Estates and Trusts Commons^™

Bettr Section Committee To Recommend Modified Version Of Uniform Trust Code, E. Edwin Eck

Faculty Journal Articles & Other Writings

This article outlines a proposed modified version of the Uniform Trust Code for Montana and notes several advantages and benefits Montanans would receive if the version is adopted by the Montana Legislature.

Rural Inheritance: Gender Disparities In Farm Transmission, Hannah Haksgaard

Faculty Publications

Farmers are farmers' sons. Notable in our modern day, heralded by many as a gender-neutral society, it is farmers' sons, not farmers' daughters, who become farmers and take over ownership and management of the family farm. It has long been true that agricultural knowledge and land have passed through generations of men. In contrast, daughters, even today, are neither considered to be farmers nor likely to inherit family farmland. This Article begins by chronicling how farmland is inherited (by sons) then discusses why the pattern of excluding women continues. There have been substantial legal changes in the United States impacting …

Comments: Estate Planning For The Posthumously Conceived Child: A Blueprint For The Sperm Donor, Brooke Shemer

University of Baltimore Law Review

No abstract provided.

Inside Wills And Trusts: What Matters And Why, William P. Lapiana

Books

Inside Wills and Trusts: What Matters and Why offers students a concise, student-friendly study aid that provides a big-picture view of how all of the essential elements of this field fit together as part of a coherent framework of legal theory and practice. Using a wide variety of pedagogical aids, this new addition to the successful Inside Series offers basic coverage of the main themes of wills and trusts law, focusing on what matters and why, while providing students multiple opportunities for review.

Coming To Terms With The Uniform Probate Code's Reformation Of Wills, Wayne M. Gazur

Publications

No abstract provided.

Three Myths For Aging Copyrights: Tithonus, Dorian Gray, Ulysses, Robert Spoo

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Toward Economic Analysis Of The Uniform Probate Code, Daniel B. Kelly

Journal Articles

Insights from economics and the economic analysis of law may be useful in analyzing succession law, including intestacy and wills as well as nonprobate transfers such as trusts. After surveying prior works that have examined succession from a functional perspective, I explore the possibility of utilizing tools like (i) transaction costs, (ii) the ex ante/ex post distinction, and (iii) rules versus standards, to illuminate the design of the Uniform Probate Code. Specifically, I investigate how these tools, which legal scholars have employed widely in other contexts, may be relevant in understanding events like the nonprobate revolution and issues like “dead …

For Love Or Money? Legal Treatment Of Golddiggers, Stewart E. Sterk

Articles

No abstract provided.

Arbitration Of Trust Disputes: Two Bodies Of Law Collide, S. I. Strong

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Once considered nothing more than "mere" estate-planning devices, trusts play a large and growing role in the international economy, holding trillions of dollars of assets and generating billions of dollars of income each year. However, the rising popularity of both commercial and noncommercial trusts has led to an explosion in hostile trust litigation, leading settlors and trustees to search for new and less expensive ways to resolve trust-related disputes.

One possible solution involves use of a mandatory arbitration provision in the trust itself. However, the unique, multiparty nature of trust disputes often makes this sort of arbitration highly controversial.

This …

Change We Can't Believe In ... Or Afford: Why The Timing Is Wrong To Reduce The Estate Tax On The Wealthiest Americans, Phyllis C. Taite

Faculty Articles

At the end of the year 2008 the United States was in the midst of an economic storm. The country started going through its worst financial state since the Great Depression. Historically, transfer taxes were instated specifically to raise revenue during the country’s financial time of need. The temporary repeal during the 2010 tax year occurred during a time when the country was experiencing an economic storm, a time when the country could least afford to forego the additional revenue. Consequently, the timing of the temporary repeal was in direct contradiction to the original purpose of the estate tax. While …

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

Mercer Law Review

This Article describes selected cases and significant legislation from the period of June 1, 2010 through May 31, 2011 that pertain to Georgia fiduciary law and estate planning.

Flp Loss, But Crummey Win, Wendy G. Gerzog

All Faculty Scholarship

In Turner the Tax Court determined that section 2036 applied to the decedent’s transfers of assets to his family limited partnership but that the insurance premiums he paid indirectly to his insurance trust qualified for the annual exclusion.

Wills, Trusts, And Estates, J. William Gray Jr., Katherine E. Ramsey

University of Richmond Law Review

The 2011 session of the Virginia General Assembly enacted wills, trusts, and estates legislation that: (i) eliminated a potential federal transfer tax trap in inter vivos marital trusts, (ii) interpreted transfer tax formula clauses in light of recent changes in federal law, and (iii) adopted the Uniform Adult Guardianship and Protective Proceedings Jurisdiction Act. Three other legislative enactments and seven opinions of the Supreme Court of Virginia during the twelve months ending June 1, 2011, addressed issues affecting this field. In addition to addressing those developments, this article summarizes a recent federal district court opinion that dealt with a significant …

Estate And Probate Law—Testamentary Disposition Of Non-Probate Assets: Whether Iras Are Comparable To Life Insurance Policies And Whether Testators Should Be Able To Change An Ira Beneficiary By Will. Nunnenman V. Estate Of Grubbs, 2010 Ark. App. 75, __ S.W.3d __., Ashley L. Haskins

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Kennedy V. Plan Administrator For Dupont Savings & Investment Plan: Anti-Alienation And Anti-Cutback Rules, Christina Payne-Tsoupros

W&M Law Student Publications

No abstract provided.

The New Super-Charged Pat (Power Of Appointment Trust), Wendy G. Gerzog

All Faculty Scholarship

This article proposes to repeal the QTIP provisions in order to collect revenue now for transfers that are essentially transfers to third parties and not to the decedent's spouse. Because there are advantages of increased flexibility attendant to a QTIP as opposed to a PAT, this article proposes to take those repealed QTIP benefits and attach them to the PAT, which would greatly enhance that marital deduction trust form. A super-charged PAT would thereby be able to preserve the decedent's GST tax exemption (like a reverse QTIP), create a decedent's by-pass trust by allowing a PAT (or a partial PAT) …

What Sex-Ed Didn't Teach You: Addressing The Inadequacies Of West Virginia Code Section 42-1-8 And The Future Of Posthumously Conceived Children, Andrew S. Felts

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Joint Bank Accounts In New York: Confusion, Discrimination, And The Need For Change, Carolyn Satenberg

Cardozo Public Law, Policy & Ethics Journal

The note argues that New York's legal presumption of joint tenancy in joint bank accounts disproportionately burdens same-sex couples, leading to unfair gift and estate tax implications. It advocates for reforming New York's approach to align with the Uniform Probate Code (UPC), which better reflects depositor intent and reduces discrimination. The current system, compounded by federal policies like the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), exacerbates financial and emotional hardships for same-sex couples in tax and probate matters.

The Limitations Of An Economic Agency Cost Theory Of Trust Law, Lee-Ford Tritt

Cardozo Law Review

Should the donor's specific interests or potentially conflicting theoretical economic principles control the creation and administration of trusts? In a highly influential article advancing an agency cost framework for trust law, Harvard Law Professor Robert Sitkoff suggests retooling trust law to focus on wealth maximization and to minimize costs stemming from an assumed misalignment of the interests between deemed "principals" and "agents" within the trust setting. An agency cost theory of trust law, however, reduces the complex, highly idiosyncratic, and emotionally charged nature of trust law into a simple business relationship. Given the special nature of trust law and practice …

Referenda And The District Of Columbia's Human Rights Act: Voting On Same-Sex Marriage In The Nation's Capital, Jacob Stewart

Legislation and Policy Brief

Beginning with Massachusetts in 2003, the courts and legislatures of many states have had to decide whether same-sex marriage is or should be a fundamental right under their respective constitutions.  Although only five states and the District of Columbia legally perform same-sex marriages, a few other jurisdictions are in the process of proposing laws moving in that direction.  However, the vast majority of states are holding fast to the traditional heterosexual definition of marriage.  Thirty-eight states have adopted some sort of Defense of Marriage Act, constitutional amendment, or similar measure that defines marriage as the union between one man and …