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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

Another dead man's sperm is harvested

Posted on April 19, 2009
Earlier on this blog, I reported that a Texas probate judge authorized dead man's mother to harvest his sperm. In another case, a New York judge allowed a dead man's girl friend to harvest his sperm. Here are some of...

Apportionment of GSTT

Posted on April 18, 2009
In the case of In re Estate of Denman, 270 S.W.3d 639 (Tex. App.?San Antonio 2008, pet. denied), a dispute arose regarding whether generation-skipping transfer taxes should be allocated against the residuary estate or against the generation-skipping transfer...

Interpretation of trust amendment

Posted on April 18, 2009
In Soefje v. Jones, 270 S.W.3d 617 (Tex. App.?San Antonio 2008, no pet. h.), Brother and Sister disputed the construction an amendment to Mother?s trust. Brother argued that the amendment only added to the property to which Sister was entitled...

Maryland authorizes statutory pet trusts

Posted on April 17, 2009
On April 14, 2009, Maryland's Governor O'Malley signed into law House Bill 149 which authorizes statutory pet trusts. Here are some of the key features of this statute: The animal must be alive during the settlor's lifetime. [Est. & Trusts...

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"The Codicil" recognized by Law Technology News

Posted on April 17, 2009
The Codicil, the on-line companion to the Estate Planning & Community Property Law Journal at the Texas Tech University School of Law was recently recognized in Robert Ambrogi, WEB WATCH: Academic Innovation, Law Technology News, April 2009. Here is an...

Will contest in Georgia pits family against mistress

Posted on April 17, 2009
An interesting will contest is brewing in Georgia. Here are some of the facts as reported in Bill Rankin, New fight over will of millionaire, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, April 14, 2009: Harvey Strother was a successful car dealer in Georgia. Harvey's...

Postmortem conception analyzed

Posted on April 16, 2009
Kristine S. Knaplund (Professor of Law, Pepperdine University School of Law) has recently posted on SSRN her article entitled Postmortem Conception and a Father's Last Will. Here is the abstract of her article: Many men, including soldiers, cancer patients, and...

The distributive justice--charitable deduction interface

Posted on April 16, 2009
Miranda Perry Fleischer (Associate Professor of Law, Univ. of Illinois College of Law) has recently posted on SSRN her article entitled Theorizing the Charitable Tax Subsidies: The Role of Distributive Justice. Here is the abstract of her article: Distributive justice...

Could giving up United States citizenship be a part of a good estate plan?

Posted on April 16, 2009
Kathleen Macaulay (LLM Taxation Candidate, Univ. of Houston Law Center) has recently posted on SSRN her article entitled Take the Money and Run - The Impact of the HEART Act on the Ultimate Estate Plan: Expatriation to Avoid U.S. Income,...

Reverse Exchanges

Posted on April 16, 2009
Bradley T. Borden (Associate Professor of Law, Washburn Univ. School of Law) has written an article entitled Financing Reverse Exchanges and Safeguarding Exchange Proceeds, 22 J. Tax'n & Regulation of Fin. Inst. 33 (2008). Here is the abstract of the...

Paying attorneys not to practice law

Posted on April 15, 2009
In a move to lower expenses, some law firms are paying their associates not to work! Sounds like they are following the business model of the U.S. government which pays farmers not to farm. Here are some details from Susan...

Whom have you now outlived?

Posted on April 15, 2009
A new website, Dead.AtYourAge.com, will compute your age and then tell you the famous people whose lifespan was less than yours. I just learned that I have "outlived Louis Adamic by almost three weeks. He was an American novelist who...

New form book published

Posted on April 15, 2009
The American Bar Association has recently published a book entitled Estate Planning Forms authored by L. Rush Hunt (Madisonville, Kentucky). Here is a description of this book: An estate plan can have several elements--a will; an assignment of power of...

Taxes due today!

Posted on April 15, 2009
Happy (?) Tax Day!! Be sure to file your income and gift tax returns promptly or obtain the appropriate extension.

Valuing annuities

Posted on April 14, 2009
Wendy Gerzog (Professor of Law, University of Baltimore School of Law) has recently posted on SSRN her article entitled Anthony: Absolute Actuarial Tables, 121 Tax Notes (2008). Here is the abstract if her article: Anthony v. United States is the...

The viability of family limited partnerships

Posted on April 14, 2009
The following excerpts are from Covering Your Assets, Wall St. J., April 12, 2009: Recent tax-court victories have breathed new life into family limited partnerships, a strategy that affluent families have used for years to shelter assets and reduce gift...

Bugatti Bequest

Posted on April 14, 2009
In June 2007, Dr. Harold Carr died at age 89 without a spouse and without descendants. He left his estate to his nieces and nephews. When they looked in his garage, they discovered to their amazement a Type 57S Atalante...

Genetic Mother May Adopt Child Birthed by Life Partner

Posted on April 14, 2009
The following posting is supplied through the kindness of Bridget J. Crawford (Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Development, Pace Law School) and is from her posting on the Feminist Law Professors Blog. Manhattan Surrogate Court...

How to make your survivors remember you well? Die organized!

Posted on April 13, 2009
Perhaps one of the kindest things you can do for your survivors (family members, beneficiaries, and heirs) is to have your financial matters organized so they can ascertain what you owned and where the assets are located. Here are some...

2008 Federal Tax Update

Posted on April 13, 2009
Samuel Donaldson (Professor of Law and, Director, Graduate Program in Taxation, University of Washington School of Law) has recently posted his article on SSRN entiteld 2008 Federal Tax Update. Here is the abstract of the article: This update explains several...

Bad economy means good time for GRATs

Posted on April 13, 2009
The potential benefits of using a grantor-retained annuity trust are discussed in Nate Hardcastle, A Time for Giving, Wall St. J., April 13, 2009. Here are a few excerpts from this article: Some estate-planning professionals are urging clients to take...

Top SSRN Downloads

Posted on April 13, 2009
Here are the top downloads from February 9, 2009 to April 10, 2009 from the SSRN Journal of Wills, Trusts, & Estates Law for all papers announced in the last 60 days. Rank Downloads Paper Title 1 246 2008 Developments...

Disclaimers and Louisiana Law

Posted on April 12, 2009
Matthew D. Simone (Casenote/Comment Editor, Loyola Law Review) has recently published his comment entitled Louisiana Post-Mortem Estate Planning -- Alleviating the Burden of Double Taxation Imposed Against a 'Renunciation in Favor of,' 54 Loy. L. Rev...

Face transplant #7 performed in Boston

Posted on April 12, 2009
On the heels of the face transplant number six which I reported yesterday, the seventh face transplant was performed in Boston on April 9, 2009. Here are some details from O?Ryan Johnson and Jessica Fargen, Boston docs perform face transplant,...

Update on mom who harvest dead son's sperm

Posted on April 11, 2009
Earlier on this blog, reported how Travis County Texas (Austin) Probate Judge Guy Herman ruled on Monday (April 6, 2009) that a dad man's mother (Marissa Evans) could harvest his sperm. Here is some additional information: The sperm was harvested...

Face transplant #6 takes place in France and includes hands

Posted on April 11, 2009
Last week, the sixth face transplant was performed in France. The unique thing about this operation is that it also included the transplantation of two hands. The operation took place at the Henri Mondor hospital in Creteil, a suburb of...

California rejects mishandling of donated body claim

Posted on April 10, 2009
James Conroy died in 1999 and his body was transferred to the University of California at Irvine for study under the school's Willed Body Program. Later, his wife, Evelyn Conroy, heard reports that some of the bodies were not properly...

Women caught collection life insurance proceeds on made-up individuals

Posted on April 10, 2009
Two California women have recently been caught running a scam that allegedly worked like this: Faye Shilling and Jean Crump would create a fictional person and then take out life insurance on his or her life. They would then wait...

Benefits of intentionally defective grantor trust

Posted on April 10, 2009
The following excerpts are from Mike Spector and Anne Tergesen, Unusual Trusts Gain Appeal in Unusual Time, Yahoo! Finance, April 10, 2009: It may seem hard to come up with a financial product with a name as unattractive as an...

Colorado authorizes designated beneficiary agreements

Posted on April 10, 2009
Yesterday (April 9, 2009) Colorado Governor Bill Ritter signed into law House Bill 1260. This new law permits two people (either opposite-sex or same-sex) to sign a "designated beneficiary agreements" for various estate planning matters such as wills, property purchases,...

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