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Effectively Curbing The Gst Exemption For Perpetual Trusts, Lawrence W. Waggoner
Effectively Curbing The Gst Exemption For Perpetual Trusts, Lawrence W. Waggoner
Articles
In "Effectively Curbing the GST Exemption for Perpetual Trusts," I criticized the Treasury Department’s proposal for dealing with perpetual trusts. My objection is that Treasury’s approach would leave many trusts and much wealth GST-exempt for much longer than Congress originally intended. For perpetual trusts created before enactment, Treasury’s approach would allow them to continue to be unburdened by a durational limit. For perpetual trusts created after the effective date of enactment, Treasury’s approach would still allow them to qualify for the GST exemption, but would have the exemption expire 90 years after the trust was created.
What's In The Third And Final Volume Of The New Restatement Of Property That Estate Planners Should Know About, Lawrence W. Waggoner
What's In The Third And Final Volume Of The New Restatement Of Property That Estate Planners Should Know About, Lawrence W. Waggoner
Articles
Professor John Langbein and I have just concluded a twenty-year project for the American Law Institute to restate the law of donative transfers. The official title of our three-volume Restatement is the Restatement (Third) of Property: Wills and Other Donative Transfers.1 We refer to it herein simply as the Property Restatement. The third and final volume of the work was published in the last days of 2011. Professor Langbein spoke about certain of the initiatives in the two earlier volumes, which set forth the principles governing the law of wills, intestacy, interpretation of instruments, and the nonprobate system. The concluding …
Us Perpetual Trusts, Lawrence W. Waggoner
Us Perpetual Trusts, Lawrence W. Waggoner
Articles
In 2009, the UK reconfirmed tis long-standing public policy against perpetual trusts. America has been moving in the opposite direction. Recent years have seen a movement in the states to pass legislation allowing settlors to create family trusts that can last forever or for several centuries. Sadly, and embarrassingly, the American perpetual-trust movement has not been based on the merits of removing the traditional curb on excessive dead-hand control. The policy issues associated with allowing perpetual trusts have not been seriously discussed in the state legislatures. The driving force has been interstate competition for trust business.
Message To Congress: Halt The Tax Exemption For Perpetual Trusts, Lawrence W. Waggoner
Message To Congress: Halt The Tax Exemption For Perpetual Trusts, Lawrence W. Waggoner
Articles
The federal estate tax is in abeyance this year. The popular press has picked up on the possibility that the estates of billionaires such as the late George Steinbrenner, who owned the New York Yankees, will escape the tax. The House Ways and Means Committee, chaired by Representative Sander Levin of Michigan, and the Senate Finance Committee, chaired by Senator Max Baucus of Montana, are now considering two questions: what the maximum rate and exemption will be when the estate tax returns and whether the tax will be reinstated for this year. Lurking behind the headlines but equally important is …
The Rise Of The Perpetual Trust, Jesse Dukeminier, James E. Krier
The Rise Of The Perpetual Trust, Jesse Dukeminier, James E. Krier
Articles
For more than two centuries, the Rule against Perpetuities has served as the chief means of limiting a transferor's power to tie up property by way of successive contingent interests. But recently, at least seventeen jurisdictions in the United States have enacted statutes abolishing the Rule in the case of perpetual (or near-perpetual) trusts. The prime mover behind this important development has been the federal Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax. This Article traces the gradual decline of the common law Rule against Perpetuities, considers the dynamics behind the recent wave of state legislation, examines the problems that might result from the rise …
The Uniform Statutory Rule Against Perpetuities: The Rationale Of The 90-Year Waiting Period, Lawrence W. Waggoner
The Uniform Statutory Rule Against Perpetuities: The Rationale Of The 90-Year Waiting Period, Lawrence W. Waggoner
Articles
The Uniform Law Commissioners promulgated the Uniform Statutory Rule Against Perpetuities in 1986. The perpetuity-reform efforts of the American Law Institute in the Restatement (Second) inspired the Uniform Act. The Restatement and the Uniform Act employ the so-called wait-and-see approach to perpetuity reform. Wait-and-see is a two-step strategy. Step One preserves the validating side of the common-law Rule Against Perpetuities (the common-law Rule): By satisfying the common-law Rule, a nonvested future interest in property is valid at the moment of its creation. Step Two is a salvage strategy for future interests that would have been invalid at common law: Rather …
The Uniform Statutory Rule Against Perpetuities: Oregon Joins Up, Lawrence W. Waggoner
The Uniform Statutory Rule Against Perpetuities: Oregon Joins Up, Lawrence W. Waggoner
Articles
Uniform perpetuity reform is on the march, and Oregon has joined the parade. On January 1, 1990, the Uniform Statutory Rule Against Perpetuities (Uniform Act) became effective in Oregon. Although promulgated only three years ago, the Uniform Act has been enacted in over twenty percent of the states and appears to be on its way toward enactment in several others. Prior to the adoption of the Uniform Act, Oregon followed the common-law Rule Against Perpetuities (common-law Rule). Noted for its unjust consequences, the common-law Rule disregards actual events and invalidates a contingent (nonvested) future interest merely on the grounds of …
Wait-And-See: The New American Uniform Act On Perpetuities, Lawrence W. Waggoner
Wait-And-See: The New American Uniform Act On Perpetuities, Lawrence W. Waggoner
Articles
The wait-and-see version of perpetuity reform has gained a new champion in the United States. The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws-the body responsible for promulgating uniform legislation, such as the Uniform Commercial Code, for recommended enactment by the federal states-recently approved a Uniform Statutory Rule Against Perpetuities. Shortly thereafter, the Uniform Act was endorsed by the House of Delegates of the American Bar Association, the Board of Regents of the American College of Probate Counsel, and the Board of Governors of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers.
The Uniform Statutory Rule Against Perpetuities, Lawrence W. Waggoner
The Uniform Statutory Rule Against Perpetuities, Lawrence W. Waggoner
Articles
When the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws recently approved the Uniform Statutory Rule Against Perpetuities, it may at long last have made perpetuity reform achievable in this country. Coming, as it does, on the heels of the 1981 promulgation of the Restatement (Second) of Property (Donative Transfers), which adopts the same general type of perpetuity reform, and having been unanimously endorsed by the House of Delegates of the American Bar Association, the Board of Regents of the American College of Probate Counsel, and the Board of Governors of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers, the Uniform …
Perpetuities: A Perspective On Wait-And-See, Lawrence W. Waggoner
Perpetuities: A Perspective On Wait-And-See, Lawrence W. Waggoner
Articles
Professor Dukeminier and I agree on most of the important points concerning perpetuity law and perpetuity reform. We agree that the Rule Against Perpetuities still serves a socially useful function of limiting dead hand control, and should not be abolished. We also agree that the common law Rule is needlessly harsh and should be softened. Finally, we agree on the type of reform that is most desirable-waitand- see. Our only disagreeihent-concerns the best method of marking off the wait-and-see perpetuity pe]iqod-the period of time during which dispositions that would have been invalid under the common law Rule are to be …
A Rejoinder By Professor Waggoner, Lawrence W. Waggoner
A Rejoinder By Professor Waggoner, Lawrence W. Waggoner
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Since the patience of the reader and the space in this issue of the Law Review are nearing their limits, I wish to publish only two points in response to what Professor Dukeminier has written.. These points further support my position that Dukeminier's proposed statute would lead almost anyone to conclude that A, not X, is the causal relationship measuring life in Example 1 of my article.1 By implication, these points, along with the others made in my article, corroborate my overall thesis: Professor Dukeminier's proposed one-sentence statute2 cannot be counted a responsible way of identifying the measuring lives for …
Perpetuity Reform, Lawrence W. Waggoner
Perpetuity Reform, Lawrence W. Waggoner
Articles
After years of debate, perpetuity reform is still controversial. To be sure, there is agreement among virtually all of the commentators and experts in the field that the Rule Against Perpetuities is in need of reform. The disagreement, on the surface, centers on the methods of reform to be employed. At least three basic methods have been advanced: (1) specific statutory repair of discrete problem areas; (2) reformation; and (3) wait-and-see. Each method has its sponsors, and each has in one form or another been adopted as part of the law of a few states. These methods are not mutually …
In Re Lattouf's Will And The Presumption Of Lifetime Fertility In Perpetuity Law, Lawrence W. Waggoner
In Re Lattouf's Will And The Presumption Of Lifetime Fertility In Perpetuity Law, Lawrence W. Waggoner
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Adoption of children is an ever-present complication of class gifts and the Rule Against Perpetuities. Given this fac any effort to find the presumption of lifetime fertility rebuttable is largely illusory. The author demonstrates that the gift in In Re Lattouf's Will could have been sustained even in face of an irrebuttable presumption.
The Emergence Of A General Reformation Doctrine For Wills, Lawrence W. Waggoner, John H. Langbein
The Emergence Of A General Reformation Doctrine For Wills, Lawrence W. Waggoner, John H. Langbein
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In this article, which both summarizes and updates an extensively footnoted article published last year ("Reformation of Wills on the Ground of Mistake: Change of Direction in American Law?" 130 University of Pennsylvania Law Rmiew 521 (1982)), we report on this new case law and discuss the analytic framework that we think it suggests and requires.
Reformation Of Wills On The Ground Of Mistake: Change Of Direction In American Law?, John H. Langbein, Lawrence W. Waggoner
Reformation Of Wills On The Ground Of Mistake: Change Of Direction In American Law?, John H. Langbein, Lawrence W. Waggoner
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Although it has been "axiomatic" that our courts do not entertain suits to reform wills on the ground of mistake, appellate courts in California, New Jersey, and New York have decided cases within the last five years that may presage the abandonment of the ancient "no-reformation" rule. The new cases do not purport to make this fundamental doctrinal change, although the California Court of Appeal in Estate of Taff and the New Jersey Supreme Court in Engle v. Siegel did expressly disclaim a related rule, sometimes called the "plain meaning" rule. That rule, which hereafter we will call the "no-extrinsic-evidence …
Perpetuity Statutes, Edwin C. Goddard
Perpetuity Statutes, Edwin C. Goddard
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THE common law of perpetuities is one of the most interesting examples of almost pure judicial legislation. De Donis, The Statutes of Uses and of Wills, but gave wider scope to the development by the courts of rules of law to thwart the attempt of the great landowners to tie up their landed estates in their families in perpetuity. One body of rules to this end limited restraints upon alienation, another the creation of future interests vesting at too remote a period. Restriction of restraints upon alienation, and the rule against perpetuities, these two were developed for the same end, …
How To Beat The Rule Against Perpetuities, John R. Rood
How To Beat The Rule Against Perpetuities, John R. Rood
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Many people seem to think that the lawyer's problem is not so much to know what the law is as to know how to get all they want while obeying the law to the letter. In the case of perpetuities the history of nearly a thousand years of our law shows an almost unbroken series of disastrous failures of the best-laid schemes to violate the public policy of freedom of alienation.
Unenforceable Trusts And The Rule Against Perpetuities, George L. Clark
Unenforceable Trusts And The Rule Against Perpetuities, George L. Clark
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Bequests upon trust to use the income thereof each year in keeping a monument or grave in repair, or in saying masses,8 or in having a brass band to play at the testator's grave each year on the anniversary of the testator's death9 have been held invalid, and the reason given is that the gift is a "perpetuity"1 or is in "violation of the rule against perpetuities."11 What do the courts mean by calling such a gift a "perpetuity?" And in what way, if at all, could the bequest be so changed as to avoid the "rule against perpetuities" and …