, it is not. Three potential rationales might explain the testamentary incapacity of minors. First, the age requirement could represent a categorical capacity threshold that is aimed at protecting children from their immaturity and indiscretion. Second, …
Decoupling The Law Of Will-Execution, Mark Glover
Decoupling The Law Of Will-Execution, Mark Glover
Mark Glover
The law of will-execution includes two related but distinct components. The first is formality, including the requirements that a will be written, signed, and witnessed. The second is the standard that courts use to evaluate compliance with these formalities. Courts traditionally apply a rule of strict compliance, under which any formal defect invalidates the will. Fueled by longtime criticism of this rule, an ongoing reform movement seeks to relax the law’s insistence on strict compliance. However, despite broad support within the legal academy, this reform effort has been slow to instigate change. This Article argues that the reform movement’s struggles …