Estates and Trusts Commons^™

Wills, Trusts, Guardianships, And Fiduciary Administration, Mary F. Radford

Mercer Law Review

This Article describes the significant Georgia cases and legislation from the period of June 1, 2005 through May 31, 2006 that pertain to Georgia fiduciary law. Specifically, the Article covers cases and legislation on matters relating to wills, trusts, the administration of decedents' estates, and the guardianship and conservatorship of minors and incapacitated adults.

Wills, Trusts, And Estates, J. Rodney Johnson

University of Richmond Law Review

The General Assembly enacted legislation dealing with wills, trusts, and estates that added or amended a number of sections ofthe Virginia Code in its 2006 Session. In addition, there were sixopinions from the Supreme Court of Virginia during the periodcovered by this review that presented issues of interest to the general practitioner as well as the specialist in wills, trusts, and estates. This article reports on all of these legislative and judicial developments.

The Writing On The Wall: The Potential Liability Of Mediators As Fiduciaries, Rebekah Ryan Clark

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Ley Federal Del Procedimiento Contencioso Administrativo., Bruno L. Costantini García

Bruno L. Costantini García

Ponencia sobre la Ley Federal del Procedimiento Contencioso Administrativo, impartida por Bruno L. Costantini García.

A Complete Property Right Amendment, John H. Ryskamp

ExpressO

The trend of the eminent domain reform and "Kelo plus" initiatives is toward a comprehensive Constitutional property right incorporating the elements of level of review, nature of government action, and extent of compensation. This article contains a draft amendment which reflects these concerns.

Family Limited Partnerships: The Beat Goes On, Walter D. Schwidetzky

ExpressO

Family limited partnerships ("FLP's") are commonly used for estate planning and estate tax savings. They have come under attack by the IRS. Of late, courts have often held that the assets of an FLP are included in the decedent's estate under section 2036 of the Internal Revenue Code. The article discusses a number of recent, highly important cases in this area and makes a proposal for reform.

Proposals For Revising Georgia's Probate Code, Mary F. Radford

Faculty Publications By Year

No abstract provided.

The Convicted Felon As A Guardian: Considering The Alternatives Of Potential Guardians With Less-Than-Perfect Records, Mike Jorgensen

ExpressO

Courts require discretion in appointing guardians. Oftentimes, the legislature prevents the courts from exercising discretion when statutes are enacted that prohibit felons from serving as guardians under any circumstances. Yet, the need for guardians is increasing and will continue to do so due to the exponential growth in the aging elder population.

At the same time, however, the pool of potential guardians is shrinking in size. Additionally, the same reducing pool of eligible guardians is being attenuated further by having a disproportionate amount of felonies.

The groups most impacted by these trends are the indigent and the minorities. The indigent …

Primer Congreso Nacional De Organismos Públicos Autónomos, Bruno L. Costantini García

Bruno L. Costantini García

Memorias del Primer Congreso Nacional de Organismos Públicos Autonomos

Forty Years Of Codification Of Estates And Trusts Law: Lessons For The Next Generation, Gregory S. Alexander, Mary L. Fellows

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

In this paper we develop two theses. First, we argue that uniform law proposals that ask courts and practitioners to abandon revered legal traditions and ways of thinking about estates and trusts, even when they are intent-furthering proposals, face resistance until in time the glories of the past and the risks of a new legal regime fade in importance in legal thought. Second, we argue that, especially within an environment in which states seek to gain competitive advantage over their counterparts in other states, the glories of the past and the risks of a new legal regime fade fastest when …

Bond Repudiation, Tax Codes, The Appropriations Process And Restitution Post-Eminent Domain Reform, John H. Ryskamp

ExpressO

This brief comment suggests where the anti-eminent domain movement might be heading next.

Free Will To Will? A Case For The Recognition Of Intestacy Rights For Survivors To A Same-Sex Marriage Or Civil Union?, Christine A. Hammerle

Michigan Law Review

This Note argues that courts should recognize intestacy rights for same sex couples that were validly married or civilly united in a state other than the one in which one of the partners died. Courts may validly recognize the marriage for intestacy purposes, even while refusing to recognize the marriage as against public policy. Part I details the recent provision of benefits in various states to same-sex couples. Part II argues that same-sex couples cannot necessarily rely on wills to effectuate their intent to leave their property to their spouses. Part III argues that when states refuse to recognize the …

A Tale Of Two Trusts: The Barnes Foundation And The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Jeannette H. Maurer

ExpressO

This paper examines the law of charitable trusts and donor intent through a comparison of two museums: the Barnes Foundation and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. This paper first analyzes the framework of the Barnes trust and the Gardner trust and explores the various limitations each donor placed upon their trust instruments, including the similar restriction that, after their deaths, their art could never be moved from where they placed it in their respective galleries. The paper then compares and contrasts the Gardner trust with the Barnes trust and discusses how, given their initial similarities, the Gardner Museum has received …

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

Articles

No abstract provided.

A Uniform Probate Code For Indian Country At Last, David M. English

Faculty Publications

AIPRA makes major reforms to the Indian probate system. Federal law long provided that trust or restricted lands and IlM accounts owned by an Indian intestate are to be distributed to the heirs as determined under state law. AIPRA replaces this with one uniform intestacy scheme for the distribution of trust lands and IJIM accounts in lieu of the 30-plus state systems that now apply. AIPRA also fills out the federal law on wills, enacting numerous provisions on the interpretation of wills, most adapted from the Uniform Probate Code. In addition to providing Indian country with a uniform and more …

Conditional Love: Incentive Trusts And The Inflexibility Problem, Joshua C. Tate

ExpressO

This Article examines the contemporary phenomenon of incentive trusts: trusts that use money to encourage or discourage certain behaviors. Using evidence from Internet websites, practitioner articles, and newspaper articles, the Article considers the likely provisions that a typical incentive trust might have, and explains how such trusts might lead to a problem of inflexibility when they are not drafted so as to take into account the possibility of changed circumstances. The Article also examines current law regarding trust modification and termination as well as recent reform proposals, and suggests some alternatives that might better take into account the particular characteristics …

Powers Of Withdrawal, Claims For Set-Off, And Spendthrift Protection, Alan Newman

Akron Law Faculty Publications

If a beneficiary of a spendthrift trust has a right to withdraw property from the trust, may the beneficiary’s creditors reach the assets subject to the withdrawal power? That was the principle question recently addressed by the 1st District Court of Appeals in Great American Insurance Company v. Thompson Trust. Also of interest: the case may have involved an offset by the trustee of amounts distributable to the beneficiary to repay amounts owed by the beneficiary to the trust.

Algunas Consideraciones Sobre Los Poderes Del Juez En El Ape, Martin Paolantonio

Martin Paolantonio

Nota jurisprudencial analizando el alcance de los poderes del juez concursal y su posible interferencia con decisiones de autoridades públicas con jurisdicción sobre el sujeto insolvente

El Abogado Y La Creación De Valor En Los Negocios, Martin Paolantonio

Martin Paolantonio

Una aproximación a la función del profesional de derecho como "ingeniero de los costos de transacción" y generador de valor en los negocios

El Análisis Económico Del Derecho Y La Estructura Societaria, Martin Paolantonio

Martin Paolantonio

Un análisis de la estructura societaria, revisando la aplicación y capacidad predictiva de la teoría de agencia y la economía de los costos de transacción. Aplicación a la contratación financiera y la estructura de capital

Natural Law And Agency Theory, Michael Lp Lower

Michael LP Lower

Corporate governance scholarship is awash with theories of the firm: these are "stories" or metaphors that try to shed light on the nature and purpose of the firm as an institution and on one or more of the following questions:

(i) how the institution of the firm "evolved" (or its economic or social purpose); (ii) whether "the firm" is a reality or a rhetorical device; and (iii) the relationship between "the firm" and stakeholders, political society and so on.

Theories of the firm are used both to explain and to help develop law and policy. If the theory is misconceived, …

Who's Afraid Of Promissory Estoppel: Charitable Giving In Virginia And The Enforceability Of Promised Gifts, Charlotte Dauphin

Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest

In May of 2005, the Virginia Museum of Fine Art ("VMFA") announced that collectors James W. and Frances G. McGlothlin intend to bequeath their collection of American realist art. The bequest is valued at $100 million, and includes 33 American paintings, drawings and watercolors as well as a new wing for the museum. However, what happens if the McGlothlins change their mind? Is there any way for the VMFA, or any museum in Virginia, to improve the enforceability of charitable pledges of works of art?

Article Five Of The Utc And The Future Of Creditors' Rights In Trusts, Robert T. Danforth

Scholarly Articles

The Uniform Trust Code ("UTC") is the first comprehensive codification of the law of trusts. Approved in 2000 by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, the UTC has since been enacted (sometimes in modified form) in at least a dozen jurisdictions. The UTC has not been without controversy. In particular, Article Five of the UTC - concerning creditors' rights - has generated a veritable war of words, with opponents claiming that enactment of the UTC will result in dire consequences to the traditional creditor-protection benefits associated with spendthrift and discretionary trusts. The purpose of this article is …

Powers Of Withdrawal, Claims For Set-Off, And Spendthrift Protection, Alan Newman

Alan Newman

If a beneficiary of a spendthrift trust has a right to withdraw property from the trust, may the beneficiary’s creditors reach the assets subject to the withdrawal power? That was the principle question recently addressed by the 1st District Court of Appeals in Great American Insurance Company v. Thompson Trust. Also of interest: the case may have involved an offset by the trustee of amounts distributable to the beneficiary to repay amounts owed by the beneficiary to the trust.

Policy, Logic, And Persuasion In The Evolving Realm Of Trust Asset Protection, John K. Eason

Faculty Articles

The concept of using legal structures to protect property from those who might otherwise have some claim to it is an idea with deep roots. The trust device is one such legal structure, and its evolution as an asset protection device has not been without controversy. The recent and noticeable break with the traditional denial of self-settled trust protections is one such area of modern controversy, but not the only notable recent development. The self-setted asset protection trust movement is accompanied by the recent completion of two major law reform projects. The drafting and recommendation for state adoption of a …

Unique Property: A Supplemental Annotated Bibliography, Nancy Levit

Faculty Works

This bibliography covers law review articles and supplemental A.L.R. entries published after 2002. For literature published from 1997-2002, see Nancy Levit & Robert RM. Verchick, Unique Property: An Annotated Bibliography, 18 J. Am. Acad. Matrim. Law. 589 (2004). A.L.R. entries, the titles of which are usually self-explanatory, are cited, but not annotated. Similarly, articles that concern only a single case or a single state are cited, but not annotated.

Undeserving Heirs?--The Case Of The "Terminated" Parent, Richard Lewis Brown

University of Richmond Law Review

Every state has an intestate succession statute that prescribes how the property of those who die without a will should be distributed. Every state also by statute authorizes the government to intervene in the parent-child relationship in the most draconian manner possible by involuntarily terminating parental rights. This article explores how the law functions at the intersection of these two statutory schemes-the inheritance regime, as expressed through intestate succession statutes, and the child welfare regime, as expressed through termination of parental rights statutes ("TPR statutes").

Wills, Trusts And Estates (Annual Survey Of Virginia Law, 2005-2006), J. Rodney Johnson

Law Faculty Publications

The General Assembly enacted legislation dealing with wills, trusts, and estates that added or amended a number of sections of the Virginia Code in its 2006 Session. In addition, there were six opinions from the Supreme Court of Virginia during the period covered by this review that presented issues of interest to the general practitioner as well as the specialist in wills, trusts, and estates. This article reports on all of these legislative and judicial developments.

Expertise And Instinct In The Assessment Of Testamentary Capacity, Pamela Champine

Villanova Law Review

No abstract provided.

Who's Afraid Of Promissory Estoppel: Charitable Giving In Virginia And The Enforceability Of Promised Gifts, Charlotte Dauphin

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

In May of 2005, the Virginia Museum of Fine Art ("VMFA") announced that collectors James W. and Frances G. McGlothlin intend to bequeath their collection of American realist art. The bequest is valued at $100 million, and includes 33 American paintings, drawings and watercolors as well as a new wing for the museum. However, what happens if the McGlothlins change their mind? Is there any way for the VMFA, or any museum in Virginia, to improve the enforceability of charitable pledges of works of art?