Law Commons^™

The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll's Will: A Tale Of Testamentary Capacity, Stephen R. Alton

Stephen Alton

Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic novella, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, published in 1886, is the well-known tale of a respected scientist (Dr. Henry Jekyll) who transforms himself into an evil-doer (Mr. Edward Hyde). While the work raises issues of tort and criminal liability, this article analyzes the legal issues presented by one particular and crucial plot device that Stevenson employs—the last will of Dr. Jekyll. This will so obsesses Jekyll’s friend and solicitor, Gabriel John Utterson (through whose eyes the story unfolds), that he is impelled to seek the truth behind his friend’s relationship to Hyde. …

Balancing Testamentary Incapacity And Undue Influence: How To Handle Will Contests Of Testators With Diminishing Capacity, Richard B. Keeton

Richard B. Keeton, Esq.

Tipping The Scales In Favor Of Charitable Bequests: A Critique, Elizabeth Carter

Elizabeth R. Carter

This paper considers the public policy favoring testamentary bequests to charity and offers a critique of that policy. Public policy favors testamentary bequests to charity. At least, that is the claim of numerous courts and legislative bodies. The policy favoring charitable bequests may tip the scales in deciding the proper interpretation of a will or the merits of an undue influence, incapacity, or tortuous interference with inheritance claim. Paradoxically, courts and legislative bodies rarely discuss the source of this public policy. Nor do they inquire into the wisdom of the policy. They should.

'Leveling The Playing Field' With Contract Principles, Stephen A. Gerst

Stephen A Gerst

No abstract provided.

September 11 Attacks And Surviving Same-Sex Partners: Defining Family Through Tragedy, Nancy J. Knauer

Nancy J. Knauer

The September 11 relief efforts present a unique prism through which to view the status of same-sex relationships and to consider which families count when the United States is supposedly at its most generous, most united, and most injured. On a basic human level, would the nation grieve for Peggy Neff, who lost her partner of 18 years when Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon, as it had for the widow of a fire fighter? Would Neff be eligible to file a claim with the multi-billion dollar federal September 11 Victim Compensation Fund, which Congress established to compensate victims and …

Unmasking Undue Influence, Ray D. Madoff

Ray D. Madoff

The substantial passage of wealth that occurs upon death in the United States each year brings into focus the tension between the belief that people should be able to dispose of their wealth as they wish and society’s interest in maintaining social stability. Nowhere is this tension more apparent than in the doctrine of undue influence. The dominant paradigm presents the undue influence doctrine as providing a double benefit of protecting freedom of testation as well as preventing overreaching by others. In this Article, the author challenges the dominant paradigm by demonstrating how the undue influence doctrine denies freedom of …