Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Discipline
- Publication
Articles 1 - 3 of 3
Full-Text Articles in Law
Trusting Trust, Deborah Gordon
Trusting Trust, Deborah Gordon
Deborah S Gordon
What is a trustee and how should we understand her duties? The existing literature typically identifies the trustee in the role of agent, partner or contracting party. This Article re-envisions the trustee in the role of the legal system’s most trusted type of decision-maker: the common law judge. Rather than argue for a top-down recreation of the trustee’s role, this Article contends that valuable lessons can be learned by reconceptualizing how trustees, settlors, and beneficiaries view themselves and each other. Using traditional literature about great judging as a touchstone, the Article argues that those qualities essential to principled adjudication — …
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 …
American Probate: Protecting The Public, Improving The Process, Paula Monopoli
American Probate: Protecting The Public, Improving The Process, Paula Monopoli
Paula A Monopoli
New Hampshire judge and probate attorney John Fairbanks, a court-appointed executor and trustee, stole thousands of dollars from the estates of his trusting elderly clients. Successful Virginia lawyer David Murray misappropriated nearly four million dollars from estates entrusted to him in one of the largest financial swindles by a lawyer in U.S. history. Enterprising attorney James Gunderson drafted wills and living trusts for many residents of Leisure World in Orange County, California, who named him the sole trustee and major beneficiary. These are just some of the cases examined by Paula A. Monopoli to illustrate the unsettling prevalence of fraud …