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Estate Planning

Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog

A resource to enhance the teaching of courses that address intestate succession, wills, trusts, estate administration, non-probate assets, planning for disability, and other matters pertaining to estate planning.
By Gerry W. Beyer

Post Frequency: 44.9/day

Last Entry: April 01, 2011 at 14:00:00

Mississippi Blogger has Fun on April Fools' Day

Posted on April 01, 2011
David Russell, senior editor of The Mississippi Fiduciary blog, wrote a blog today, April 1st, about the Latent Cerebral Recovery (LCR) device developed in China. A summary of his posting is below: With LCR, scientists are able to ask the...

Federal Taxes on Gratuitous Transfers Textbook

Posted on April 01, 2011
Bridget J. Crawford (Professor of Law, Pace Law School), Joseph M. Dodge (Stearns Weaver Miller Weissler Alhadeff & Sitterson Professor, Florida State University College of Law), and Wendy C. Gerzog (University of Baltimore School of Law) recently published their book...

Law Firm Sues Ex-Paralegal for "False Review"

Posted on April 01, 2011
Michael Weston, of Weston & Associates in Bellaire, Texas, hired Amber Williams as a paralegal in October 2010 and fired her for insubordination in November 2010. On March 3, Mr. Weston did a Google search of his firm and pulled...

Hispanics Hesitant About Organ Donation

Posted on April 01, 2011
When Norma Garcia?s 13-year-old daughter, Jasmine, was declared brain dead after a car wreck, Norma decided to donate Jasmine?s heart and liver. She didn?t realize that this decision would be so controversial and that it would leave her estranged from...

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Parents Sue Facebook Over Crime Scene Photos of Dead Daughter

Posted on March 31, 2011
Caroline Wimmer, 26, was discovered by her parents after she was murdered with a hairdryer cord. Paramedic Mark Musarella took pictures at the scene and posted them on Facebook. Musarella pled guilty to disorderly conduct, forfeited his EMT certification, and...

Pre-Embryos in Probate

Posted on March 31, 2011
Bridget M. Fuselier (Associate Professor of Law, Baylor Law School) recently published her article entitled Avoiding a Science Fiction Soap Opera: Excluding the Pre-Embryo From Probate, 74 Tex. B. J. 224 (March 2011). The introduction is below: ?The saddest aspect...

Family Property Law Casebook

Posted on March 31, 2011
Thomas P. Gallanis (N. William Hines Chair in Law, University of Iowa) has just published the Fifth Edition of the book Family Property Law: Cases and Materials on Wills, Trusts, and Future Interests (Foundation Press 2011). The publisher?s description of...

Migrating Trusts to New Hampshire

Posted on March 31, 2011
Joseph F. McDonald, III (Attorney at Law, Concord, NH) recently published his article entitled Migrating Trusts to New Hampshire: The ?Why? and the ?How", 51 N.H. B.J. 34 (Winter 2010). An excerpt from the introduction is below: This article discusses...

Civil Unions in France

Posted on March 30, 2011
When France created its civil union system in 1999, it never anticipated that there would be two civil unions per every three marriages by 2010 or that 90% of such unions would be between straight couples by 2009. French couples,...

CLE on Trust Administration Issues for Same-Sex Spouses

Posted on March 30, 2011
The ABA Section of Real Property, Trust and Estate Law is sponsoring a 90-minute teleconference and live audio webcast entitled Same-Sex Spouses, Partners and Adult Adoptions: Trust Administration Issues with Beneficiary Relationships on April 5. The program information is below:...

Postmortem Right of Publicity

Posted on March 30, 2011
While we think of people like Rosa Parks, Albert Einstein, Babe Ruth, and Martin Luther King Jr. as part of our cultural heritage, available for everyone to use, each of their identities are claimed as private property usable only after...

Brooke Astor's Son and Attorney Appeal Convictions

Posted on March 30, 2011
I previously blogged about Brooke Astor?s son, Anthony Marshall, and her attorney, Francis X. Morrissey Jr., being convicted in October 2009 of a series of charges related to defrauding and stealing millions of dollars from Mrs. Astor while she battled...

Fight Over Elizabeth Taylor's Fortune Begins

Posted on March 29, 2011
I previously blogged about Elizabeth Taylor?s fortune here and here. She requested that her jewelry collection, valued at over $150 million, be auctioned off to benefit the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation and amfAR. She split the rest of her fortune...

Economic Mobility in the U.S.

Posted on March 29, 2011
Many people think that the rich get richer while the poor get poorer. But when people think of the rich, they are thinking of people with great wealth, and when they think of the poor, they are thinking of people...

Celebrities Who Hate Paying Taxes

Posted on March 29, 2011
Celebrities are often paid an exorbitant amount of money to do what they love, so it makes no sense when they don?t pay their taxes. The top ten celebrities who hate paying taxes are listed below: Wesley Snipes Joan Baez...

Ninth Circuit Reverses Linton

Posted on March 29, 2011
Wendy C. Gerzog (Professor of Law, University of Baltimore School of Law) recently published her article entitled Linton Reversed: Indirect Gift and Step Transaction, 130 Tax Notes No. 13 (2011). The abstract available on SSRN is below: The Ninth Circuit...

Estates and Trusts Textbook

Posted on March 28, 2011
Joel C. Dobris (Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law), Melanie B. Leslie (Professor of Law, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law), and Stewart E. Sterk (H. Bert and Ruth Mack Professor of Real Estate Law, Benjamin N. Cardozo...

Baby Boomers May Not Give Children Everything They Expect

Posted on March 28, 2011
According to a study by London-based Heartwood Wealth Management, most wealthy parents see no reason to sacrifice their own lifestyles for the sake of a child?s inheritance. Two-thirds of these parents said that while they would like to give their...

Top SSRN Downloads

Posted on March 28, 2011
Here are the top downloads from January 24, 2011 to March 25, 2011 from the SSRN Journal of Wills, Trusts, & Estates Law for all papers announced in the last 60 days. Rank Downloads Paper Title 1 858 The Fundamentals...

Tiered Investment Valuation Discounts

Posted on March 28, 2011
William H. Frazier (Senior Managing Director of Howard Frazier Barker Elliott, Inc.) recently published his article entitled Valuation Discounts in Tiered Investments, Trusts & Estates (Oct. 2010). The introduction is below: Does the additional layer add new risks to the...

Elizabeth Taylor's Obituary Written Over Six Years Ago

Posted on March 27, 2011
I previously blogged about the recent death of Elizabeth Taylor here and here. Though her passing brought sadness, not everyone was shocked by her death. Mel Gussow, who wrote over 4,000 pieces for The New York Times, wrote most of...

Taylor's $600m-$1b Fortune Will Continue to Grow

Posted on March 27, 2011
Elizabeth Taylor amassed her fortune, now estimated to be between $600 million -$1 billion, mainly as an entrepreneur who branded her personality. Just because she died doesn't mean that she's finished hauling in the big bucks. She will most likely...

IRS Targets Intra-Family Real Estate Transfers

Posted on March 26, 2011
The IRS is on a national hunt for gift tax evaders, and California is its latest target. The IRS wants a California state tax agency to turn over its database of all the individuals who transferred real estate to relatives...

Elizabeth Taylor's Gay Manager May Inherit Her �360?Million Fortune

Posted on March 26, 2011
For the last ten years, Elizabeth Taylor has kept family and friends increasingly at bay while she relied on psychics, doctors, nurses, and a coterie of homosexual ?walkers? to accompany her. Her closest companions tended to be homosexual and handsome,...

In Japan, Tradition Collides with Hasty Burial of the Dead

Posted on March 25, 2011
In Japan, cremation is nearly universal and an important rite deeply rooted in Buddhism. But across the northeast coast of Japan, tradition has collided with mathematical reality. The number of missing and dead from the March 11 tsunami is now...

Choosing Whether to Pay the Estate Tax or Capital Gains Taxes for 2010 Decedents

Posted on March 25, 2011
The Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 enables executors of decedents? estates to choose between paying the estate tax at the 2011 rates or paying no estate tax but giving up a step-up in basis...

Inheritance Tax Changes in England

Posted on March 25, 2011
England currently has a 40% inheritance tax (IHT) on all estates above �325,000. The chancellor recently announced plans to lower the IHT on estates beginning in April 2012 to 36% if at least 10% of the estate is left to...

Elizabeth Taylor Requested Her Funeral to be Delayed 15 Minutes

Posted on March 25, 2011
Elizabeth Taylor was laid to rest on Thursday at a private funeral at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, CA. The funeral began fifteen minutes after its scheduled start time as per her request. Taylor, a Hollywood original to the...

Will William and Kate be the First British Royals to Sign a Prenup?

Posted on March 24, 2011
There is no evidence that any British royals have ever signed a prenuptial agreement before, but Will and Kate could possibly be the first. Some reasons why they could be tempted to sign one include: The Supreme Court recently took...

UBS' New Dress Code

Posted on March 24, 2011
Banking giant UBS recently garnered attention for its involvement in a tax fraud investigation. Now it is receiving attention for something entirely unrelated: its new dress code. In a 44-page document, UBS directs that female employees wear flesh-colored underwear and...