Estates and Trusts Commons^™

Feeding The Good Fire: Paths To Facilitate Native-Led Fire Management On Federal Lands, Kevin Burdet

Seattle University Law Review

In 2003, nearly twenty Native American reservations were devastated by wildfires that originated on adjacent federal lands. The San Pasqual Reservation’s entire 1,400 acres were burned along with over a third of its homes, and seventy-five percent of the Rincon Reservation was burned, taking twenty homes with it. These devastating fires, along with others in 2002, brought about the Tribal Forest Protection Act of 2004 (TFPA), which offered hope for Tribes to propose projects on bordering or adjacent federal lands and protect reservation lands in the process. Unfortunately, twenty years later, the TFPA has had a marginal effect in enabling …

Defeat Fascism, Transform Democracy: Mapping Academic Resources, Reframing The Fundamentals, And Organizing For Collective Actions, Francisco Valdes

Seattle University Law Review

The information we gathered during 2021–2023 shows that critical faculty and other academic resources are present throughout most of U.S. legal academia. Counting only full-time faculty, our limited research identified 778 contacts in 200 schools equating to nearly four contacts on average per school. But no organized critical “core” had coalesced within legal academia or, more broadly, throughout higher education expressly dedicated to defending and advancing critical knowledge and its production up to now. And yet, as the 2021–2022 formation of the Critical (Legal) Collective (“CLC”) outlined below demonstrates, many academics sense or acknowledge the need for greater cohesion among …

A Hard Pill To Swallow: The Abysmal Mental Health Standards Of Detained Immigrant Children In The United States, Rama Bankesly

Seattle University Law Review

After setting foot into the U.S., unaccompanied children must learn to navigate academic and legal systems while receiving little support and carrying the heavy burden of effects of trauma on their mental health. They need access to mental health care from qualified professionals, but as this Comment will explain, they systematically fail to receive care, as can be seen in cases like Doe v. Shenandoah Valley Juv. Ctr. Comm’n. In Shenandoah, an unaccompanied child arrived in the U.S. and was placed in a facility that failed to provide remotely adequate mental health care and in fact was subjected …

First Comes Love: Advocating For A Revival Of Pre-Obergefell Estate Planning Vigor For Lgbtq+ Couples And Families, Kimberly N. Furtado

Law Student Publications

On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States handed down its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. Beyond the obvious devastation this opinion wreaked on abortion rights nationwide, it also unleashed a fear in communities that have gained substantive rights through the Court’s decisions based on similar reasoning. News organizations and LGBTQ+ advocacy groups quickly published stories discussing the fate of same-sex marriage in a post-Dobbs society. If the Supreme Court were to overturn Obergefell v. Hodges, it would be a crushing loss to the LGBTQ+ community. Not only would it signal the lack of …

Taxing Wealth: A Comparative Analysis Of National Wealth Taxes And How A Federal Wealth Tax Can Overcome Administrative Challenges, Jason Nadboy

Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review

The note advocates for the implementation of a progressive federal wealth tax in the United States to address wealth inequality and generate revenue for social programs. It argues that while administrative challenges exist, they can be overcome by learning from international examples and implementing robust enforcement mechanisms.

"Those Were Just Demos And Never Intended To Be Heard By The Public", Ryan Whyte

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Is Chinese Law Well-Prepared For Al Songs?: A Note Of Caution On The Over-Expansion Of Personality Rights, Yang Chen

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

Recently, artificial intelligence (AI) singers, or more precisely, AI songs cloning celebrities' real voices (AI songs), have become a key topic in the entertainment industry and among fan groups across the globe, particularly in China. AI songs have attracted considerable attention from the legal community, as they unsurprisingly raise various ethical and legal issues. Examples of hotly discussed legal issues surrounding AI songs include whether using prior published songs to train AI models violates copyright holders' rights and whether the creators of Al songs breach copyright protection by training AI to sing songs copyrighted by other celebrities or companies. One …

Students For Fair Admissions: Affirming Affirmative Action And Shapeshifting Towards Cognitive Diversity?, Steven A. Ramirez

Seattle University Law Review

The Roberts Court holds a well-earned reputation for overturning Supreme Court precedent regardless of the long-standing nature of the case. The Roberts Court knows how to overrule precedent. In Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard (SFFA), the Court’s majority opinion never intimates that it overrules Grutter v. Bollinger, the Court’s leading opinion permitting race-based affirmative action in college admissions. Instead, the Roberts Court applied Grutter as authoritative to hold certain affirmative action programs entailing racial preferences violative of the Constitution. These programs did not provide an end point, nor did they require assessment, review, periodic expiration, or revision for greater …

Situating The Modern Public Trust Doctrine In Trust Law: The Duty Of Loyalty And The Case For Bifurcated, De Novo Judicial Review, Edward A. Zelinsky

Articles

This article situates the modern public trust doctrine (PTD) in contemporary trust law. Grounding the PTD in trust law leads to two important corollaries. First, the PTD planted in trust law imposes upon government actors and agencies trust law’s fiduciary duty of loyalty. In the context of the PTD, that duty of loyalty runs to the public as the beneficiary of the PTD. Second, faced with plausible claims that this fiduciary duty of loyalty to the public has been violated, courts should apply trust law’s de novo standard of review to those administrative and legislative decisions alleged to impair public …

A New Cobell: The Need For A Continued Buy-Back Program, Liam C. Conrad

American Indian Law Journal

The General Allotment Act of 1887 divided Indian reservations into smaller plots for the supposed benefit of individual Indians. Today, these allotments are severely fractionated, with some 160-acre plots having as many as a thousand owners. Since allotment, Congress has repeatedly attempted to solve this problem. However, only the Cobell Land Buy-Back Program has made any sizeable impact on fractionation levels. This paper examines the fractionation problem and the Cobell Program. Now that the Cobell Program has ended in November 2022, this paper argues that Congress must quickly reauthorize a similar program or fractionation will soon exceed pre-Cobell levels.

Case Law On American Indians: October 2022 - August 2023, Thomas P. Schlosser

American Indian Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Wills, Trusts, And Estates, Allison A. Tait, Hunter M. Glenn

University of Richmond Law Review

This year’s legislative and judicial activity surrounding wills, trusts, and estates did not bring any radical shifts in the law, but rather expansions and clarifications. In the legislative realm, the bulk of the activity centered on expanding protections for parties under guardianship, with a sensitivity to safeguarding vulnerable parties from neglect or even predation. The new rules aim to increase transparency in process, preserve confidential financial information, and ensure minimums of care and contact. The rules affect these goals by providing for more transparency through notice requirements as well as required written filings. Moreover, they protect parties under guardianship by …

A Good Death: End-Of-Life Lawyering Through A Relational Autonomy Lens, Genevieve Mann

Washington Law Review

Death is difficult—even for lawyers who counsel clients on end-of-life planning. The predominant approach to counseling clients about death relies too heavily on traditional notions of personal autonomy and a nearly impenetrable right to be free from interference by others. Rooted in these notions, contracts called “advance directives” emerged as the primary tool for choosing one’s final destiny. Nevertheless, advance directives are underutilized and ineffective because many people are mired in death anxiety, indecision, and the weight of planning for a hypothetical illness. In the end, many do not get the death they choose: to trust in others and share …

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

Mercer Law Review

This Survey Article discusses significant cases decided by the Georgia appellate courts during the period of June 1, 2022 through May 31, 2023, and significant Georgia legislation enacted in that same period that relate to Georgia probate and trust law, guardianship, and estate planning. Two of the cases described herein, Slosberg v. Giller and Hall v. Davis Lawn Services, Inc., are decisions of the Supreme Court of Georgia. Effective July 1, 2017, the Georgia General Assembly enacted O.C.G.A. § 15-3-3.1, which provides that the Georgia Court of Appeals has appellate jurisdiction over cases relating to wills and trusts. However, …

The Islamisation Of The English Trust: The Hibah Trust In Malaysia, Hang Wu Tang

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Malaysia, being a former English colony, inherited a corpus of English law which includes equity and trusts. In recent times, major banks, financial institutions, and trust companies have reimagined the English trust in combination with Islamic law, by offering an innovation called the hibah trust. This instrument represents the Islamisation of the English trust concept where the Islamic idea of the hibah, an inter vivos gift and the English trust is combined as a wealth management offering to clients. This article explores how the hibah trust works, reasons why institutions may be offering this hybrid instrument, and potential challenges to …

Trusts And Estates Attorney Panel And Networking Reception, Cardozo Trusts And Estates Law Society

2023–2024 Flyers

No abstract provided.

Sanat Limited V Shaileshukmar Suryakant Amin Caz Appeal No. 137 Of 2019, Clement Ngoma

SAIPAR Case Review

This Judgement demonstrates the importance of judicial interpretation of statutes through the Court of Appeal’s decision which was not solely based on one section of the Lands and Deeds Registry Act but the the Act as a whole thereby correcting and rectifying the lower court’s narrow and limited interpretation of the Statute. The judgement serves as a remainder of the courts’ role in protecting the rights of beneficial owners as well as honouring the original terms agreed by the parties involved against claims made by trustees who may seek to assert ownership contrary to the terms of the trust. Further, …

Immortal Longings: Perpetuity In Context, Lawrence M. Friedman

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

Integrating Doctrine And Diversity Speaker Series: How Does Diversity, Equity, Inclusion And Belonging Pedagogy Fit In Business Issues And Financial Affairs Classes? Leading With Deib In Wills, Trusts, Estates, Insurance, Contracts, And Taxation Law Classes, Roger Williams University School Of Law

School of Law Conferences, Lectures & Events

No abstract provided.

Matter Of Will Of Ratcliff And The Not-So-Harmless Error: A Call To Change Mississippi’S Approach To Will Formalities, Kelsi Baldwin

MC Law Review

A will provides a mechanism to dispose of property at death. But costly litigation—or worse, a will’s invalidation—often thwart this purpose. The law of probate is state-specific, which leaves jurisdictions with the burden of ensuring that their laws promote rather than defeat the purpose of probate—to honor the testator’s intent. Mississippi attempts to recognize this purpose by requiring strict compliance with the statutory requirements for creating a will. This “better safe than sorry” approach errs on the side of invalidity with the hope that denying a non-compliant instrument for probate will prevent fraud and other wrongdoing.

Despite its intention, Mississippi’s …

How Gender And Other Identity Factors Influence Attitudes Toward Will Making: Lessons From Australia, Bridget J. Crawford, Tina Cockburn, Kelly Purser, Ho Fai Chan, Stephen Whyte, Uwe Dulleck

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This essay aims to stimulate interest in further empirical study of attitudes toward will making by reporting the results of a 2022 survey conducted in Australia of the general population (n=1202) and legal professionals (n=112). We asked participants for their views about the ideal age at which to begin the will-making process and the relative contributions of the client and attorney to any resulting will. There was a discernible gender-based difference in views on both questions. Women preferred to initiate those conversations approximately six years earlier than men did and, especially at earlier life stages, preferred less professional input into …

A Critical Analysis Of The Law Of Death, Marriage, And Wealth, Alyssa A. Dirusso

ACTEC Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Marvin Claims At Death, Patricia A. Cain

ACTEC Law Journal

In 1976, the California Supreme Court handed down its decision in Marvin v. Marvin, recognizing the enforcement of contract and equitable claims that could be asserted when an unmarried partnership was dissolved. Most states have followed the basic holding in Marvin, although important differences in state law have developed over time. Recently, the Uniform Law Commission has approved a uniform act dealing with these issues, the Uniform Cohabitants' Economic Remedies Act (UCERA). This essay will focus, instead, on claims to Marvin rights that are asserted after the death of one partner, typically in probate court.

The Haunting Of Wealth Law, Allison Tait

ACTEC Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Heirs Property: An Examination Of Probate Costs And The Costs Of Postmortem Probate Inaction, Reid Kress Weisbord

ACTEC Law Journal

“Heirs property” describes a legal limbo that occurs when multiple heirs or will beneficiaries inherit real property as tenants-in-common without promptly probating the estate to transfer marketable title out of the decedent’s name. This Article draws on recent empirical research to examine the demography of heirs property. It then takes a closer look at the adverse economic impact of postmortem probate inaction by and upon the decedent’s inheritors.

How Gender And Other Identity Factors Influence Attitudes Toward Will Making: Lessons From Australia, Bridget J. Crawford, Tina Cockburn, Kelly Purser, Ho Fai Chan, Stephen Whyte, Uwe Dulleck

ACTEC Law Journal

This essay aims to stimulate interest in further empirical study of attitudes toward will making by reporting the results of a 2022 survey conducted in Australia of the general population (n=1202) and legal professionals (n=112). We asked participants for their views about the ideal age at which to begin the will-making process and the relative contributions of the client and attorney to any resulting will. There was a discernible gender-based difference in views on both questions. Women preferred to initiate those conversations approximately six years earlier than men did and, especially at earlier life stages, preferred less professional input into …

A Risk Greater Than The Sports Bet Itself: Death Before Collection Of Winnings, Allyson Sieck

UNLV Gaming Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Front Matter

ACTEC Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Incorporating Social Justice And Environmental Sustainability Into Estate Planning Through Conservation Easements, Trace Brooks

ACTEC Law Journal

As climate change and social inequalities become increasingly pressing issues, estate planning has emerged as a powerful tool for promoting both social justice and environmental sustainability. This article explores the intersection of estate planning, private land conservation, social justice, and environmental sustainability.