Estates and Trusts Commons^™

Book Reviews, O. Kahn-Freund, Saul Medlovitz, Charles D. Kelso, J. Francis Paschal, Thomas A. Cowan, Lowell Turrentine, Richard S. Sullivan, G. Robert Ellegaard, Richard Arens, Ilmar Tammelo, J. Myron Jacobstein, Paul O. Proehl

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

Real Property - Tenancy By The Entireties - Alienabilry Of Right Of Survivorship, Robert Brooks

Michigan Law Review

At an execution sale to satisfy a judgment against her, plaintiff's interest in certain lots which she and her husband held as tenants by the entireties was conveyed to A by sheriff's deed. Subsequently, plaintiff's husband joined A and his wife in a deed of their interest to B, who later conveyed to defendants. After the death of her husband, plaintiff instituted an action as surviving spouse for possession of these lots. The trial court entered a summary judgment for plaintiff, holding that the sheriff's deed conveyed only a severable one-half interest in use and profits of the land …

Fraud On The Widow’S Share, W. D. Macdonald

Michigan Legal Studies Series

This study seeks the answer to a troublesome question: What should be done about gratuitous inter vivos transfers in alleged "evasion" of the widow's statutory share? My thesis is that the statutory share should be replaced by the type of decedent's family maintenance legislation found in the British Commonwealth, and that this legislation should be buttressed with anti-evasion provisions. Inter vivos "evasions" seem to be a permanent and increasingly serious concomitant of our forced share system. Part I, dealing with matters of policy, explores the chief aggravating factors. These factors include the high rate of remarriage, which induces transfers to …

Wills - Contract To Devise - Rights Of Subsequent Spouse With Notice Of Prior Contract At Time Of Marriage, Glenn O. Fuller

Michigan Law Review

Decedent and his first wife executed reciprocal wills pursuant to a contract appearing on the face of the instruments. Each gave the other a life estate, with remainders to substantially identical beneficiaries. After his first wife's death, decedent remarried and in an antenuptial contract agreed to bequeath a sum of money to his second wife in lieu of all her claims against his estate. The second wife had actual notice of the prior agreement at the time of their marriage. Decedent then executed a new will which expressly revoked all prior wills, confirmed the terms of the antenuptial contract, and …

Personal Property - Gifts - Delivery To Third Party, Thomas A. Dieterich S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

A husband changed the beneficiary of his life insurance policy from his wife to his mother during a temporary separation and failed to restore his wife as beneficiary after reconciliation. Subsequent to his death the mother, in the presence· of the wife, signed a memorandum "waiving" her policy rights "to" the wife and handed the writing to the insurer's district manager. Before payment of the proceeds the mother discovered that the wife was the beneficiary of another policy and attempted to revoke the memorandum. In insurer's interpleader action, a gift to the wife was recognized. On appeal, held, affirmed. …

Descent And Distribution - Joint Ownership - Imposition Of Constructive Trust On Murderer Of Co-Tenant, John B. Schwemm S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

A husband, owning land with his wife as tenants by the entireties, killed her and immediately thereafter committed suicide. In an action to determine ownership of the realty, both the probate and appellate courts declared that since a relevant disinheritance statute was inapplicable, full title vested in the husband and, upon his death, descended to his heirs. On appeal, held, reversed. Despite the common law nature of such tenancies, equity will impose on the husband a constructive trust in one-half the property for the benefit of the victim's estate. National City Bank of Evansville v. Bledsoe, (Ind. 1957) …

Descent--Statute Amendment--Advances Husband And Wife, J. E. D. Jr.

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Future Interests - Construction - Implied Condition Of Survivorship, Herbert A. Bernhard S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Decedent's will gave the income from his estate to his widow for life. After her death the estate was to be held for an additional ten years, during which time the income was to be equally divided among his named daughters, Jennie, Bertha, Ida and Martha. At the end of the ten-year period, the estate was to be divided among the four daughters in equal shares, with the children of a daughter not surviving the ten-year period to take her share. Martha died three years after decedent's widow died. Plaintiff, as administrator of Martha's estate, objected to the payment by …

Adopted Child's Right Of Inheritance From The Natural Parents, John R. Murphy Jr.

Cleveland State Law Review

Ohio's adoption statutes have always been under the close scrutiny of the courts, the legislatures and society. Their main purpose is to promote the welfare of adopted children, as well as to protect them. However, in their zeal to create a close relationship between the child and the adopting parent, the legislatures of several states, including Ohio, have attempted to sever the connection of blood relationship, in favor of the adopting parents. In the process they sometimes have cut off the right of inheritance between the child and the natural parent. A review of several recent cases indicates that this …

Transfers Of Joint Property In Contemplation Of Death: A Call For Immediate Statutory Revision, L. Hart Wright

Michigan Law Review

For years the Tax Court sided with the government and the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in asserting that the contemplation-of-death provision of the estate tax act was sufficiently elastic to include the tax concept of ownership reflected in the joint-property provision of the same act. The alliance between those tribunals on this point was recently broken, however, when the Tax Court shifted to the competing view supported by taxpayers and the appellate court for the Ninth Circuit. It now believes that the two provisions mentioned above are complete strangers even though at one time these two were …

Descent And Distribution - Ancestral Property - Exclusion Of Next Of Kin Other Than Half Bloods, George F. Lynch

Michigan Law Review

The decedent died intestate owning land which he had inherited from his father. His only next of kin were four blood aunts and uncles on his mother's side, and three blood aunts and uncles on his father's side. The paternal aunts and uncles contended that the land descended to them alone by virtue of a section of the Alabama code, which provides: "There is no distinction made between the whole and the half blood in the same degree, unless the inheritance came to the intestate by descent, devise or gift, from or of some one of his ancestors; in which …

Wills - Religious Conditions In Restraint Of Marriage - Validity At Common Law And Effect Of Shelley V. Kraemer, Jack G. Armstrong S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Testator devised and bequeathed his property to his children, but with a proviso that the gift to any child who should marry a person not born in the Hebrew faith should lapse. Subsequent to the testator's death, the defendant married a woman who had been born a Roman Catholic. The other beneficiaries brought a proceeding to declare that the defendant had lost his rights under the will by reason of his marriage. The probate court granted a decree substantially as sought by the plaintiffs. On appeal, held, affirmed. This partial restraint on marriage is not so unreasonable as to …

Wills - Revocation By Change In Circumstances - Effect Of A Separation And Property Settlement Agreement, Paul R. Haerle

Michigan Law Review

Testator's will, executed in 1944, named his wife executrix and sole devisee. One month before his death in 1952 he entered into a detailed separation and property settlement agreement with her in which, though not referring directly to the will, the wife released any present, future or after-acquired interest in the same realty as was devised in the will. The widow's offering of the will for probate was contested by the heirs. The lower court directed a verdict for the contestants on the ground that the agreement operated to revoke the will. On appeal, held, reversed. Since neither a …

Domestic Relations—Right Of Strangers To Attack Foreign Divorce Decree, Paul A. Foley

Buffalo Law Review

Estate of Englund, __ Wash. __, 277 P. 2d 717 (1954).

Domestic Relations -- 1954 Tennessee Survey, William J. Harbison

Vanderbilt Law Review

An important case dealing with testamentary restraint upon adoptions was decided by the Tennessee Supreme Court during the survey period.' The case was one of first impression in this jurisdiction and appears to be one of the few decisions upon the subject in the United States. In his will testator created a trust for his granddaughter, the child of his deceased son. He imposed a condition that if the child were adopted before her eighteenth birthday by someone outside testator's immediate family, and if her name were changed, then the trust should terminate and the corpus be distributed to other …

Creation Of Joint Rights Between Husband And Wife In Personal Property: Ii, R. Bruce Townsend

Michigan Law Review

The net effect of the general legislation pertaining to the creation of joint tenancy has been to make lawyers sensitive to language expressing an intent to create joint tenancy, tenancy by the entireties and other types of survivorship rights which may or may not fall within the foregoing concepts. And so the law has busied itself with the task of giving technical meanings to words used by members of the public in their efforts to create joint rights in property-a task that has not been fully appreciated by people who acquire personal property from bankers, brokers, clerks and the like …

Advancements: Iii, Harold I. Elbert

Michigan Law Review

Many states have statutes which provide that support, maintenance and education of a child will not be considered an advancement unless the parent intended it as such. The Kentucky statute is typical and it reads in part as follows: " . . . the maintaining or educating or the giving of money, to a child or grandchild without any view to a portion or settlement in life, shall not be deemed an advancement." Most states do not have statutes of that type but by judicial decision reach a result that is in accord with the statutory provision just quoted.

Trusts - Validity And Effect Of Assignment Of Beneficial Interest In Trust For Support - Claims Of Beneficiary's Divorced Wife And Children, William E. Parmenter Jr.

Michigan Law Review

A testamentary trust required the trustee to apply income in such amounts as might be necessary for the education, support and maintenance of H until he attained the age of 35 years; then to hand over the corpus and accrued interest. Contingent interests were created for children of H who might survive his death before the age of 35. After the death of testatrix, H married W and had two children. In an agreement subsequently incorporated in a California decree of divorce obtained by W, H promised to make monthly payments to W for her own support and for the …

Perpetuities And Other Restraints: A Study Of The Michigan Statutes And Decisions Relating To Perpetuities And Other Devices Which Fetter The Alienability Of Property, Against The Background Of The Laws Of England And Other American Jurisdictions, William F. Frachter

Michigan Legal Studies Series

The central theme of this study comprises the judicial and legislative rules developed to restrict attempts by men of property to endow their families in perpetuity, usually with land, in such manner that each successive living generation can neither part with the property nor prevent unborn generations from succeeding to it. Part One deals with attempts to accomplish this object by bestowing the whole title on each living generation but denying each such generation the power to dispose of the property or to prevent its· descent to the next generation. In this part the principal restrictive rules are judicial, the …

Income, Gift And Estate Tax Considerations In Marriage And Divorce, G. Van Velsor Wolf

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Heir Hunting -- A Profession Or A Racket?, Frank C. Ingraham

Vanderbilt Law Review

Although the cases clearly define the law and public policy applicable to the genealogist's contract, the important variable is the individual factual situation and its implications. The courts have upheld the heir-hunter's contract when the following factors were predominant in the suit: where the services of the genealogist amounted to valuable consideration; where the parties were competent and on equal footing; where there was no implied or express agreement to participate in existing or contemplated litigation; where the beneficiary accepted the evidence which established his claim and received the benefit of the claim; where there was no duty on the …

Advancements: Ii, Harold I. Elbert

Michigan Law Review

A voluntary inter vivos transfer by a parent to a child is not an advancement so long as the transferor lives. The purpose of the doctrine is to equalize an intestate' s property among his children. It is auxiliary to the distribution of his estate that the question of advancement is raised. The death of the transferor is not enough to give rise to the doctrine. The person seeking to charge the intestate's heirs with an advancement must prove several additional facts. The legislation of each state determines what must be proved in order to charge the transferee with an …

Domestic Relations-Liability Of Estate Of Deceased Divorced Husband For Support Of Children Under Divorce Decree. [Virginia]

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Rights Accruing To A Husband Upon Marriage With Respect To The Property Of His Wife, James W. Day

Michigan Law Review

Attention is directed in this article to the principles of the common law and the features of the subsequent developments that are believed to be of greatest current value either because the particular doctrine still persists or because it aids in the evaluation of a precedent for use in a legal background that differs from that of the period or jurisdiction in which the decision was rendered.

Real Property-Tenancy By Entireties-Creation By Deed From Husband To Husband And Wife, Richard P. Matsch S. Ed.

Michigan Law Review

H owned real estate in fee simple. His wife, W, joined with him in a warranty deed conveying the land to themselves with the expressed intention of creating a tenancy by entireties. H died and his heirs challenged W's right to take the fee by survivorship. The trial court held that a tenancy by entireties had been created and the wife properly took the fee. On appeal, held, affirmed, one judge dissenting. An Arkansas statute providing that a married man may convey "the interest specified in the deed" directly to his wife permits a husband, already owner …

Trusts-Illusory Transfer-Rights Of Surviving Spouse, Carl S. Krueger

Michigan Law Review

ln 1939 Henry Halpern drafted a will naming his wife executrix and sole beneficiary of his estate. In 1946, about the time he and his wife separated, Halpern opened four savings accounts in his own name in trust for his infant granddaughter. While Halpern made subsequent deposits in two of them, he made no withdrawals; nor did he in any other manner revoke the trusts. Although evidence did not establish them as irrevocable trusts, it did show that Halpern on occasion indicated he meant the bank books to go to his granddaughter. Subsequently his wife, as executrix, instituted proceedings to …

Trusts And Estates - Relationship By Affinity-Meaning Of The Word "Stepchild" In A Tax Statute, Harold S. Lentz S. Ed.

Michigan Law Review

A widower with two children married Sarah Bordeaux and predeceased her. A child of the marriage died in infancy. The two children were raised by Sarah as if she had been their natural mother. A strong filial relationship developed, and at the death of Sarah in 1949, the bulk of her property passed to the two children by will. The inheritance tax division of the tax commission contended that the relationship by affinity had been terminated and that the children, no longer being "stepchildren," were not entitled to the lower tax rates under Class A of the inheritance tax statute …

Domestic Relations-Liability Of Estate Of Deceased Husband For Support Of Children Under Divorce Decree

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Adoption - Right Of Inheritance In Absence Of Legal Adoption-Specific Performance Of Contract To Adopt And Other Remedies, James C. Mordy

Michigan Law Review

Adoption was unknown at common law. Modern statutes permitting adoption are largely derived from Roman ideas, which were introduced into this country first through the civil law of Louisiana and later by statutes, beginning with Massachusetts in 1851.

Under the English common law, the only persons capable of inheriting property were blood relations of the deceased. On the other hand, most modern adoption statutes permit inheritance by adopted children equally with natural children. Adoption being purely statutory, the early cases denied the right of inheritance by supposedly adopted children when the statute was not strictly followed. Though still purporting to …

Illegal Conditions And Limitations: Effect Of Illegality, Olin L. Browder, Jr

Michigan Law Review

IN earlier articles the writer undertook to explore that miscellaneous and somewhat neglected field of law in which public policy is held to nullify the efforts of persons to impose certain types of conditions and limitations on dispositions of their property.' Such provisions most commonly take the form either of conditions subsequent or executory limitations, but occasionally appear as conditions precedent or special limitations. Unlike provisions which run afoul of the rule against perpetuities or the rules against restraints on alienation, the provisions in question usually prescribe conduct on the part of beneficiaries which is not directly related to the …