Estates and Trusts Commons^™

Merger Is Indirect Gift In Cavallaro, Kerry A. Ryan

All Faculty Scholarship

In Cavallaro v. Commissioner, the Tax Court held that a merger of two family-owned businesses resulted in a substantial taxable gift. The taxpayers avoided penalties by demonstrating that they relied in good faith on the mistaken advice of competent tax advisers.

Trust Term Extension: An Economic Analysis, Daniel B. Kelly

Journal Articles

To compete for trust assets following a change in the federal tax code, many states repealed or abrogated the Rule Against Perpetuities (RAP). By repealing the RAP, these states allow a settlor to create a trust that lasts forever: a “dynasty trust” or “perpetual trust.” In a thoughtful article, Trust Term Extension, Reid Kress Weisbord asks: “[C]ould the duration of a trust settled in a jurisdiction governed by the Rule Against Perpetuities be extended indefinitely after the jurisdiction’s repeal of the Rule Against Perpetuities?” While I believe that Weisbord is correct in the starting point of his analysis (the settlor's …

Publicity Rules For Public Trusts, Allison Anna Tait

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

That museums are public trusts is a truism in academic discourse and industry discussion. What various commentators mean when they speak about museums as public trusts, however, is less clear. This Article untangles and analyzes the various meanings of "'public trust" and how these meanings translate into regulatory systems. I propose that two predominant meanings-the public resource and trust law meanings-jointly constitute the definition of a public trust, and that each meaning has a consequent regulatory framework. These definitional and regulatory frameworks coexist without conflict in most contexts. In the context of deaccessioning, however, they collide.

Deaccessioning-the practice of a …

The Secret Economy Of Charitable Giving, Allison Anna Tait

Law Faculty Publications

Charitable giving is big business. In 2009, the Internal Revenue Service reported close to 100,000 private foundations, almost double the number from fifteen years earlier. Some of these charitable trusts, like the Gates Foundation, are multi-billion dollar enterprises. Trust instruments and other governing documents set forth the terms that control these gifts. Because charitable trusts can exist in perpetuity, however, changing circumstances sometimes render the terms difficult to fulfill. Courts can apply cy pres, a doctrine that allows for the modification of gift restrictions, but in the past courts have tended to apply cy pres narrowly and privilege donor intent …

The Testamentary Foundations Of Commercial Arbitration, Peter B. Rutledge

Scholarly Works

This Article offers the first systematic treatment of the relationship between commercial arbitration and testamentary arbitration. (By testamentary arbitration, I mean an arbitration clause contained in a will requiring beneficiaries to resolve differences over the estate by means of an enforceable decision by a private party rather than judicial resolution in a probate court.) Recent scholarship and jurisprudence have questioned the enforceability of these arrangements as incompatible with the requirement of a written "agreement" between parties to the arbitration. Contrary to these views, close examination of the historical record of testamentary arbitration leading to the Federal Arbitration Act's enactment reveals …

Publicity Rules For Public Trusts, Allison Anna Tait

Law Faculty Publications

That museums are public trusts is a truism in academic discourse and industry discussion. What various commentators mean when they speak about museums as public trusts, however, is less clear. This Article untangles and analyzes the various meanings of "'public trust" and how these meanings translate into regulatory systems. I propose that two predominant meanings-the public resource and trust law meanings-jointly constitute the definition of a public trust, and that each meaning has a consequent regulatory framework. These definitional and regulatory frameworks coexist without conflict in most contexts. In the context of deaccessioning,however, they collide.

Deaccessioning-the practice of a museum …

Trusts In Commerce: Guy Neale V Nine Squares Pty Ltd [2014] Sgca 64, Man Yip

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In Guy Neale v Nine Squares Pty Ltd [2014] SGCA 64, the Court of Appealconsidered the operation of the express trust in the commercial context and theprinciples relating to the award of an institutional constructive trust for breachof fiduciary duty. The decision is interesting not only for the exposition of legalprinciples, but also because it relates to the posh restaurant-bar, “Ku De Ta”,located at Marina Bay Sands.

Revisiting The Revolution: Reintegrating The Wealth Transmission System, Melanie B. Leslie, Stewart E. Sterk

Articles

Thirty years ago, John Langbein published "The Nonprobate Revolution and the Future of Succession." The article celebrated testators' newfound ability to avoid the expense and delay of the probate court system by holding assets in a variety of non-probate devices, such as retirement and bank accounts with beneficiary designations and revocable trusts. Langbein high-lighted problems the revolution might generate and predicted how they might be resolved. Since then, significant problems have indeed developed. First, wills law doctrines designed to effectuate intent of testators have not been universally extended to non-probate transfers. Second, the fragmentation of the wealth transmission process has …