Estates and Trusts Commons^™

Constructive Trusts In Malaysia: A Methodological Reappraisal, Hang Wu Tang, Ying Khai Liew

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In recent times, Malaysian courts have resorted to a ritual incantation of unconscionability and the notion of a remedial constructive trust to justify a declaration of a constructive trust. This methodology is unhelpful for approaching constructive trusts and has led the law to develop in an unprincipled and unpredictable fashion. Our central thesis is that the key Malaysian decisions could have been decided on the basis of pre-existing legal principles upon which English and Commonwealth courts have declared a constructive trust. We argue that future courts ought to realign their methodology with the orthodox tradition of incremental development of the …

Keynote Address: The Movement To Protect Kids From Addictive Technologies, Gaia Bernstein

Seattle University Law Review

In this keynote address, I describe my personal journey starting with a school outreach program I created in 2017 to address technology overuse among kids. While I initially advocated for self-help methods, I grew to recognize that the tech industry bore responsibility. This realization led me to write Unwired: Gaining Control over Addictive Technologies, which focused on collective action to pressure the tech industry to redesign its addictive products.

I then describe the movement to control addictive technologies and protect kids, which has gained momentum since the end of the pandemic. This movement combines grassroots parent activism with legal-political action. …

Moral Panic Or Public Health Crisis? Lessons From Drugs And Gambling For “Addictive” Design, Matthew B. Lawrence, Haomin (Kevin) Yan

Seattle University Law Review

Alcohol, automobiles, guns, lottery, loot boxes, meat, music, opioid painkillers, processed foods, prop bets, slot machines, television, tobacco, violent video games. Over the last century each of these has been subject to concerns—some might even say “moral panics”—from parents and policymakers about avoidable harms to kids and adults. In some cases we look back with the benefit of hindsight and dismiss those concerns as naïve or moralistic. In others we look back at them as justified or as having come too late to check an expanding industry before it did unfathomable harm while growing so powerful that it became all …

The Ai Doppelgänger Dilemma: Cloned Voices In The Music Industry, Elizabeth Shields

Seattle University Law Review

With the rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI), there has been an influx of “voice clones”—deep-learning algorithms that create synthetic speech to realistically mimic human voices. Celebrities and, in particular, music artists, have been subjected to the proliferation of AI voice clones on social media platforms like TikTok and streaming platforms such as Spotify. Despite music utilizing AI voice clones having amassed much popularity, this technology can be harmful and highly invasive to musicians whose livelihoods often depend on their distinct voices. While legal scholars have attempted to articulate various rights that could protect a person’s voice, individuals are largely …

Re-Imagining Tomorrow: A Technology, Innovation Law, And Ethics Symposium On Addictive Technology And Children, Margaret Chon

Seattle University Law Review

In this Foreword, Professor Margaret Chon introduces Seattle University's Technology, Innovation Law, and Ethics (TILE) program, the 2024 TILE Symposium, and Dr. Gaia Bernstein’s Unwired: Gaining Control Over Addictive Technologies.

Let The Sunshine In: Crafting Constitutional Transparency Regulations For Content Moderation, Caitlin Ring Carlson

Seattle University Law Review

In response to public concern about the impact of social media, legislators in some U.S. states have developed laws to regulate the process of content moderation. Many include mandatory transparency and disclosure requirements, some of which courts have already deemed an unconstitutional infringement on social media platforms’ right to free expression. This article explores the parameters for crafting constitutional social media transparency regulations using existing U.S. media policy and insights from recent legal challenges. The resulting analysis identifies content neutral transparency requirements that mandate the disclosure of purely factual, non-controversial information as those most likely to withstand judicial scrutiny. Specifically, …

This Is Not A Game: The Addictive Allure Of Digital Companions, Nizan Geslevich Packin, Karni Chagal-Feferkorn

Seattle University Law Review

Artificial Intelligence (AI) agents have become an inescapable part of modern childhood, reshaping education, leisure activities, entertainment, and social interaction. From AI-powered tutors that adapt to individual learning styles to emotionally responsive chatbots that simulate human companionship, these systems promise unprecedented personalization, cognitive stimulation, and social support. However, these benefits mask significant risks that remain unregulated and inadequately addressed.

Although adults are also susceptible to forming deep emotional bonds with AI companions—often trusting them as if they possessed genuine understanding and empathy—children are particularly vulnerable. Their misplaced trust can more severely distort social development, weaken critical thinking, and foster unhealthy …

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

Responding To Digital Addiction, Ned Snow

Seattle University Law Review

In Unwired: Gaining Control over Addictive Technologies, Professor Gaia Bernstein calls our attention to the growing problem of digital addiction. Digital addiction may sound like something out of a science-fiction novel or something that does not raise the same sort of real-life practical concerns as are present in a physical health crisis or an economic decline. But as Bernstein presents the evidence, we learn that the consequences of digital addiction can be just as harmful as a serious disease or a financial depression. Cognitive development disorders, anxiety, emotional depression, social isolation, and other mental health ills can be debilitating—as much …

Front Matter

ACTEC Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Unleashed Non-Grantor Trust Potential, Brent W. Nelson

ACTEC Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Death And Debts, Kevin Bennardo

ACTEC Law Journal

Uniform Probate Code section 2-606(a)(1) provides for automatic non-ademption of the unpaid purchase price of specifically devised property that was sold by the decedent after their will was executed but before their death. Rather than receiving the specific property that was left to them in the will, the named beneficiary receives the balance of any outstanding payments that are owed at the time of the decedent's death. This rule doesn't make sense. It doesn't square with the decedent's likely intent. The amount that the beneficiary will receive is largely arbitrary. It is tied to factors that have nothing to do …

Reform The Grantor Trust Rules, Jay A. Soled

ACTEC Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Silent Trusts And The Conflict Of Laws, Jeffrey Schoenblum

ACTEC Law Journal

No abstract provided.

A Constructive Trust Is Not Enough - Enacting A Slayer Statute To Better Protect A Decedent’S Heirs, Joseph William Padjune Iii

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

This Comment explores how Texas’s common law constructive trust solution used to address the “slayer problem” (the problem that occurs when a person kills an individual they would inherit from) has some substantial limitations and explains how this system would be enhanced by enacting a complementary slayer statute. The current constructive trust doctrine fails to adequately protect a victim’s heirs, is too variable in its application, and creates too much uncertainty. By adopting the slayer statute proposed in this Comment, or one similar, the Texas Legislature can better protect a victim’s estate and their heirs. The overall aim of this …

State Trust Land Revenue Diversification Through Conservation, Temple Stoellinger, Bryan Leonard, Travis Brammer, Shawn Regan, Jonathan Wood

Utah Law Review

Western states oversee tens of millions of acres of state trust lands granted to them by the federal government more than a century ago to fund public education and other public services. Traditionally, these lands have been leased for energy development, timber harvesting, livestock grazing, and other consumptive uses to generate income for the trust’s beneficiaries. However, evolving markets and societal values present both novel opportunities and challenges for state trust land managers. This Article finds that states are not only permitted but obligated to consider revenue generation through conservation or other nonconsumptive uses to meet their enduring trust responsibilities. …

Voting Matters: Materiality Considerations And The Shareholder Vote, Renee M. Jones

Seattle University Law Review

For the shareholder franchise to have meaning, shareholders must have access to relevant information to inform their voting decisions. The securities laws’ disclosure requirements play an essential role in informing the shareholder vote.

This Essay focuses on the question of the materiality of information in the context of shareholder voting. It addresses the question of whether ESG-related information is material, positioning the materiality inquiry within the context of shareholders’ voting decisions. It explores the definition of materiality with a focus on the “reasonable investor” concept embedded within the definition. The Essay argues that the implicit expectations of many commentators that …

Property Problems In The New Non-Marriage: Inheritance, Eliot Tracz

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

Marriage equality has been a hotly contested topic for many years, in both the court of public opinion and in courts of law. Major Supreme Court cases have found that marriage is a fundamental right, yet issues such as marriage outside of one’s race or to a person of the same gender have still been topics of litigation. At times, the very definition of marriage has been at issue, but throughout all of this litigation, courts have consistently defined marriage as a relationship between two people.

Through A Glass Darkly: How Securities Disclosures Give A Distorted View Of The Economy, Gerald F. Davis

Seattle University Law Review

Our understanding of the American economy often relies on stylized facts derived from mandatory disclosures by listed corporations. Data vendors like Standard & Poor’s vacuum up 10Ks and proxy statements into databases, and scholars distill these into tentative maps. This may have been adequate for a postwar economy centered on asset-heavy manufacturers, but it is increasingly out of step with an information-based economy. Companies listed on the stock market are fewer in number and less representative than they were, light in tangible assets and people, and heavy on IP. Basic facts such as what industry they are in are increasingly …

Shareholder Expression In A Time Of Heightened Political Tension, Aaron A. Dhir

Seattle University Law Review

In this article, I provide context for my forthcoming research project on shareholder proposals and racial equity audits. Since the murder of George Floyd in May of 2020, progressive shareholder actors have increasingly used the proposal mechanism to advance diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice-related goals. These proposals have frequently gone beyond requesting the usual corporate fare of diversity trainings, intersectionality workshops, affinity groups, etc. Instead, a more ambitious type of proposal asks corporate America to conduct racial equity audits, defined as “an independent, objective and holistic analysis of a company’s policies, practices, products, services and efforts to combat systemic racism …

The Duality Of Lawyers As Escrow Agents, Douglas R. Richmond

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

An escrow agent is someone who holds money or property in trust for others under agreed terms until a transaction is completed, or a dispute is resolved. Although institutional depositaries are widely available, clients frequently ask their lawyers to serve as escrow agents in connection with transactions in which the lawyer represents the client. In fact, lawyers are generally permitted to serve as escrow agents with respect to clients' transactions so long as all parties involved knowingly consent to the arrangement. This is true both under agency law and as a matter of lawyers' professional responsibility.

Unlike a lawyer who …

Racing To The Top Instead Of The Bottom In Illinois Estate Law, Sarah E. Waldeck

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

In the last two decades, competition for trust business has led states to abolish the Rule Against Perpetuities, authorize trust decanting, and permit self-settled asset protection trusts all in the hope that settlors will bring their trusts (and the fees they generate) within a state's jurisdiction. But this legislation is profoundly inequitable because it primarily benefits wealthy settlors and those lucky enough to be their beneficiaries, while shifting cost and risk to everyone else.

In the face of such competition, Illinois has fought to retain its trust business by passing legislation that allows settlors to opt out of the perpetuity …

Donor Standing To Enforce Charitable Gifts In The 21st Century, Nancy Mclaughlin

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

This Article outlines the current state of the law regarding donor standing, which illustrates two realities. First, there is an increasing lack of coherence in the law, which has negative consequences, including that the same charitable gift may now be subject to different donor-standing rules depending on completely arbitrary factors. Second, the trend is in favor of granting donors and certain others standing, although this trend is occurring in a haphazard way. This Article also discusses the various factors that led the law of donor standing down this path. Among other things, there has been a gradual normalization of the …

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

Corporate Governance Speech, Sarah C. Haan

Seattle University Law Review

The State has always regulated the intra-firm communications that make corporate governance possible, most commonly by mandating disclosures of information by a corporation to its shareholders. Some such laws are labeled “securities regulation,” but securities regulation is a broad category that extends to speech by actors who are outside the corporate enterprise as well. Also, the conventional securities regulation category does not capture all such laws; other examples, including informationforcing mandates, can be found in state corporate law. This Article uses the term “corporate governance speech” to describe the communications among shareholders, directors, and officers through which corporate governance is …

Green Dividends: A Case Study In Green Dividends And The Conditions For Private Ordering Solutions, Anne M. Tucker

Seattle University Law Review

This Essay introduces a novel private ordering solution to facilitate corporate investments in pro-social and environmental initiatives: Green dividends. Green dividends are an optional increase in shareholder dividends that are returned to the company to be reinvested in environmental initiatives or kept by a shareholder.

Green dividends pose an alternative to the current gridlocked debate that corporations can’t, won’t, shouldn’t, and shouldn’t even try to act in pro-social or environmental ways. Turning the common refrains on their head converts each narrative into an element for a successful private ordering solution: authority, accountability, shareholder buy-in, and government- backed enforcement. With Green …

Does Climate Disclosure Work To Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions? Emerging Evidence Suggests Cautious Optimism, Cynthia A. Williams

Seattle University Law Review

Significant regulatory resources have been spent developing global, voluntary climate and sustainability disclosure standards, such as the TCFD, TNRD, and ISSB’s Sustainability and Climate Disclosure standards, or domestically required disclosures, such as in the EU and in the U.S. Thus, it is important to evaluate whether this disclosure, particularly voluntary, qualitative disclosure, will have the power to shift the allocation of capital, will have a significant effect on the management of climate risk within firms, and ultimately will reduce climate change risk and biodiversity loss.

In this Article, several interrelated questions will be discussed. First, what does the empirical evidence …

Volume 48 Masthead, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Volume 48 Masthead

Risks, Benefits, Opportunities, And Electronic Formalities In The Law Of Wills: A Comparative Approach, Bridget J. Crawford, Margaret Isabel Hall, Tina Cockburn, Rosie Harding, Kelly Purser

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Traditional "formalities" in the law of wills-including formal requirements for revocation by destruction-contemplate paper documents, wet signatures, and testators and witnesses in the physical presence of one another. Unless these traditional requirements have been modified by legislation, wills made using one or more electronic formalities will not meet the formal requirements for a valid will. Traditional wills formalities have become something of an outlier as the use of electronic text, records, signatures, and witnessing has become routine in many spheres, including for the creation and storage of valid legal agreements. The special nature of wills, and their consequent vulnerability to …

Volume 48 Masthead, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Volume 48 Masthead