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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

Thirteen Year-Old Boy Charged With Murdering Father is Primary Beneficiary of Father's Estate

Posted on January 28, 2010
A 13 year-old Wisconsin boy has been charged with shooting his father to death. The father left almost his entire estate, valued at nearly $50,000, to the boy. The family claims that the boy suffers from autism, and a mental...

'Destroyed Community Property, Damaged Persons, and Insurers' Duty to Indemnify Innocent Spouses and Other Co-Insured Fiduciaries: An Attempt to Harmonize Conflicting Federal and State Courts' Declaratory Judgments'

Posted on January 28, 2010
Wiley E. Rice (professor of law, Saint Mary's University) has published his article entitled Destroyed Community Property, Damaged Persons, and Insurers' Duty to Indemnify Innocent Spouses and Other Co-Insured Fiduciaries: An Attempt to Harmonize Conflicting Federal and State Courts' Declaratory...

Trust Jurisdiction in Texas

Posted on January 27, 2010
Beneficiary sued Trustee for breach of duty in District Court. District Court transferred the case to County Court at Law and issued an order removing Trustee from office, awarding damages, and granting other relief. After a somewhat complicated lower appellate...

New Digital Asset Planning Websites, But Beware of Potential Hazards

Posted on January 27, 2010
Adding to prior posts, the following is a list of previously unreported websites that offer assistance in sending parting messages or making one's digital assets available to loved ones after death: DataInherit Entrustet Parting Wishes My Last Email If I...

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Small Wealth Management Firm Succeeds During Financial Downturn

Posted on January 27, 2010
This month, The Trust Advisor Blog has featured two postings on Westwood Holdings Group, Inc. and its trust company Westwood Trust. This Texas wealth management firm brought in $2 billion in new assets from Sept. 30, 2008 to Sept. 30,...

Preliminary Estate Tax Action Taken in the Senate

Posted on January 27, 2010
According to the Wealth Strategies Journal, the Senate has taken the procedural steps necessary for putting HR 4154, an estate tax bill, on the Senate Calendar. This could lead to bypassing the Senate Finance Committee entirely. The House approved the...

Court to Hear Joe Jackson's Request for Monthly Allowance from Son's Estate

Posted on January 26, 2010
This week the Los Angelos Superior Court judge presiding over the probate and administration of Michael Jackson's estate will conduct a hearing on Joe Jackson's request for a monthly allowance from his son's estate. The estate opposes the monthly allowance...

ABA offering free web seminar for Law Students: Ensure the Pet's Continued Care

Posted on January 26, 2010
The ABA is offering complimentary web-cast registration for law students for the seminar entitled Ensure the Pet's Continued Care: Advising Your Clients about Planning for Their Pet's Care which will be held on February 2, 2010. Law students may register...

Debunking Texas' Community Debt Myth

Posted on January 26, 2010
Tom Featherstone (The Mills Cox Chair of Law, Baylor University) and Allison Dickson (J.D. 2007, Baylor University) have published their article Marital Property Liabilities: Dispelling the Myth of Community Debt, 73 Tex. B.J. 16 (2010). The following is the introduction...

Blog ranked #21 among blogs edited by law professors

Posted on January 26, 2010
The Wills, Trusts, & Estates Prof Blog ranked #21 in number of visitors and page views among blogs edited by law professors with publicly available SiteMeters for 2009. To all my readers, I greatly appreciate your support and contributions.

Learn More About Dynasty Trusts In 2010

Posted on January 25, 2010
The National Constitution Center is sponsoring an audio conference entitled Dynasty Trusts in 2010: Multi-Generational Tax & Estate Planning Techniques on Feb. 18, 2010. A summary of the program is below: Using Dynasty Trusts as a multi-generational estate planning tool...

Communicating the End of the Attorney Client Relationship After the Will is Executed

Posted on January 25, 2010
Christian A. Stiegmeyer recently contributed an estate planning piece, which is titled The End-of-Representation Talk Doesn't Always Mean the End, to the ABA Journal article Practice Pitfalls, ABA J., at 46 (Dec. 2009). The article features different pieces on professional...

Tennessee Woman Charged with Death of Two Husbands, Will Missing

Posted on January 25, 2010
The following is a summary of a Tennessee woman's "trail of death," which involves death by cattle stampede, a missing will, and multiple murder allegations: Raynella Dossett Leath's first husband died in 1992 from what seemed to be an accidental...

Trustee's Powers After Trust Terminates

Posted on January 25, 2010
Shortly after a trust terminated, Trustee executed an oil and gas lease covering a portion of the trust property which had been negotiated before the trust ended. Trustee later distributed this property to Beneficiary after Beneficiary signed a document stating...

Top SSRN Downloads

Posted on January 24, 2010
Here are the top downloads from November 24, 2009 to January 23, 2010 from the SSRN Journal of Wills, Trusts, & Estates Law for all papers announced in the last 60 days. Rank Downloads Paper Title 1 206 Linton Family...

Illinois QTIP Election

Posted on January 24, 2010
Robert J. Kolasa (attorney, Lake Forest, Ill.) has published his article The Illinois QTIP Election to the Rescue, 97 Ill. B.J. 613 (2009). The introduction to the article is below: After much anticipation, Illinois estate planners finally got what they...

The Best and Most Wealth Friendly States for Trusts

Posted on January 23, 2010
A recent post on The Trust Advisor Blog provides a chart listing the best states for trusts. The ranking factors considered are (1) state income tax in the state, (2) directed trust statute, (3) asset protection trust availability, (4) dynasty...

Children Conceived Using Posthumously Retrieved Sperm, Entitlement to Social Security Benefits

Posted on January 23, 2010
Mary F. Radford (professor of law, Georgia State University) has published her article Postmortem Sperm Retrieval and the Social Security Administration: How Modern Reproductive Technology Makes Strange Bedfellows, 2 Estate Plan. & Community Prop. L.J...

Resources for Undue Influence Determinations

Posted on January 22, 2010
Determining whether a client has been unduly influenced regarding requests for his or her estate plan is an important part of the work of a wills, trusts, and estates attorney. Dr. Bennett Blum offers free articles, video lectures, and forms...

Illinois: Can Drafting Attorney Serve as Third-Party Consent for Changing Client's Estate Planning Documents?

Posted on January 22, 2010
Dunn v. Patterson, Ill. Slip Op. No. 07--MR--399 (App. Ct. 3rd Dis. Nov. 18, 2009): Attorney Lawrence Patterson prepared estate planning documents for Charles and Charlotte Dunn. Each document contained a provision stating that the documents could not be amended...

CLE Offers Update on Special Needs Trusts for 2010

Posted on January 22, 2010
The University of Texas School of Law and The Wealth Management and Trust Division of the Texas Bankers Association is sponsoring a CLE conference entitled 2010 Changes and Trends Affecting Special Needs Trusts on February 11 & 12, 2010. A...

Illinois Supreme Court Qualifies Time Limit for Contesting a Will

Posted on January 22, 2010
Helen W. Gunnarsson (Highland Park, Illinois attorney and writer) discusses the Illinois Supreme Court decision In Re Estate of Ellis, No 106461 WL 3471069 (ill. Sup. Ct.) in Where there's another will, there may be a way, 97 Ill. B.J....

Create a Pet Trust, or Send Your Cat to The Cat Boat Sanctuary

Posted on January 21, 2010
If a client is not able, or willing, to dedicate their home or a trust to the care of their pet cats, then a cat sanctuary like De Poezenboot in Amsterdam may be an option. Translated, De Poezenboot means the...

Advance Directives: History, Benefits, Shortcomings, and Overall Importance

Posted on January 21, 2010
Rebecca C. Morgan (Boston Asset Management Chair in Elder Law and Director, Center for Excellence in Elder Law, Stetson University College of Law) has recently published her article entitled The New Importance of Advance Directives, 2 Estate Plan. & Community...

Nebraska Relaxes Privity Requirement for Malpractice Actions Involving Estate Planning

Posted on January 21, 2010
Perez v. Stern, 279 Neb. 187 (2010): Nebraska had previously been listed as a state requiring privity in malpractice actions involving estate planning. Recently, Nebraska has relaxed the absolute privity requirement slightly, ruling in Perez v. Stern, 279 Neb...

Leading Estate Planning Attorney In Illinois Moves to New Firm

Posted on January 21, 2010
Scott Bieber, an Illinois attorney who focuses on family wealth preservation, federal transfer taxation, and family business planning, recently left Schiff Hardin and joined the law firm of Levin Schreder & Carey. The following is taken from his attorney profile...

Crackdown on Offshore Tax Evasion Continues

Posted on January 20, 2010
The New York Times reports that Rudolf M. Elmer, a former Swiss investment company employee, is revealing company secrets by posting documents on Wikileaks and speaking to various governments: Lawyers and Congressional investigators who have begun to review Mr...

Johnson & Johnson Heiress Was Born Into Privilege But Died in Squalor

Posted on January 20, 2010
I previously reported on the death of Casey Johnson, heiress of the Johnson and Johnson fortune. New reports indicate that although Johnson was born into a life of privilege, the apartment in which her body was found was dirty, lacking...

Roth IRA Conversions Possible, But Not Always Beneficial

Posted on January 20, 2010
As of Jan. 1, the income cap on moving assets held in a traditional IRA into a Roth IRA disappeared. This means that although certain income-earning individuals are still barred from contributing to a Roth IRA, these individuals may now...

Fall 2009 Issue of Wake Forest's E-Clinic News Now On-line

Posted on January 20, 2010
The Fall 2009 issue of E-Clinic News describing the activities of The Elder Law Clinic at the Wake Forest University School of Law is now on-line. The issue clearly reflects why this program is one of the most respected elder...

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