Estates and Trusts Commons^™

Shakespeare In The Classroom: How An Annual Student Production Of King Lear Adds Dimension To Teaching Trusts And Estates, Karen E. Boxx

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I always begin the first day of my Trusts and Estates course by discussing the reasons for taking the class. While I note that some students may take the class to help in passing the bar exam or because family members have already asked them to draft wills, my list of reasons instead include: (1) exposure to the fiduciary relationship; (2) the real life ethical dilemmas faced by the lawyers; (3) learning to read and interpret state statutes; and (4) consideration of how law responds to societal changes and governs human relationships. This last reason is critical: Trusts and Estates …

Memento Mori: Deaths And Wills, Karen J. Sneddon

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Death. The mere mention of the word sends a shiver down the spine or provokes a nervous giggle. Modern reactions to death range from avoidance, as shown by the abundance of death euphemisms, to fascination, as shown by the number of movies and television shows centered on death, including Twilight's vampires and The Walking Dead's zombies. Estate planning is the legal environment in which a person con.fronts his or her mortality and participates in the formulation of his or her legacy. Contextualizing the experience as a memento mori experience promotes the function of the estate planning process, specifically …

Why The Buffett-Gates Giving Pledge Requires Limitation Of The Estate Tax Charitable Deduction, Edward A. Zelinsky

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The Buffett-Gates Giving Pledge, under which wealthy individuals promise to leave a majority of their assets to charity, is an admirable effort to encourage philanthropy. However, the Pledge requires us to confront the paradox that the federal estate tax charitable deduction is unlimited while the federal income tax charitable deduction is capped. If a Giving Pledger leaves his wealth to charity, the federal fisc loses significant revenue since the Pledger thereby avoids federal estate taxation as charitable bequests are deductible without limit for federal estate tax purposes. Despite its laudable qualities, the Giving Pledge is a systematic (albeit inadvertent) threat …

Washington Trust Law's Extreme Makeover: Blending With The Uniform Trust Code And Taking Reform Further With Innovations In Notice, Situs, And Representation, Karen E. Boxx, Katie S. Groblewski

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Washington trust laws were comprehensively revised in 2011 and 2013, resulting in the integration of concepts from the Uniform Trust Code and the addition of some novel provisions. This article discusses in depth the evolution of Washington law regarding the duties to inform and report, the situs of a trust, and representation of interested parties. In addition, this article discusses other UTC provisions that were integrated into Washington statutes and gives an explanation of any departures from UTC language and prior Washington law.

Rules Or Standards For Intestate Succession?, Stewart E. Sterk

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Effectively Curbing The Gst Exemption For Perpetual Trusts, Lawrence W. Waggoner

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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

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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 …

Retirees Beware: Don't Worry About The British, 'Taxmageddon' Is Coming, Douglas A. Kahn, Lawrence W. Waggoner

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"Taxmageddon" is coming. Unless Congress extends the current rates or reaches an agreement on tax reform, dividends will then be taxed as ordinary income at a marginal rate as high as 39.6 % and net capital gains will then be taxed at 20%. For high-income taxpayers, a 3.8% Medicare surtax will be added to the taxation of net capital gains, dividend income, interest, and other investment income, bringing the highest marginal rate to 43.4%.

For Love Or Money? Legal Treatment Of Golddiggers, Stewart E. Sterk

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Speaking For The Dead: Voice In Last Wills And Testaments, Karen J. Sneddon

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I do now hereby give, bequeath, and devise all items of tangible personal property that I own or may own a right thereonto, which includes, but is not limited to, objet d'art, furnishings, automobiles, and silver, to my surviving issue per stirpes.

A will is arguably the most important and personal legal document an individual ever executes. As the language above illustrates, much of the typical language in a will removes all traces of the individual. This personal legal document is ostensibly the individual's-the testator's-document. For a testator, contemplating the creation and execution of a will is the contemplation of …

Us Perpetual Trusts, Lawrence W. Waggoner

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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.

The Inauthentic Claim, Anthony J. Sebok

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This Article takes a critical look at the persistence of legal doctrines that prohibit or limit property rights in litigation. The Article focuses on prohibitions on assignment and maintenance. Assignment of personal injury tort claims is prohibited throughout the United States, while the assignment of other claims, such as fraud and professional malpractice, is prohibited in a large number of states. Maintenance, in which a stranger provides something of value to a litigant in order to support or promote the litigation, is prohibited in varying degrees in the United States.

These doctrines might seem quite independent of each other at …

Rethinking Trust Law Reform: How Prudent Is Modern Prudent Investor Doctrine?, Stewart E. Sterk

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During the 1990s, modern portfolio theory provided the theoretical foundation for significant reforms in trust investment doctrine-reforms that freed trustees from a legal regime in which they faced potential liability for making "speculative" investments. The reforms enabled trustees to pursue investment policies that protected beneficiaries against inflation risk. But the reforms worked too well; they encouraged trustees to invest a higher percentage of trust assets in equities just in time for a decade that has seen two precipitous stock market declines. Although no sensible investment strategy would have avoided losses during these periods of market turmoil, the doctrinal reforms endorsed …

It Is Logic Rather Than Whom You Trust: A Rejoinder To Prof. Cohen, Douglas A. Kahn

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This article is the continuation of an exchange that has taken place between Prof. Stephen B. Cohen and me concerning the validity of criticisms leveled by Chief Justice John Roberts on an opinion by then-Judge Sonia Sotomayor writing for the Second Circuit in the case of William L. Rudkin Testamentary Trust v. Commissioner. While affirming the Second Circuit’s decision, Chief Justice Roberts, writing for a unanimous Supreme Court, criticized and rejected Justice Sotomayor’s construction of the relevant statutory provision. In an article in the August 3, 2009, issue of Tax Notes, Cohen defended Justice Sotomayor’s construction of the statute and …

Message To Congress: Halt The Tax Exemption For Perpetual Trusts, Lawrence W. Waggoner

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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 End Of Probate, Stewart E. Sterk

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Helping Nonprofits Police Themselves: What Trust Law Can Teach Us About Conflicts Of Interest, Melanie B. Leslie

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Rudkin Testamentary Trust -- A Response To Prof. Cohen, Douglas A. Kahn

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In the August 3 issue of Tax Notes, Prof. Stephen Cohen wrote an article about Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s opinions in three tax cases. Of those three cases, only the opinion she wrote in William L. Rudkin Testamentary Trust v. Commissioner, 467 F.3d 149 (2d Cir. 2006), Doc 2006- 21522, 2006 TNT 203-4, is worthy of comment. Although the Second Circuit’s decision in that case was affirmed by the Supreme Court under the name Knight v. Commissioner, the construction of the critical statutory language that Justice Sotomayor adopted was rejected and criticized by Chief Justice Roberts, writing for a unanimous court. …

The Upc Addresses The Class-Gift And Intestacy Rights Of Children Of Assisted Reproduction Technologies, Lawrence W. Waggoner, Sheldon F. Kurtz

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Editor's Synopsis: Recent years' advances in assisted reproduction technology have enabled the conception of children in ways in addition to the traditional way. The Uniform Probate Code was amended last year to address the status of children born from assisted reproductive technologies for intestacy and class-gift purposes. This article discusses the relevant UPC provisions and offers several hypothetical cases to show how they operate. The article concludes expressing the hope that states will consider the new UPC approach.

Leaving More Than Money: Mediation Clauses In Estate Planning Documents, Lela P. Love, Stewart E. Sterk

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When probate disputes arise, an increasing number of courts have been referring those disputes to mediation. Estate planners, however, have been less proactive about drafting wills to include mediation clauses that would anticipate estate disputes and channel them away from litigation. When a will mandates mediation, the will provides a dispute resolution mechanism designed to preserve family harmony, conserve estate assets, and avoid airing the family's "dirty laundry "-objectives common to many testator. Mediation clauses in wills are no panacea. They are of little value to testators who exalt control over estate assets above all other concerns, and they are …

The Upc Authorizes Notarized Wills, Lawrence W. Waggoner

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This article reports on a 2008 amendment to the Uniform Probate Code that permits notarization as a method of will execution.

Business Imperatives And Fiduciary Duty, Melanie B. Leslie

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Pro Se Executors—Unauthorized Practice Of Law, Or Not?, Michael Hatfield

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This Article clarifies why under Texas law an individual named as executor in a will has the right to offer the will for probate and otherwise appear in a probate court without hiring a lawyer. This Article first provides an overview of the independent administration provisions of the Texas probate code before reviewing the unauthorized practice of law prohibition and the pro se exception. After establishing that executors qualify for the pro se exception in Texas because executors appearing in court are exercising their own management rights—rather than the rights of "the estate" or the beneficiaries—the Article explores suggestions of …

Class Gifts Under The Restatement (Third) Of Property, Lawrence W. Waggoner

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The new Restatement (Third) of Property (officially the Restatement (Third) of Property: Wills and Other Donative Transfers), in tandem with the Restatement (Third) of Trusts, is systematically proceeding through the whole field of wills, will substitutes, trusts, and estates. Both of the new Restatements should prove to be handy resources for trust and estate lawyers, not only in preparing to argue cases at both trial and appellate levels, but also in the everyday work of drafting and construing dispositive provisions in wills, trusts, and other types of donative documents. Each Restatement section is followed by a set of Comments explaining …

Distinguishing Trustees And Protecting Beneficiaries: A Response To Professor Leslie, Karen E. Boxx

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Dick Wellman -- A Personal Remembrance, Lawrence W. Waggoner

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Dick Wellman was my teacher, mentor, collaborator, colleague, and friend. My law school class at The University of Michigan Law School voted Dick the most enthusiastic member of the faculty, and he was that. Dick devoted his professional life to teaching and scholarship, as most law professors do, but he had another career: Dick was a key player in the Uniform Law Conference,' an organization dedicated to improving private law and promoting legislative uniformity among the states.2

In Defense Of The No Further Inquiry Rule: A Response To Professor John Langbein, Melanie B. Leslie

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Trusting Trustees: Fiduciary Duties And The Limits Of Default Rules, Melanie B. Leslie

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Selected Michigan Probate Law Research Resources, Barbara H. Garavaglia

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Over the past decade, attorneys have increasingly sought free electronic resources on the web to meet their research needs in order to control research costs. The need for free or low-cost access to legal materials is especially critical for solo practitioners and attorneys with smaller practices who live in areas without access to a law library or who may find the cost of commercial print and electronic resources prohibitive.

The 2003 Revised Uniform Estate Tax Apportionment Act, Douglas A. Kahn

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Editors' Synopsis: This Article describes the significant sections of the 2003 Uniform Estate Tax Apportionment Act (the "2003 Uniform Act'). The Article explains the purpose and operation of the 2003 Uniform Act's various sections and notes some of the differences between the 2003 Uniform Act and its prior version.