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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

'Tax Avatars'

Posted on April 17, 2010
Bridget J. Crawford (professor of law, Pace University) recently published an article entitled Tax Avatars, 3 Utah L. Rev. 793 (2008) The abstract of the article is below: Anyone who has spent time in cyberspace understands the concept of an...

Unauthorized Practice of Law Decision From the Indiana Supreme Court

Posted on April 16, 2010
Earlier this week, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled that an Indiana trust mill company so marginalized the role of an attorney that it committed the unauthorized practice of law. The decision in State of Indiana, Ex. Rel. Indiana State Bar...

Today is National Healthcare Decisions Day

Posted on April 16, 2010
Today is National Healthcare Decisions Day, part of a national initiative designed inform and encourage Americans about documenting their health care desires. The following excerpt from Pauline M. Chen, M.D., Making Your Wishes Known at the End of Life, NY...

Support Developing for a Choice on the Estate Tax

Posted on April 16, 2010
Senate Republican from Arizona, Whip Jon Kyl, wants taxpayers to be able to have a choice about estate tax treatment when congress eventually acts, whenever that may be: abide by the current estate tax law or agree to whatever Congress...

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Creative Use of a GRAT and Preferred Partnership Planning

Posted on April 16, 2010
N. Todd Angkatavanich (attorney, Connecticut) and Karen E. Yates (attorney and partner, Connecticut) have published their article entitled The Preferred Partnership GRAT--A Way Around the ETIP Issue, 35 ACTEC Journal 289 (2009). The editor's synopsis of the article is below:...

Increasing Organ Donations in Israel

Posted on April 15, 2010
In an attempt to boost organ donation, Israel is trying a new law: In return for signing a donor card, you and your family move up in line for a transplant should one be needed. Israel?s ultra-Orthodox Jewish minority population...

Maryland Revocable Trusts Legislation

Posted on April 15, 2010
The Maryland legislature recently passed Senate Bill 25, an act concerning the transfer of property held as tenants by the entireties to a trust. The synopsis provided by the Maryland General Assembly website is below: Establishing that specified property of...

New Documentary About the Massive Art Collection of Albert C. Barnes

Posted on April 15, 2010
Art of the Steal is a new documentary about the mulit-billion dollar art collection of Albert C. Barnes. When Barnes died in 1951, his will left specific directions for his collection of Renoirs, Cezannes, Matisses, Picassos, Monets, and Van Goghs....

Blog Records 1,000,000th Visitor!

Posted on April 15, 2010
Today (April 15, 2010) at 6:29 p.m. E.S.T., this blog recorded its 1,000,000th visitor! The millionth visitor was from London, Canada and made his/her way to this blog via google.ca using the search terms "gift," "charity," and "subsidy theory." Thank...

New York Renunciation Legislation

Posted on April 14, 2010
New legislation in New York state facilitates the renunciation of interests that would otherwise pass upon the creation or termination of joint tenancies. Specifically, the New York State Assembly's website provides the following summary changes made by the bill that...

One in Four Elderly Americans Need A Living Will

Posted on April 14, 2010
According to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine, one-fourth of elderly Americans need someone else to make end-of-life medical decisions for them. Researchers analyzed data between 2000 and 2006 and found that 83% of elderly individuals who...

Swiss Bank Secrets

Posted on April 14, 2010
I have posted several blogs on the U.S. investigation of UBS, including here, here, and here. Below is the "background" story that led to these investigations and their resulting effect. UBS, Switzerland?s largest bank, was facing collapse in 2008. When...

Should publicity rights be transferable by will?

Posted on April 14, 2010
Joshua C. Tate (Assistant Professor of Law, SMU Dedman School of Law) has published his article entitled Immortal Fame: Publicity Rights, Taxation, and the Power of Testation, 44 Ga. L.R. 1 (2009). Here is the abstract of his article: Publicity...

Blog ranked #21 among blogs edited by law professors

Posted on April 13, 2010
The Wills, Trusts, & Estates Prof Blog ranked #21 in number of visitors among blogs edited by law professors with publicly available SiteMeters April 1, 2009 - March 31, 2010. To all my readers, I greatly appreciate your support and...

Chinese Critique American Trust Law

Posted on April 13, 2010
Frances H. Foster (Edward T. Foote II Professor of Law, Washington University School of Law) recently published an article entitled American Trust Law in a Chinese Mirror, 94 Minn. L. Rev. 602 (2010). The abstract of the article is below:...

Family and Insurance Company Fight Over $15 Million Life Insurance Policy

Posted on April 13, 2010
The following is a bizarre story that boils down to a fight over a life insurance policy: Germaine Tomlinson was not a wealthy woman, but in 2006 she applied for a $15 million life insurance policy. The Germaine Tomlinson Insurance...

Giving More With Less

Posted on April 13, 2010
U.S. foundations lost close to $150 billion in 2008, forcing them to decrease their donations to philanthropies. For philanthropic families, parents must be particularly diligent in teaching their children how to carry on the philanthropic tradition with fewer funds...

Big Estates in 2010 May Be an Incentive Against a Retroactive Estate Tax

Posted on April 13, 2010
I recently reported on the death of Dan Duncan, the 74th richest person in the world. If Congress reinstated the death tax for 2010 and made it retroactive for the year, Dan Duncan?s estate would generate up to $4 billion...

Delaware Enacts Trust Act 2009

Posted on April 12, 2010
The Trust Act 2009 made the following additions to the previous Trust Act 2007 in Delaware: Subsection (b) now allows a virtual representative of a presumptive remainder beneficiary who is a minor, incapacitated, unborn, or an unascertainable person to represent...

Maximizing the Tax Deduction for Charitable Gifts of Art Can Be an Art in and of Itself

Posted on April 12, 2010
Joy Berus (attorney, Orange, CA) has published an article entitled The Art of Donating Art, Heritage Trusts & Estates Newsletter, 2nd Quarter 2010, at 1. The article briefly explains the following considerations that are relevant when deciding to make a...

What A Charitable Remainder Trust Can Do For You

Posted on April 12, 2010
The website of Charitable Management Services contains an article by J. Michael Pusey (CPA) discussing the basics of charitable remainder trusts (CRT). The article disussess the tax and planning benefits of a CRT and the type of property contributions appropriate...

CLE to Discuss Malpractice Avoidance for Estate Planners

Posted on April 12, 2010
TexasBarCLE is sponsoring an audio webcast CLE entitled Malpractice Avoidance for Estate Planners: Practicing Trust and Estate Law Effectively, Carefully and Defensively on April 14, 2010. The webcast will consist of a three hour discussion covering the practical and ethical...

Couples Fight For Custody of Frozen Embryos

Posted on April 11, 2010
Two couples in Missouri are due to appear in court regarding a lawsuit over the custody of two frozen embryos: The Lamberts had four fetilized embryos left-over after successfully using in vitro fertilization to give birth to a child. The...

Top SSRN Downloads

Posted on April 11, 2010
Here are the top downloads from February 10, 2010 to April 11, 2010 from the SSRN Journal of Wills, Trusts, & Estates Law for all papers announced in the last 60 days. Rank Downloads Paper Title 1 564 Ten Estate...

AALU Reports on the Estate Tax Reform

Posted on April 10, 2010
The Association for Advanced Life Underwriting has published a report entitled Update on Estate Tax Reform: Developments and Dynamics, April1, 2010. A synopsis of the report is below: Several factors continue to shape the outcome of the estate tax. Among...

Texas Tech University Business School Seeks Visiting Professor

Posted on April 10, 2010
The Rawls College of Business at Texas Tech University is soliciting applicants for a two-year visiting graduate-level instructor to begin Fall 2010. Teaching interests must include graduate-level taxation and at least one other area. Candidates must have a doctorate from...

Saskatchewan abolishes the Rule Against Perpetuities and the Rule Against Accumulations

Posted on April 09, 2010
The following post is supplied through the courtesy of Doug Surtees (Assistant Professor, College of Law, University of Saskatchewan): The Province of Saskatchewan, Canada has also abolished the Rules Against Perpetuities and the Rules Against Accumulations (also known as the...

Decline in Organ Donations in the U.S.

Posted on April 09, 2010
For several years, the decline in the number of organs donated by living donors has been offset by increasing organ donations from deceased donors. However, for the first time in years, the number of organs donated by deceased donors dropped...

Inconsistent Views on Transfers in Preparation for Medication Qualification

Posted on April 09, 2010
Transferring assets to qualify for medicaid may or may not be a successful venture. The line between valid and invalid transfers may be hard to find: Cascio v. D'Arcangelo, No. 09-P-1039 (Mass. Ct. App., March 30, 2010): The court held...

Estate Tax Train Wreck Due to Legislative Missteps

Posted on April 09, 2010
For the past nine years, nobody thought that Congress would allow January 1, 2010 to arrive without passing a law to prevent the estate tax fiasco that we are currently faced with. In 2001, the same rules that recently forced...

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