Estates and Trusts Commons^™

Moving Forward By Looking Back: The Retroactive Application Of Obergefell, Lee-Ford Tritt

UF Law Faculty Publications

The recent Supreme Court decision of Obergefell v. Hodges has forever altered American jurisprudence. Not only did this decision make same-sex marriage legal in all fifty states, but it also required states to recognize same-sex marriages from other states in accordance with the 14th Amendment. The Court’s holding in Obergefell raises a fundamental question with serious legal and financial significance: when exactly do these once unrecognized marriages legally begin? And to what extent must courts apply Obergefell retroactively? The stakes are high and substantive financial effects are pending on the answer to this question — for, with marriage, comes wide-ranging …

Wills, Trusts, And Estates, J. William Gray Jr., Katherine E. Ramsey

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Law Of Wills, Browne C. Lewis

Law Faculty Books

This casebook is designed to train law students to think and act like probate attorneys. It is meant to be used in conjunction with the author's book The Law of Trusts. This book's focus is problem-solving and legal application. It includes numerous problems so law students can learn to apply the law they learn from reading the cases. It also contains collaborative learning exercises to encourage students to engage in group problem-solving. The book is divided into three parts to reflect the main types of issues that students will encounter if they practice probate law; its organization mirrors the …

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

Convention Providing A Uniform Law On The Form Of An International Will: Problems With State Probate Law, Jack N. Sibley

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Arkansas’S Trust Code And Trust Planning: A Ten-Year Perspective, Lynn Foster

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

In 2001, the Uniform Law Commission adopted the Uniform Trust Code, which regulates certain aspects of trusts. One impetus for the trust code was the ever-increasing popularity of revocable trusts as part of standard estate planning packages. Another was the fact that few states—including Arkansas—had well-developed common law trust rules, let alone any statutory trust codes. In 2005, the Arkansas legislature enacted a slightly modified version of the Uniform Trust Code (UTC), titled the Arkansas Trust Code (ATC). At that time, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review published my article summarizing the most important features of the …

With All My Worldly Goods I Thee Endow: The Law And Statistics Of Dower And Curtesy In Arkansas, J. Cliff Mckinney

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Panel 1: Probate Issues, Post-­Obergefell V. Hodges, Susan Tate, Charlie Yovino, Denise Vanlanduyt, Lori Surmay, Sonja R. West

Working in the Public Interest Conferences

No abstract provided.

Ahead Of The Curve: Promoting Land Tenure Security In Sub-Saharan Africa To Protect The Environment, Andrew R. Falk

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Foreclosure Of A Deed Of Trust In Virginia, Doug Rendleman

Scholarly Articles

This article deals with foreclosure of a deed of trust in Virginia. The Introduction discusses the deed of trust or mortgage as a social and political institution and the foreclosure crisis that seems to be ending. Part I is a brief history of mortgage law. It provides a short history of the modern mortgage system in the United States. Part II follows with a description of the approach that Virginia takes to mortgages. It localizes the mortgage institution to Virginia and introduces Virginia's vocabulary and technical details, the deed of trust, and the parties' rights and obligations. Part III provides …

You Can't Choose Your Family, But You Should Choose Your Co-Tenants: Reforming The Upc To Benefit The Modest- Means Family Cabin Owner, Lisa C. Willcox

University of Colorado Law Review

No abstract provided.

Deaccessioning: A Pragmatic Approach, Ardis E. Strong

Journal of Law and Policy

Art museums are curators of ideas, preservers of culture, and educators on the evolving aesthetics and morals of society. As such, they play an important role in contemporary society and should be accessible to a wide and diverse audience. One important debate in how museums best serve the public interest involves the museum practice of deaccessioning. Historically, policies governing the proceeds museums receive when they deaccession (or remove) work from their collection have strictly limited the use of these funds to the purchase of new art. This policy is based on the idea that museums hold art for the public …

An Empirical Study Of Modification And Termination Of Conservation Easements: What The Data Suggest About Appropriate Legal Rules, Gerald Korngold, Semida Munteanu, Lauren Smith

Articles & Chapters

The acquisition of conservation easements by nonprofit organizations (“NPOs”) over the past twenty-five years has revolutionized the preservation of American land. Recently, however, legislatures, courts, practitioners, and commentators have debated whether and how conservation easements should be modified and even terminated. The discussion has almost always been on a theoretical level without empirical grounding and has sometimes generated much heat but little light. The discussion has lacked the necessary empirical context to allow legislatures and courts to thoughtfully develop resolutions to these issues free from sloganeering and posturing.

This article provides and analyzes a previously uncollected dataset that offers guidance …

Property Law—Upending The Familiar Tools Of Estate Planning: Equity Renders Revocable Trusts Subject To The Arkansas Spousal Election. In Re Estate Of Thompson, 2014 Ark. 237, 434 S.W.3d 877., Lucy L. Holifield

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Exposing The Hocus Pocus Of Trusts, Kent D. Schenkel

Akron Law Review

Part II makes the conceptual case for viewing the trust as an elective cost-externalization device. Part III offers the spendthrift trust as the archetypal model for purposes of our analysis, briefly describes the spendthrift trust, and explores its consequences to outsiders to the trust deal. Part IV offers some reasons why the elective externalities of trusts persist. Part V first examines and rejects a couple of approaches to minimizing the externalized costs of trusts that rely on the “bundle of sticks” approach to property interests. It then moves beyond the bundle of sticks approach, settling on a solution based on …

Heir Property In The African American Community: From Promised Lands To Problem Lands, Roy W. Copeland

Professional Agricultural Workers Journal

Abstract

African American landowners have been reluctant to take advantage of intergenerational succession laws which provide for an orderly transfer of property from one generation to the next. This reluctance has led to a prevalence of heir property. Heir property is created when a person dies intestate. Heir property has created an impediment to wealth accumulation and has contributed to African American land loss in America. Partition actions are a byproduct of heir property which has operated to accelerate the loss of real property in the African American community. The Uniform Partition of Heir Property Act provides for procedural safeguards …

Tax Planning: Foreign Investment In United States Real Property, William H. Newton Iii

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

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 …

Alms To The Rich: The Facade Easement Deduction, Wendy G. Gerzog

All Faculty Scholarship

This article presents the case for repeal of the façade easement deduction. Proponents of this benefit argue that the deduction encourages historic preservation by reimbursing property owners for relinquishing their right to alter the façade of their property in a way inconsistent with that conservation goal; however, this article shows that there are many reasons to urge its repeal: the revenue loss, the small number of beneficiaries, the financial demographics of that group of beneficiaries; the dubious industries that are supported by the deduction; and the continual marked overvaluation and abuse despite Congressional, court, and administrative review and expense.

After …

A Principled And Structured Approach For Ascertaining Beneficial Interests In Property Disputes: Chan Yuen Lan V See Fong Mun [2014] Sgca 36, Alvin W. L. See

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In Chan Yuen Lan v See Fong Mun [2014] SGCA 36, the Court of Appeal provided important clarifications about the relationship between a resulting trust and a common intention constructive trust for the purpose of ascertaining beneficial interests in cases of property dispute. This issue, which has attracted much speculations, was left open in Lau Siew Kim v Yeo Guan Chye Terence [2007] SGCA 54 where the same court merely confirmed the continued relevance of the twin presumptions of resulting trust and advancement.

Accidental Inheritance: Retirement Accounts And The Hidden Law Of Succession, Stewart E. Sterk, Melanie B. Leslie

Articles

Americans currently hold more than $9 trillion in retirement savings accounts. Those accounts, together with the family home, are the principal source of wealth for most working and retired Americans. But when a retirement accountholder dies prior to exhausting retirement savings, what governs the distribution of the account? Most often, not the accountholder’s will or trust, but a one-page fill-in- the-blanks beneficiary designation form that the accountholder filled out, typically without advice of counsel, when she or he opened the account.

When accountholders fill out beneficiary designation forms, they are focused on starting a new job or beginning to save …

The Digital Death Conundrum: How Federal And State Laws Prevent Fiduciaries From Managing Digital Property, Christina L. Kunz, Damien A. Riehl, James D. Lamm, Peter J. Rademacher

Faculty Scholarship

This article discusses four types of fiduciaries, each of which is affected by the vast growth in and the need to manage digital property. The article begins by defining digital property and discussing why it must be managed. The article then discusses how digital property affects powers of attorney, conservatorships, probate administration, and trusts. After illustrating the problems that digital property creates for each fiduciary, the article shifts to resolving these problems. It begins by debunking purported solutions by both private and governmental entities. It concludes by offering a holistic approach to resolving the conflicts facing account holders, fiduciaries, and …

Repulsed By Rap? Renewal Options Are Singing A Different Tune: An Analysis Of Bleecker Street Tenants Corp. V. Bleeker Jones, Llc, Jonathan M. Vecchi

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

It's All Mine - Or At Least Part Of It Is: A California Look At Property Apportionment Between The Families Of An Interstate And An Intestate's Predeceased Spouse, Robert G. Popovich

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Uniform Perpetuities Reform Act, 16 N.Y.U. J. Legis. & Pub. Pol'y 89 (2013), Scott Andrew Shepard

UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship

For centuries the Rule Against Perpetuities provided protection against a pair of dangers: that important stocks of property would become, effectively, permanently inalienable as a result of perpetual conditional gifts; and that the dead would be permitted to control the destinies of the living by placing permanent conditions on the fixed stock of available wealth (i.e., land wealth). In recent decades, though, the states have increasingly abandoned the Rule and its protections. As of 2011 all states have migrated, at least in part, beyond the traditional "twenty-one-years- plus-life-in-being" rule, and more than half have actually or effectively abolished their rules, …

“I’M Not Quite Dead Yet!”: Rethinking Anti-Lapse Redistribution Of A Dead Beneficiary’S Gift, Eloisa Rodriguez-Dod

Faculty Publications

Anti-lapse statutes create a category of substitute takers when a beneficiary prematurely dies. They are based on the legislature’s presumption of how a testator or settlor would want his property distributed in these circumstances. However, a testator’s or settlor’s intent may effectively be frustrated by this presumed intent.

This Article critically examines the tension between an individual’s autonomy and societal goals in the context of anti-lapse statutes applicable to wills and trusts. It scrutinizes the current rules of construction regarding anti-lapse statutes and identifies their deficiencies in their application to wills and trusts. This Article analyzes and identifies the deficiencies …

Wills, Trusts, And Estates, J. William Gray Jr., Katherine E. Ramsey

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Right To Publicity After Death: Postmortem Personality Rights In The Wake Of Experiencehendrix V. Hendrixlicensing.Com, Aubrie Hicks

Seattle University Law Review

While the states are fairly consistent in protecting the rights of living individuals, the level of protection for deceased celebrities varies among the states. Some states allow the right to extend beyond death, while others refuse to recognize a postmortem right of publicity. Even among states that do recognize a postmortem right of publicity, the right is protected to varying degrees, with some states providing explicit statutory protections and others providing only common law protections. Given the inconsistencies among the states, the continuing right to publicity after death has been the subject of much litigation over the last few years, …

Empowering Settlors: How Proper Language Can Increase The Enforceability Of A Mandatory Arbitration Provision In A Trust, S. I. Strong

Faculty Publications

With hostile trust litigation reaching epidemic proportions, many people within the trust industry are interested in identifying new and less expensive ways to resolve trust-related disputes. Arbitration is often proposed as a possible alternative, although questions exist about whether and to what extent a mandatory arbitration provision found in a trust will be considered enforceable by a court. Up until now, most commentary in this area of law has focused on purely jurisprudential issues, with little attention being paid to the practical efforts that settlors can make to increase the enforceability of arbitration provisions found in trusts. This Article takes …

The Probate Definition Of Family: A Proposal For Guided Discretion In Intestacy, Susan N. Gary

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Intestacy statutes may not match the wishes of many people who die intestate. Changes to the Uniform Probate Code (UPC) include or exclude potential takers, as the drafters attempt to bring the UPC provisions closer to the intent of more intestate decedents. As the UPC tries to fine-tune the intestacy statutes, however, family circumstances continue to get more and more complicated. Families headed by unmarried couples, blended families with children from multiple marriages, and families in which adults raise children who are not legally theirs, have become commonplace. For some decedents, non-family friends and caregivers may be more important than …