Estates and Trusts Commons^™

Dementia, Advance Directives, And Second-Order Volitions, Rand Hirmiz

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This paper contributes to the ongoing debate over the authority of advance directives in cases where patients with dementia express desires that conflict with their earlier wishes. Drawing on Harry Frankfurt’s concept of second-order volitions, I argue that the preferences of the pre-dementia self (the “then-self”) should, in most cases, take precedence over those of the post-dementia self (the “now-self”) –  particularly in instances where the now-self has lost the capacity to form second-order volitions and is no longer able to meaningfully repudiate prior values and commitments.

The Martha Wright-Reed Act: How The Fcc Took One Step Forward For Communication Equality For Deaf Individuals In Correctional Facilities And How It Could Be Expanded, Ashley Seebold

Seattle University Law Review

For decades, phone companies preyed on incarcerated individuals and their loved ones due to the lack of regulation of jail phone calls.2 In 2021, the average cost of a fifteen-minute jail phone call was about $3.3 In 2022, the average cost rose to $5.74, while some individuals faced an extreme charge of $24.82 for the same amount of time.4 In the early 2000s, consumer advocate and concerned grandmother Martha Wright-Reed called upon the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to fix the imbalance so she could speak to her incarcerated grandson.5 Eventually, in 2023, the FCC answered her call to action and …

How The Dod Discourages Military Families From Seeking Mental Health Counseling, Christina Welch

Seattle University Law Review

The Department of Defense’s (DoD) administration of the Exceptional Family Member Program (EFMP) presents significant barriers to mental health care access for military spouses and children. This paper explores how the EFMP, though designed to support military families with special needs, inadvertently creates barriers to mental health treatment. Military family members often do not seek mental health treatment to avoid the program's mandatory enrollment requirements. Military family members often view enrollment in the program undesirable because enrollment can restrict the pool of potential future duty assignment locations that are available to service members.

The lack of comprehensive data collection by …

2025, Richard Delgado

Seattle University Law Review

"In a cutting and provocative social critique in one of the more extended Rodrigo Chronicles, Richard Delgado in 2025 employs skillful narrative—one of CRT’s many contributions to legal scholarship —to tell a gripping story of just how far the nation has descended into darkness with President Trump’s re-election. In Delgado’s vision, law professors—along with other political opponents of the President: immigrants, people of color, LGBTQ+ people, women, the underserved—have targets on their backs."

-excerpt from Kevin Johnson's review of 2025

The Preventative Care Gap: Completing The Aca’S Vision For Health, Abby Nagaich

Seattle University Law Review

This Note examines the preventive care mandate under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the legal, political, and practical challenges that threaten its effectiveness. While the ACA significantly expanded access to no-cost preventive services, gaps remain—particularly in behavioral health, obesity management, and equitable service delivery. Ongoing litigation, potential administrative rollbacks, and shifting political leadership further destabilize this critical component of public health policy.

This Note argues that for the ACA to fulfill its original promise—and for any health framework to succeed—preventive care must be redefined as a comprehensive, early intervention approach grounded in both systemic access and patient education. It …

Will Power: Reconciling Halakha With Modern Estate Planning, Amanda Koptyev

Journal of Catholic Legal Studies

(Excerpt)

This Note will begin with an overview of Jewish laws of inheritance, using the biblical story of the daughters of Tzelafchad as a foundation and exploring Torah-based principles such as the double portion for the firstborn son and chukat mishpat. Part II examines Halakhic Wills, explaining their necessity and the mechanisms that make them compatible with Jewish law and secular systems. It also discusses the limitations of relying on the principle of dina d’malchuta dina, the principle that under certain circumstances, Jewish law requires that Jews be governed by the laws of the sovereign state, in cases …

Joint Bank Accounts: Who Needs Them?, Reid K. Weisbord, Stewart E. Sterk

Articles

Joint bank accounts, once known as a “poor man’s will,” emerged more than a century ago as a probate avoidance device. This Article contends that joint accounts no longer serve a useful estate planning function, and they pose an unacceptably high risk to banking consumers because the legal framework governing lifetime ownership rights is deeply flawed and underdeveloped. Courts typically apply one of two prevailing models for allocating lifetime rights: (1) the traditional joint tenancy approach, which presumes equal ownership of account funds by each party; and (2) the Uniform Probate Code’s approach, which presumes ownership in proportion to each …

It's The Night Of The Living Deepfakes: The Threat Of Deepfakes On The Film Industry, Neki Shero

DePaul Business & Commercial Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Front Matter

DePaul Business & Commercial Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Eighteen Generations Of Uncertainty: Arkansas’S New Perpetuity Law Is “Contrary To The Genius Of A Republic”, Steven H. Jacobs

Arkansas Law Review

A drunk driver crashes his Lamborghini into a family sedan, killing the mother and brother and putting the sister in the hospital. The family gets a multi-million-dollar judgement, but they cannot collect––the wealthy drunk driver has no money of his own. All of his money and assets are protected from suit in a spendthrift dynasty trust left behind by his great-great-grandfather. He and his family are members of a new aristocratic class created by the downfall of the rule against perpetuities. The drunk driver first turned to alcohol after his inheritance requirements coerced him into leaving his life behind to …

Joint Representation Of Spouses And Romantic Partners: Ethical Considerations For Estate Planners, Elizabeth R. Carter

Arkansas Law Review

Attorneys routinely represent married couples jointly in estate planning matters. Joint representation of married couples—and, increasingly, unmarried romantic partners—is a routine practice for most estate planners. This practice was not always so widely accepted. Beginning in the 1990s, scholars, attorneys, and interest groups successfully advocated for the widespread acceptance of joint representation in estate planning. In a joint representation, the attorney represents both individuals in a collaborative form of representation where confidences and goals are shared between both clients and the attorney. Proponents of joint representation in the estate planning setting argue that it reduces costs, is more consistent with …

Generated Wills And Responsible Ai Use In Estate Law, Collin Peters

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

Generative AI tools have been increasingly used by corporations and individuals to create documents quickly and cheaply based on short human inputs. The coming of widely accessible and cheap-to-use generative AI tools introduces the possibility of firms or lay testators using AI to generate wills. However, the risks of using AI to generate wills are largely unexplored and have not received much regulatory attention nor discussion in the literature. As a result, the question of how to manage the risks of AI-generated wills in a way that ensures their safe, accessible, and productive use has largely gone unaddressed. This article …

Donative Freedom, Disrupted, Carla Spivack, Deborah S. Gordon

Brooklyn Law Review

You can do what you want with your property at death—and after—because it is “yours.” This is the “fundamental guiding principle” of American succession law. Despite occasional criticism over the years, legal scholars, courts, law reformers, legislators, and practitioners accept donative freedom as succession law’s unshakeable foundation. Every proposal for change – securing a child’s inheritance, protecting surviving spouses, taxing wealthy estates – meets with that refrain. But the ideology of donative freedom has left us a legacy of wealth inequality, disinherited children and spouses, dynastic wealth, and thousand-year trusts that grow tax-free for generations. The ideology of donative freedom …

The Case For Recognizing Informally Adopted Children As Heirs In Arkansas, Joel Gaffney

Arkansas Law Notes

Americans are steadily moving away from the nuclear family towards an understanding of family less defined by shared DNA or last names. This is especially prominent in the way children are raised. More children are being born to single or unmarried parents, and a fair number of children are being raised by nonparents. Such nonparental caretaking can manifest as “informal adoption,” where there is no biological or legal parent-child relationship but there is a functional parent-child relationship. Certain areas of the law sometimes struggle to keep up with these changes in the meaning society assigns to “family.” Statutory probate law …

In The Matter Of Estate Of William F. Ulvang, 142 Nev. Adv. Op. 22 (Mar. 12, 2026), Sabrina Richards

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

NRS 134.070 requires a per capita without representation distribution when a decedent leaves no issue, surviving spouse, or immediate family.

Shadow Probate, Felix Chang

Nevada Law Journal

This Article argues that nonprobate instruments (trusts, life insurance, retirement plans, and joint accounts) now comprise a shadow probate system that per-forms the core functions of probate but evades judicial oversight and public scrutiny. Like probate, shadow probate facilitates succession, though in a manner that caters to the privacy, business continuity, and asset sheltering goals of wealthy clients. By contrast, most households use wills for estate planning—or they avoid planning altogether and lapse into intestacy.

Wills and intestacy must wind through probate courts, which are vested with state authority and therefore follow due process. Shadow probate, on the other hand, …

The Third Annual Blockchain Tax Conference On January 30, 2026: Do We Have A Partnership?, Sviatlana Yakavets, Cynthia Flores

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

The Third Annual Blockchain Tax Conference On January 30, 2026: Digital Assets And Its Numerous Instruments Governing Formation And Operation, Joyce Yu

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

The Third Annual Blockchain Tax Conference On January 30, 2026: Dealing With The 2025 Forms 1099-Da, Leah Upson

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

The Third Annual Blockchain Tax Conference On January 30, 2026: Legislative And Administrative Updates (Tax And Non-Tax), An Thai

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.