Estates and Trusts Commons^™

In Memory Of Professor James E. Bond, Janet Ainsworth

Seattle University Law Review

Janet Ainsworth, Professor of Law at Seattle University School of Law: In Memory of Professor James E. Bond.

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

Zoning For Families, Sara C. Bronin

Indiana Law Journal

Is a group of eight unrelated adults and three children living together and sharing meals, household expenses, and responsibilities—and holding themselves out to the world to have long-term commitments to each other—a family? Not according to most zoning codes—including that of Hartford, Connecticut, where the preceding scenario presented itself a few years ago. Zoning, which is the local regulation of land use, almost always defines family, limiting those who may live in a dwelling unit to those who satisfy the zoning code’s definition. Often times, this definition is drafted in a way that excludes many modern living arrangements and preferences. …

The Law Of High-Wealth Exceptionalism, Allison Anna Tait

Law Faculty Publications

No family is an island. But some families would like to be – at least when it comes to wealth preservation – and they depend on what this Article calls the law of high-wealth exceptionalism to facilitate their success. The law of high-wealth exceptionalism has been forged, over the years, from the twinned scripts of wealth management and family wealth law, both of which constitute high-wealth families as sovereign entities capable of self-regulation and deserving of exemption from the rules that govern ordinary-wealth families. Consequently, high-wealth families take advantage of complicated estate planning techniques and highly favorable wealth rules in …

Neglecting Responsibilities: The Uniform Probate Code's Failure To Address Child Maltreatment And Poverty, Joshua Hamlet

Journal of Law and Policy

When a child or adolescent passes away, parents are typically stricken with grief and unable to cope with the devastation. Unfortunately, the emotional toll is not the only challenge parents face. Some are forced to handle legal battles regarding the administration of their deceased child’s estate. Since the majority of children do not have a will, state adoptions of the Uniform Probate Code dictate what happens to the child’s estate during these tragedies. But what happens in the event these parents abused or neglected their child while that child was still living? While the Uniform Probate Code advises that these …

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Equitable Relief For Erisa Benefit Plan Designation Mistakes, Raymond C. O'Brien

Catholic University Law Review

Since its enactment in 1974, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and related insurance and disability programs provided retirement security for employees and employers, amassing more than $9 trillion in protected assets. Congress preempted conflicting state laws so as to promote certainty of distribution and ease of administration, two hallmarks of ERISA-governed plans. Nonetheless, since 1974, American society embraced spousal equality, an increased number of marriages end in divorce, and wealth most often passes through nonprobate transfers such as insurance contracts and pension policy plans. To accommodate these societal and wealth changes, states enacted statutes to provide elective share …

Is Marriage A Proxy For Wealth?, Phyllis C. Taite

Other Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Assessing Assisted Reproductive Technology, Raymond C. O'Brien

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

Technological innovation possesses both opportunity and challenge. Because assisted reproductive technology (ART) involves sexual intimacy, parenthood, personhood, gender identity, privacy, legacy, and a plethora of religious, historical, sociological, and ethical underpinnings, the challenges presented in such technological innovation are substantial. Nonetheless, the opportunities are significant and progressive. Because of in vitro fertilization, gestational and genetic surrogacy, posthumous conception, and mitochondrial replacement therapy, humans now have the opportunity to overcome infertility, gender obstacles to parentage, dynastic limitations, and diseases that have long plagued mothers and infants. However, challenges include the exploitation of surrogates, unequal access to ART services, possibilities of cloning …

Equitable Relief For Erisa Benefit Plan Designation Mistakes, Raymond C. O'Brien

Scholarly Articles

Since its enactment in 1974, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and related insurance and disability programs provided retirement security for employees and employers, amassing more than $9 trillion in protected assets. Congress preempted conflicting state laws so as to promote certainty of distribution and ease of administration, two hallmarks of ERISA-governed plans. Nonetheless, since 1974, American society embraced spousal equality, an increased number of marriages end in divorce, and wealth most often passes through nonprobate transfers such as insurance contracts and pension policy plans. To accommodate these societal and wealth changes, states enacted statutes to provide elective share …

Klabacka V. Nelson, 133 Nev. Adv. Op. 24 (May 25, 2017), Christopher Kelly

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Court determined that (1) family courts have subject matter jurisdiction in divorce proceedings that involve issues otherwise outside the scope of family courts, (2) parol evidence may not be considered to determine party intent to form separate property agreements and self-settled spendthrift trusts where the written agreements are valid and unambiguous, (3) a court order equalizing assets between different spendthrift trusts is improper because the NRS protects against court orders that move assets from trusts and against moves that do not benefit trust beneficiaries, (4) spendthrift trusts may not be reached for payment of personal obligations not known at …

Video: Elder Law For Beginners, Arlene Lakin, Gail Fisher

NSU Law Seminar Series

This particular seminar is designed to educate attorneys about how to be an elder law attorney. Practitioners will learn the various skill sets involved: estate and incapacity planning as well as protection of assets in order to qualify for, or remain qualified for, public benefits such as Medicaid and veteran’s pension with aid and attendance.

1. How to work with senior citizens and their families in a clinical as well as legal format
2. How to determine capacity of elderly clients to execute legal documents
3. How to analyze family relationships
4. How to design an estate and incapacity plan …

The Elective Share Has No Friends: Creditors Trump Spouse In The Battle Over The Revocable Trust, Angela M. Vallario

All Faculty Scholarship

A revocable trust is a popular estate planning tool used to disinherit a spouse in sixteen jurisdictions. In common law jurisdictions, a surviving spouse, who is dissatisfied with his or her inheritance, has the right to receive an elective share of the decedent's estate regardless of the decedent's estate plan. However, sixteen jurisdictions have defined a dissatisfied spouse's rights with a fractional share of the deceased spouse's "net probate estate," allowing one spouse to disinherit the other, by single-handedly transferring his or her assets to a revocable trust. To add insult to injury seven of these common law jurisdictions have …

Mother. Orator. Woman Suffrage Leader: The Feminist Legacy Of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Paula A. Monopoli

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Development Of The Wife's Cause Of Action For Loss Of Consortium

The Catholic Lawyer

No abstract provided.

Probate A To Z: Guiding You Through The Statutes, Rules, And Procedures (Click Sharkmedia Below For Video), Adam Scott Goldberg

NSU Law Seminar Series

• Learn about probate court statutes and rules of procedure in Florida
• Understand how Probate issues can impact other areas such as: real estate, family, and debt/creditor law.
• How to handle special challenges that arise in probate cases
• Discuss recent procedural changes in Miami-Dade & Broward Probate Court

Emerging Challenges In Asset Protection Planning, Inga Ivsan

University of Miami Business Law Review

Asset protection planning has gained in popularity and acceptance among estate planners over the past two decades, and is now a headline topic at national legal conferences and a featured subject in law school curricula. While the self-settled spendthrift trust was once considered the domain of a handful of offshore jurisdictions, sixteen American states have now enacted legislation to facilitate such planning closer to home.

This article examines the historical challenges and contemporary threats to asset protection planning, including: Past use of the contempt powers of the courts to compel debtors to repatriate assets held offshore; tort liability for civil …

Recent Development: Sieglein V. Schmidt: Pursuant To § 1-206(B) Of The Estates And Trusts Article, Artificial Insemination Encompasses In Vitro Fertilization Using Donated Sperm; A Court May Use The Goldberger Factors To Determine Voluntary Impoverishment; A Trial Court Can Issue A Permanent Injunction For Harassment Based On § 1-203(A) Of The Family Law Article., Virginia J. Yeoman

University of Baltimore Law Forum

The Court of Appeals of Maryland held that the term “artificial insemination” includes in vitro fertilization using donated sperm, and that a consenting husband is presumed to be the father of the child born as a result of the procedure. Sieglein v. Schmidt, 447 Md. 647, 652, 136 A.3d 751, 754 (2016). The court also held that the circuit court did not abuse its discretion in finding the husband to be voluntarily impoverished or in issuing a permanent injunction based on harassment. Id.

Trial And Heirs: Antemortem Probate For The Changing American Family, Katherine M. Arango

Brooklyn Law Review

The notion of the traditional American family has changed due to complex family structures formed through remarriages, cohabitation, and same-sex couples. Freedom of disposition is a guiding principle of inheritance law, whereby society recognizes the value in protecting one’s ability to acquire and transfer personal property at death. However, intestacy statutes are antiquated and have failed to keep pace with the rise of the modern American family, thus leaving the right to freedom of disposition uncertain and vulnerable for a large population. A will is a way of opting out of intestacy, but given that a will is frequently the …

Planned Parenthood: Adult Adoption And The Right Of Adoptees To Inherit, Richard C. Ausness

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

This Article is concerned with the effect of adult adoptions on the inheritance rights (in the broad sense of that term) of adult adoptees. The Article contends many adult adoption statutes assume the existence of a parent-child relationship in which the adopter is the “parent” and the adoptee is a “child” even though this is not true of all adult adoption cases. In addition, legislatures and courts frequently fail to differentiate between “quasi-familial” adoptions and “strategic” adoptions, particularly where inheritance rights are concerned.

From Idiots And Lunatics To Incapacitated Persons And Respondents: The Evolution Of Guardianship Law In Rhode Island, Mark B. Heffner

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Inheritance Equity: Reforming The Inheritance Penalties Facing Children In Non-Traditional Families, Danaya C. Wright

UF Law Faculty Publications

This Article examines how more than 50% of children living today may be disadvantaged by 1950s era inheritance laws that privilege and protect only those children living in nuclear families with their biological parents. Because so many children today are living in blended families — single-parent families, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer/questioning (LGBTQ) families, or are living with relatives — their right to inherit from the persons who function as their parents are severely limited by most state probate codes, even though they would likely be entitled to child support under the parent-child definitions of most of those states' …

Intestacy Concerns For Same-Sex Couples: How Variations In State Law And Policy Affect Testamentary Wishes, Megan Moser

Seattle University Law Review

As the number of same-sex couples increases in the United States, concerns regarding the evolution of federal and state law, with respect to rights for same-sex couples, also continue to rise. As marriage is not always available to same-sex couples, they often face very different legal issues than couples in a traditional marriage. Because marriage is typically not a legal cause of action, the question of a marriage’s validity often arises incidentally to another legal question, such as the disposition of a decedent’s estate.

When An Ex Can Take It All: The Effect—And Non-Effect—Of Revocation On A Will Post-Divorce, Molly Brimmer

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Newsroom: Pbc: Safe Passage Through Guardianship, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Whose Fault Is It Anyway?: Analyzing The Role “Fault” Plays In The Division Of Premarital Property If Marriage Does Not Ensue, Arielle L. Murphy

Catholic University Law Review

Whenever an engagement comes to a premature end, the first question that seems to be asked is: “who gets the engagement ring?” This Comment seeks to answer this question. As societal views regarding marriage and a woman’s role within it began to change in the mid-twentieth century, courts started to recognize engagement rings as conditional gifts that were conditioned upon the marriage actually occurring. Even with this framework, states remain divided on whether fault should be included as part of the analysis in determining which party is entitled to the ring if an engagement ends before marriage occurs. This Comment …

The Intersection Of Agency Doctrine And Elder Law: Attorney-In-Fact Authority To Arbitrate Nursing Home Claims, 49 J. Marshall L. Rev. 39 (2015), Thomas Simmons

UIC Law Review

With the popularity of durable powers of attorney to manage the estates and personal affairs of individuals with diminished capacity, construction of the scope of powers with which agents are acting is of increasing importance. Some acts should be seen as so inherently personal or so dramatically inconsistent with the expected role of an agent as to be simply outside the scope of agency altogether. Others, such as those involving gifts, self-dealing transactions, or constitutional rights, should be never implied but honored when located within the express terms of an agent’s authority. The remaining powers should be construed and mapped …

Who Owns Villa La Pietra? The Story Of A Family, Their Home, And An American University Under Italian Law, Felicia Caponigri

Notre Dame Journal of International & Comparative Law

In 1994 Harold Acton, son of Arthur Acton, an English art dealer in Florence, and Hortense Mitchell Acton, an American banking heiress, donated his family home, Villa La Pietra, to New York University. Today, this Tuscan villa is at the center of a declaration of paternity lawsuit and a claim of inheritance brought by Liana Beacci, Arthur Acton's daughter by his Italian secretary. In this Note, Felicia Caponigri presents the facts of the case, focusing on the provenance of the Villa, and the procedural posture of the case. Caponigri applies Italian law to argue that New York University might claim …

Principles Of Contract Law Applied To Entertainment And Sports Contracts: A Model For Balancing The Rights Of The Industry With Protecting The Interests Of Minors, John H. Shannon, Richard J. Hunter Jr.

Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review

This Article discusses the context of common law and statutory materials dealing with minors who participate in the entertainment and sports fields. The Article describes the changes undertaken as a result of several notorious cases involving prominent child actors, and how the California legislature dealt with issues ranging from set asides of income, approval of contracts by a competent court of jurisdiction, recognition of the legitimate interests of all parties to the contract, to principles under which a minor would be precluded from disaffirming a contract. The Article then applies and extends the principles developed in entertainment contracts to minors …