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A Defense Of Perpetual Trusts, Danny Fein
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 …
Married, With Children At Death, Emily S. Taylor Poppe
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 …