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Articles 1 - 17 of 17
Full-Text Articles in Law
Incomplete Wills, Adam J. Hirsch
Incomplete Wills, Adam J. Hirsch
Michigan Law Review
This Article explores the problems that arise when a will fails to dispose of an individual's entire estate, so that she dies partially testate and partially intestate. The questions then raised include (1) whether provisions contained in the will purporting to redefine the individual's intestate heirs should supersede the statutory designations of those heirs, (2) whether inter vivos gifts to heirs should qualify as advancements on the inheritances of those heirs under conditions of partial intestacy, and, most broadly, (3) whether courts should fill in the incomplete portion of an individual's estate plan by extrapolating from the distributive preferences set …
Class Gifts Under The Restatement (Third) Of Property, Lawrence W. Waggoner
Class Gifts Under The Restatement (Third) Of Property, Lawrence W. Waggoner
Articles
The new Restatement (Third) of Property (officially the Restatement (Third) of Property: Wills and Other Donative Transfers), in tandem with the Restatement (Third) of Trusts, is systematically proceeding through the whole field of wills, will substitutes, trusts, and estates. Both of the new Restatements should prove to be handy resources for trust and estate lawyers, not only in preparing to argue cases at both trial and appellate levels, but also in the everyday work of drafting and construing dispositive provisions in wills, trusts, and other types of donative documents. Each Restatement section is followed by a set of Comments explaining …
The Funding Of Children's Educational Costs, Douglas A. Kahn
The Funding Of Children's Educational Costs, Douglas A. Kahn
Articles
A plan for reduction of educational costs should take federal transfer taxes into account. The method chosen for reducing income tax liability usually will involve making gifts. To the extent that it is convenient to do so, the transfer tax consequences of making such gifts should be minimized. This article will examine the estate and gift tax consequences of the income tax reduction arrangements described herein and will consider means of structuring the transactions so as to minimize those consequences.
Transactions Subject To Gift Tax, Douglas A. Kahn, Earl M. Colson
Transactions Subject To Gift Tax, Douglas A. Kahn, Earl M. Colson
Articles
The gift tax is imposed on the "transfer of property by gift." The term gift is not expressly defined either in the Code or in the Treasury Regulations. However, section 2512(b), dealing with the valuation of gifts, states that "where property is transferred for less than an adequate and full consideration in money or money's worth," the difference between the value of the property transferred and the consideration received constitutes a gift. Thus, for gift tax purposes, the determination of whether a gift was made does not turn so much on the intent of the transferor as it does on …
Abstracts Of Recent Decisions, Benjamin M. Quigg, Jr.
Abstracts Of Recent Decisions, Benjamin M. Quigg, Jr.
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 - Devise Or Bequest On Condition That Devisee Pay Debts Or Legacies, Stark Ritchie
Wills - Devise Or Bequest On Condition That Devisee Pay Debts Or Legacies, Stark Ritchie
Michigan Law Review
It is not an uncommon practice for a testator to make a gift on the condition that the devisee pay to other legatees certain sums specified by the will. For example, testator devises Blackacre to A on the condition that A pay to B $500. Simple as the plan may seem at first glance, it has given rise to several complex questions regarding the legal relationship between A and B. Is A personally liable to B? If there is a personal liability, is A obligated to pay $500 even though Blackacre may have so depreciated in value that …
Future Interests - When Is Child En Ventre Sa Mère Regarded As In Being
Future Interests - When Is Child En Ventre Sa Mère Regarded As In Being
Michigan Law Review
How far will the courts go in regarding a child en ventre sa mere as in being for the purpose of determining the character of interests in property? This question is brought to the fore in Re Joicy, a recent decision of the English Court of Appeal. In that case, a will declared that certain property should be held in trust for all of the children of the testatrix who should survive her and attain the age of twenty-one years, and provided that if any such child should die within the period of twenty-one years "leaving any issue him …
Taxation Of Trust Estates-Reservation Of Life Income
Taxation Of Trust Estates-Reservation Of Life Income
Michigan Law Review
Settlor executed a deed of trust, retaining a life income, but no power of revocation. Held, that the State of Connecticut could tax the transfer as a gift to take effect in possession or enjoyment at or after death without violating the federal constitution. Guaranty Trust Co. of New York v. Blodgett, (U.S. 1933) 53 Sup. Ct. 244.
Wills - Renunciation By The Beneficiary As Affecting The Rights Of His Creditors
Wills - Renunciation By The Beneficiary As Affecting The Rights Of His Creditors
Michigan Law Review
The testator devised to his son an undivided fourth interest in a certain piece of land. The creditors of the son levied on the land, and it was sold at an execution sale. After the execution sale the son formally renounced all his rights under the will. Held, that a beneficiary under a will has the right to renounce unconditionally all benefits derived from the will, and his creditors have no right to object. Lehr v. Switzer, (Iowa 1931) 239 N. W. 564.
Wills-Construction-Right Of Adopted Child To Take Under Provision For Children Of Adoptive Parext
Wills-Construction-Right Of Adopted Child To Take Under Provision For Children Of Adoptive Parext
Michigan Law Review
The trustee under the will sued for a construction of a clause providing for a gift to testator's children. The dispute was between the natural children of the testator and an adopted daughter, who claimed under the clause as one of the "children," though a prior clause gave her $1, naming her as testator's adopted daughter. The Rhode Island statute provided that adopted children be deemed for inheritance purposes the same as if natural children. The court held that the adopted daughter did not take with the natural children under the clause in question. Union Trust Co. v. Campi (R. …
Wills-Devise-When Cut Down By Later Clause
Wills-Devise-When Cut Down By Later Clause
Michigan Law Review
Both parties to this ejectment suit relied for title on testatrix's will. By one clause, in general words it gave away all of her property real and personal; by a subsequent clause, all the estate unused or not required for the support of the first taker was given over. Held, that the first taker got only a life estate with power to consume, for the intent of testator is predominant over a statute creating a fee from a general gift. Chesnut v. Chesnut (Pa. 1930) 151 Atl. 339.
Substitutional Gifts To Classes, John R. Rood
Substitutional Gifts To Classes, John R. Rood
Articles
In some recent cases we have fresh reminder of the futility of Sir William Grant's distinction between original and substitutional gifts, a rule over which courts have quarreled and disagreed ever since it was promulgated, and which never was applied to the exclusion of anyone without disappointing the wish of the testator. In speaking of this rule in Re Hickey, [1917], 1 Ch. D. 601, 604, Neville, J., says: "The alleged principle seems to be that the meaning of the word 'substitute' involves the idea of replacing one thing by another. One cannot 'substitute' something for nothing. The proposition appears …
Contingent Gifts And Incorporation By Reference, John R. Rood
Contingent Gifts And Incorporation By Reference, John R. Rood
Articles
The courts have had great difficulty in reconciling certain contingent gifts with the statutes requiring wills to be in writing duly executed. At first glance there appears no inconsistency, but in practice troubles accumulate.
The Disposition To Be Made Of Property The Subject Of A Power If The Power Is Not Exercised, John R. Rood
The Disposition To Be Made Of Property The Subject Of A Power If The Power Is Not Exercised, John R. Rood
Articles
The object sought in this article is to collect and classify the cases in which the courts have passed on the question as to what shall be done with property over which a power of appointment has been given; when it finally turns out for some reason that the power has not been exercised. It is not the object to establish any particular thesis, but rather to ascertain how the adjudicated cases stand.
Unenforceable Trusts And The Rule Against Perpetuities, George L. Clark
Unenforceable Trusts And The Rule Against Perpetuities, George L. Clark
Articles
Bequests upon trust to use the income thereof each year in keeping a monument or grave in repair, or in saying masses,8 or in having a brass band to play at the testator's grave each year on the anniversary of the testator's death9 have been held invalid, and the reason given is that the gift is a "perpetuity"1 or is in "violation of the rule against perpetuities."11 What do the courts mean by calling such a gift a "perpetuity?" And in what way, if at all, could the bequest be so changed as to avoid the "rule against perpetuities" and …
A Treatise On The Law Of Wills: Including Also Gifts Causa Mortis And A Summary Of The Law Of Descent, Distribution And Administration, John R. Rood
Books
“The present work was undertaken with the purpose of furnishing a substantial treatise on the whole law of succession in one volume. Within this scheme were comprehended the separate topics following: 1, gifts causa mortis, by reason of their resemblance to legacies; 2, wills, including all legal questions and doctrines peculiar to wills; 3, the substantive law of descent and distribution; and 4, the adjective law of succession, including the administration of both testate and intestate estates.”--Preface.
Cases On The Law Of Succession To Property After The Death Of The Owner, Floyd R. Mechem
Cases On The Law Of Succession To Property After The Death Of The Owner, Floyd R. Mechem
Books
“The following cases have been printed at the request of Professor Mechem, of the Law Department of the University of Michigan, for use in connection with his lectures in that law school. They have been chiefly selected from Reeves’ Cases on Wills and Abbott’s Cases on Descent, Wills, and Administration.” Title page.