Law Commons^™

Inheritance Crimes, David Horton, Reid Kress Weisbord

Washington Law Review

The civil justice system has long struggled to resolve disputes over end-of-life transfers. The two most common grounds for challenging the validity of a gift, will, or trust— mental incapacity and undue influence—are vague, hinge on the state of mind of a dead person, and allow factfinders to substitute their own norms and preferences for the donor’s intent. In addition, the slayer doctrine—which prohibits killers from inheriting from their victims—has generated decades of constitutional challenges.

But recently, these controversial rules have migrated into an area where the stakes are significantly higher: the criminal justice system. For example, states have criminalized …

Powers Of Attorney Under The Uniform Power Of Attorney Act Including Reference To Virginia Law, F. Philip Manns Jr.

ACTEC Law Journal

The Uniform Power of Attorney Act (UPOAA), approved in 2006, slightly amended in 2008 and more significantly amended in 2016, has been adopted by 27 U.S. jurisdictions. The UPOAA promotes uniformity in language delineating an agent's powers and mandates that third parties accept notarized powers of attorney. Under the UPOAA, an instrument simply granting an agent authority to do "all acts that a principal could do," vests that agent with broad powers: the precise delineation of those powers is produced by about a dozen pages of UPOAA text automatically incorporated by reference into such "all acts" instruments. However, the UPOAA …

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 …

Death, Taxes, And Property (Rights): Nozick, Libertarianism, And The Estate Tax, Jennifer Bird-Pollan

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

The primary purpose of this Article is to dispute the moral claims to post-death property rights made by libertarians when they argue against the estate tax. As I will show later in this Article, my argument does not necessarily entail enacting an estate tax, nor does it require a particular level of tax. I am merely trying to demonstrate that those who argue that the estate tax is an immoral violation of the private property rights of the deceased are mistaken. This is not to say that the estate of the deceased should necessarily pass to the government. It is …

The Specter Of Civil Law Clawback Actions Haunting U.S. And Uk Charitable Giving, Aaron Schwabach

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Testamentary Substitutes: Retained Interests, Custodial Accounts And Contractual Transactions—A New Approach, Sidney Kwestel, Rena C. Seplowitz

Rena C. Seplowitz

No abstract provided.

Of Charities And Clawbacks: The European Union Proposal On Successions And Wills As A Threat To Charitable Giving, Aaron Schwabach

Faculty Scholarship

In the United Kingdom, and to a lesser extent the United States, an inter vivos gift, once given, cannot be reclaimed by the giver's heirs. In civil law countries the situation is quite different: Not only spouses, but issue and in some cases even ascendants, are entitled to a forced share of a decedent's estate--and these forced shares are assessed against a notional “estate” that includes the testator's inter vivos gifts. If the total of these forced shares exceeds the amount actually available in the decedent's estate at death, the recipients of the gifts, or their successors, may be forced …

Testamentary Substitutes: Retained Interests, Custodial Accounts And Contractual Transactions—A New Approach, Sidney Kwestel, Rena C. Seplowitz

Sidney Kwestel

No abstract provided.

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 …

26th Annual Midwest/Midsouth Estate Planning Institute, Office Of Continuing Legal Education At The University Of Kentucky College Of Law, Turney P. Berry, Jerold I. Horn, David Ackerman, Sheldon G. Gilman, Cassie Spencer, Theodore B. Atlass, John T. Bondurant, Eric A. Manterfield, Norvie L. Lay, James W. Turner, Jeffrey M. Yussman, Homer Parrent Iii, David Tachau

Continuing Legal Education Materials

Materials from the 26th Annual Midwest/Midsouth Estate Planning Institute held by UK/CLE in July 1999.

Testamentary Substitutes: Retained Interests, Custodial Accounts And Contractual Transactions—A New Approach, Sidney Kwestel, Rena C. Seplowitz

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Kentucky's Doctrine Of Advancements: A Time For Reform, Carolyn S. Bratt

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

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.

Timing Under A Unified Wealth Transfer Tax, Theodore S. Sims

Faculty Scholarship

The United States taxes gifts made while an individual is living more leniently than it taxes wealth transfers at death. Although in some measure this disparity has existed since the enactment of the modern estate and gift taxes in 1916 and 1932, it was significantly narrowed by the Tax Reform Act of 1976 (the 1976 Act). That statute replaced the separate gift and estate taxes with a regime that taxes the cumulative total of an individual's lifetime taxable gifts and his taxable estate at death, under a single (or "unified") graduated table of rates. Nevertheless, there remains a signficant difference …

Imperfect Gifts As Declarations Of Trust: Unapologetic Anomaly, Sarajane Love

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Report Of Third Annual Seminar On Estate Planning, Office Of Continuing Legal Education At The University Of Kentucky College Of Law, Joseph C. Oldham, J. E. Banahan, John Peter Frank, T. O. Jack Hall, Timothy R. Futrell, Michael W. Mcgrath Jr., Edward A. Rothschild, John G. Atchison Jr., W. Van Meter Alford, Scott T. Smith, Russell H. Riggs, Stephen J. Vasek Jr.

Continuing Legal Education Materials

Reports from the UK/CLE Third Annual Seminar on Estate Planning held July 23-24, 1976.

Second Annual Seminar On Estate Planning, Office Of Continuing Legal Education At The University Of Kentucky College Of Law, John T. Bondurant, Edwin H. Perry, P. Michael Davis, Philip W. Moss, Frederick W. Whiteside, Robert M. Bath, William V. Phelan, John Peter Frank Iii, Gladney Harville, William S. Dillon, Eugene F. Scoles, Edward A. Rothschild

Continuing Legal Education Materials

Schedule and materials from the Second Annual Seminar on Estate Planning held by UK/CLE on July 18-19, 1975.

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 …

Making Gifts From Incompetent's Estate Under The Doctrine Of Substitution Of Judgment To Reduce Federal Estate Taxes

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Testator's Intent--Vague Meanings Of Clear Sounding Phrases, Londo H. Brown

West Virginia Law Review

One of the greatest dangers that a lawyer faces is the danger that he may not recognize that there is a real problem involved when a client calls upon him for advice. Once the lawyer sees that there is a problem and is able to correctly diagnose the problem, the solution of the problem is usually relatively easy. In other words, there is more danger that the lawyer will overlook the problem than that he will fail to find the proper solution after he has found the problem. Furthermore, he may create a problem in drafting legal instruments if he …

Inequities In Corporate Payments To Widows

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Validity Of The Gift Over In Kentucky Determined Through Construction Of Estate In First Taker, Norma D. Boster

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Book Reviews, Philip A. Hendrick Reviewer, Charles L.B. Lowndes (Reviewer), Adrian W. Dewind (Reviewer), Chas. A. Morehead (Reviewer), John R. Stivers (Reviewer)

Vanderbilt Law Review

An Estate Planner's Handbook By Mayo Adams Shattuck

Boston: Little, Brown & Company, 1948. Pp. 575. $7.50

reviewer: Philip A. Hendrick

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Estate Planning and Estate Tax Saving By Edward N. Polisher

Philadelphia: George T. Bisel Company. Second Edition, 1948. 2 Volumes. Pp. xxxii, 923. $20.00

reviewer: Charles L.B. Lowndes

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Federal Taxes--Corporations and Partnerships, 1948-49 By Robert H. Montgomery, Conrad B. Taylor and Mark E. Richardson

Vol. I: Gross Income and Deductions Vol. II: Taxes, Returns and Administration New York: The Ronald Press Company, 1948. Pp. xiii, 1001; pp. iv, 881. $20.00

Federal Taxes--Estates, Trusts and Gifts, 1948-49

By …

The Cy Pres Doctrine In Kentucky, John Coleman Covington

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

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

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 …

Wills--Construction--Gift To One During Widowhood, Steve White

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Gifts Inter Vivos, Bettie Gilbert

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

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

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.