Law Commons^™

Pop & Perjury: The Irs Valuation War With The Estate Of Michael Jackson, Beckett Cantley, Geoffrey Dietrich

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

When Michael Jackson died unexpectedly in Los Angeles, California, on June 25, 2009, his career and earnings were nearing an all-time low. Plagued by past sexual abuse allegations, scandals, and questionable health, Michael Jackson’s personal finances were purported to be in complete disarray. However, following his unexpected death, the value of his estate, which was reported to be near to nothing, swelled as the world remembered his beloved contributions to the world and began to purchase accordingly. Sales of Michael Jackson’s music began to soar high. The estate’s value soared even higher as it signed licensing agreements and released new …

A New Feudalism: Selfish Genes, Great Wealth, And The Rise Of The Dynastic Family Trust (Dft), Eric Kades

Faculty Publications

Today’s record levels of economic inequality are infecting our future as the top 0.01% bequeath vast wealth to their descendants. With the death of the Rule Against Perpetuities (RAP), this inequality has the potential to harden social class lines—not just for a generation or two, but forever. Although it may sound implausible, interviews with estate lawyers serving very high-net-worth clients reveal that some members of the wealthiest tier of testators are already exploiting the RAP’s elimination, along with a tax loophole, to establish dynasty trusts that will financially empower their bloodline as long as it continues. Recent work in evolutionary …

Wills, Trusts, Guardianships, And Fiduciary Administration, Mary F. Radford

Mercer Law Review

This Article discusses significant cases decided by the Georgia Court of Appeals during the period of June 1, 2021 through May 31, 2022, and significant Georgia legislation enacted in that same period relating to Georgia probate and trust law, guardianship, and estate planning.

The Current State Of Estates, Cardozo Trusts And Estates Law Society

Flyers 2022-2023

No abstract provided.

Charity Oparaocha V Winfrida Murambiwa (2004) Z.R. 141 (S.C.), Milambo Chibbonta-Pupwe

SAIPAR Case Review

No abstract provided.

Wills, Trusts, And Estates, Hunter M. Glenn, Allison A. Tait

University of Richmond Law Review

Between legislative and judicial activity, there have been a number of noteworthy developments and changes to the rules governing trusts and estates. Several of these developments turn on questions related to the role of fiduciaries, what responsibilities they have with respect to reporting as well as asset management, and when they can be removed. These questions concerning fiduciaries implicitly address the rights of beneficiaries and the protections available to them. New developments also will have multiple repercussions for estate planners and wealth managers. New planning strategies in response to changes in the law of undue influence may become important to …

Holding Residential Property On Inter Vivos Trusts In Singapore: Transfers Of Equity Interests, Vincent Ooi

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Following amendments to the ACD regime in Singapore, transferring equity interests to and from a trust with no beneficial owners will attract ACD, as will the exercise of a power of appointment by a trustee to grant equity interests to a beneficiary. Renunciation of interests in a bare trust will also attract ACD. Together with the introduction of ABSD (Trust), it is now impractical to use trusts to hold residential properties for succession planning purposes. Remaining options are to gift the properties without any strings attached or bequeath the properties in a will and risk subsequent changes to death taxation.

Generalized Creditors And Particularized Creditors: Against A Unified Theory Of Standing In Bankruptcy, David G. Carlson, Jeanne L. Schroeder

Articles

Courts have struggled toward a unified theory to explain when the trustee has exclusive jurisdiction to sue a third party for harms done to a bankrupt debtor, and when creditors have exclusive jurisdiction to sue the third party. Courts have proclaimed that when every creditor can sue the third party, then none of them can, and the right belongs solely to the trustee. Creditor rights are “generalized.” If only a proper subset of creditors can sue the third party, then the trustee is not able to subrogate to the subset. Such creditors are “particularized.” This paper proclaims the test a …

Holding Residential Property On Inter Vivos Trusts In Singapore: Transfers Of Interests, Vincent Ooi

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

As a response to the “missing beneficial owner” problem highlighted by the Zhao Hui Fang case, amendments have been made to Singapore’s stamp duty regime. ABSD will now be levied at 35% on transfers of residential property to trustees, with a remission available if certain conditions are met. These conditions effectively mean that residential property held on inter vivos trusts in Singapore must be given to beneficiaries without conditions or powers of revocation or variation. This has major ramifications for succession planning, since such restrictions largely defeat the purpose of using a trust to hold property in the first place.

Adult Guardianship Privacy, Redaction, And Professional Responsibility, Alberto B. Lopez

ACTEC Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Post-Mortem Right Of Publicity: Defining It, Valuing It, Defending It Ad Planning For It, Sharon L. Klein, Jenna M. Cohn

ACTEC Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Common Law Business Trusts, Anonymity, And Inclusion, Eric C. Chaffee

ACTEC Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Privacy In Plain Sight: How Blockchain Assets And Decentralized Technology Can Increase Privacy In Inheritance, Tye J. Cressman

ACTEC Law Journal

This Article discusses the non-probate system and focuses on transfers of cryptocurrency after providing a brief explanation of the privacy aspects of cryptocurrency, he considers how those who own this form of currency might effect a transfers at death outside of the probate system.

Identity Appropriation And Wealth Transfer: Twain, Cord, And The Post-Mortem Right Of Publicity, Alyssa A. Dirusso, Timothy J. Mcfarlin

ACTEC Law Journal

In 1874, Mark Twain published “A True Story, Repeated Word for Word as I Heard It” in the Atlantic Monthly. Although he called the storyteller “Aunt Rachel,” it was told to him by Mary Ann Cord—who worked as a cook in the home of Twain’s sister-in-law—based on her own life. Cord was enslaved from birth, then torn from her husband and children at an auction block. Years later, she miraculously reunited with her youngest son, Henry, when, as a solider in the Union army, he liberated her from slavery. Twain proceeded to write Cord's story down from memory, organizing the …

Front Matter

ACTEC Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Functional Siblings, Donor-Conceived People -- And Intestacy, Naomi R. Cahn

ACTEC Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Of Privacy And Publicity: Symbiotic Rights (Or Wellspring Of Obfuscation), Jeffrey L. Carson, Trace Brooks

ACTEC Law Journal

This Article discusses the relationship between the rights of privacy and publicity. After reviewing the historical development of the law of privacy and publicity and the areas where privacy and publicity overlap and create a valuable, potentially descendible property right, they propose a planning strategy that can allow practitioners to help their clients preserve their commercially valuable publicity rights by utilizing Tennessee trust law.

Joining The Global Community In The Fight Against Financial Secrecy: Congress Enacts The Corporate Transparency Act To Mandate Beneficial Ownership Reporting In The United States, Glenn G. Fox, Raj A. Malviya, Michael A. Breslow, Kevin L. Shepherd

ACTEC Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Privacy, Probate, And Nazi-Plundered Art, Alex Swanson

ACTEC Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Fringe Inheriting: Probate Avoidance At Both Ends Of The Wealth Spectrum, Allison Tait

ACTEC Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Wills Of Covid-19: The Technological Push For Change In New York Trusts And Estates Law, Olivia Visconti

St. John's Law Review

(Excerpt)

Sirens filled the crisp, cool air of early March 2020 as COVID- 19 overtook the United States. New York City, once a metropolis of busy human interaction, became an epicenter of isolation, anxiety, and fear as the pandemic swept across the city and state of New York. While quarantining at home, New Yorkers addressed their to-do lists: they cleaned out cluttered rooms and finally fixed leaky sinks and drafty windows. Many New Yorkers also worried about the ever-present threat of falling ill; so they decided to execute their wills. Should something happen to them, they wanted to ensure their …

Front Matter

ACTEC Law Journal

No abstract provided.

A Defense Of Perpetual Trusts, Danny Fein

ACTEC Law Journal

This essay emphatically defends perpetual trusts and recent state-level repeals of the Rule Against Perpetuities. The scholarly debate over the category of perpetual trusts has focused exclusively on one type—the Dynasty Trust—which is designed to perpetuate wealth within families by exploiting a tax loophole. The unsavory nature of both Dynasty Trusts and the legal reform movement that spawned them has blinded critics to a universe of perpetual trusts that are socially beneficial. Previously, new types of trusts that required perpetuity could only achieve it through statutory exemption. Private Foundations and Stewardship Trusts were each granted perpetuity by legislatures. Now that …

Progressive Taxation And A Conservative Supreme Court: Reading The Tea Leaves, Mitchell M. Gans

ACTEC Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Married, With Children At Death, Emily S. Taylor Poppe

ACTEC Law Journal

Despite modern trends in family formation, married individuals with children remain prevalent in the adult population in the United States. To the extent that these individuals forego estate planning, their probate property is distributed at death according to the laws of intestacy of their state of domicile. These laws are motivated by assumptions about probable intent, and on that basis typically prioritize the surviving spouse and children over other potential heirs. However, there is wild jurisdictional variation in the relative interests of the spouse and descendants of married parent decedents under these laws. Historical evidence suggested that most decedents who …

To My Children In Equal Shares: The Flaw Of Estate Planning When Property Is Devised To Beneficiaries As Tenants In Common, Camille M. Davidson

ACTEC Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Family Limited Partnerships, Bona Fide Sales, And Inadequate Consideration, Grayson M.P. Mccouch

ACTEC Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Flexible Beneficiary Trusts: Reducing Income Tax On Non-Grantor Trusts, Jonathan G. Blattmachr, Martin M. Shenkman

ACTEC Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Intellectual Heirs Property: Why Certain Musical Copyrights Should Be Included In The Heirs Property Reform Movement, Austin Weatherly

Journal of Intellectual Property Law

The modern heirs property reform movement seeks to ameliorate the issues caused by the procedures governing the inheritance of real property from landowners who die intestate. This procedure can have a negative impact on heirs and the value of their inherited property. The reform movement, as it stands, only seeks to resolve the issues created by these procedures in the real property context. The rhetorical basis for the modern heirs property reform movement largely focuses on closing the racial wealth gap in the United States and slowing the wealth bleed from one black generation to the next. Many of the …

The Future Of Testamentary Capacity, Reid Kress Weisbord, David Horton

Washington and Lee Law Review

Recently, the #FreeBritney saga cast a harsh spotlight on state guardianship systems. Yet despite their serious flaws, guardianship regimes have benefited from waves of reform. Indeed, since the 1970s, most jurisdictions have taken steps to protect the autonomy of people with cognitive, intellectual, or developmental disabilities (CIDD). Likewise, lawmakers are currently experimenting with supported decision-making (SDM): an alternative to guardianship designed to help individuals with CIDD make their own choices. These changes are no panacea, but they have modernized a field that once summarily denied “idiots” and “lunatics” power over their affairs.

However, in a related context, the legal system’s …