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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.
Post Frequency: 44.9/day Last Entry: April 01, 2011 at 14:00:00 Recent Entries: 3678
By Gerry W. Beyer
Go to Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog, find other Estate Planning blogs, or browse all law blogs.
Happy Columbus Day!
Posted on October 13, 2008Happy Columbus Day! Although today is a federal holiday (e.g., no regular mail delivery) many of us still need to report to work. I'm off to class in just a few minutes ----
Agent?s Failure to Make Gifts Desired by Principal is Basis of Claim for Intentional Interference with an Expected Gift
Posted on October 12, 2008A father gave his son his power or attorney. Shortly before the father?s death, his son discovered a copy of the father?s notes regarding changes in his will which father had sent to an attorney. One of the notes in...
A Specific Devise of Property the Testator Did Not Own at the Time of Will Execution Does Not Adeem
Posted on October 12, 2008In Washington, a husband and his wife conveyed all of their interest in real property to a charitable foundation. They subsequently executed wills making specific bequests of the same property to the same foundation. The couple and their son brought....
Connecticut Supreme Court Rules that Civil Unions Unconstitutional, Same-Sex Marriage will be Allowed
Posted on October 11, 2008In Kerrigan v. Commisioner, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled that same sex couples have a constitutional right to marry. The court announced that sexual orientation is a quasi-suspect class under the Equal Protection clause of the state constitution, and therefore...
Court Approval of a Conservatee?s Estate Plan Prevents a Post-Mortem Challenge
Posted on October 11, 2008Pursuant to local law, the court exercised substituted judgment to approve an estate plan on behalf of a conservatee which effectively disinherited conservatee?s son. After the conservatee?s death, the son sued his sister who was the trustee of the lifetime...
Presumption That a Lost Will Last in the Possession of Testator Has Been Revoked Not Superseded by UPC
Posted on October 10, 2008The court In re Estate of Conley, 753 N.W.2d 384 (N.D. 2008), held that the common law presumption that a lost will last in the possession of the testator is presumed to have been destroyed by the testator with the...
Doctrine of De Facto Trustee Recognized
Posted on October 10, 2008In the course of a divorce action in Washington, the court appointed a professional guardianship agency as the trustee of a trust the husband had created for his children. In an earlier case, the court held that the divorce court...
A Challenge by a Guardian ad litem is Not Voluntary and Thus Does Not Trigger Forfeiture
Posted on October 09, 2008In California, a trust included a no contest clause stating that any beneficiary who ?voluntarily? participates in any proceed attacking the trust or the related pour over will would forfeit his or her interest. In Safai v. Safai, 78 Cal....
The Creation of Joint Accounts with Survivorship Rights After Execution of a Will Cannot Alter the Will
Posted on October 09, 2008In Pennsylvania, after executing a will which divided her probate estate equally among her children, the testatrix created several joint bank accounts with rights of survivorship with herself and one of her children as the joint holders. After the testatrix’s...
Beneficiaries of Revocable Trusts do not have Constitutionally Protected Interests
Posted on October 09, 2008In Livesay v. Carolina First Bank, a North Carolina Appellate court rejected the argument that the application of a statute making property held in a revocable trust which was created before the statute?s effective date subject to the settlor?s debts...
Joint Revocable Trust is Mutual and Contractual and Therefore Cannot be Amended by Sole Surviving Settlor
Posted on October 09, 2008In Kansas, two beneficiaries of a revocable trust jointly created by husband and wife brought a declaratory judgment action to invalidate amendments wife made after husband’s death. Using the same criteria applied to wills, the court in Mangels v. Cornell,...
How Low Can You Go? Some Consequences of Substituting a Lower AFR Note for a Higher AFR Note
Posted on October 08, 2008Jonathan G. Blattmachr (Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP), Bridget J. Crawford (Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Development, Pace Law School), and Elisabeth Madden (Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP) have published an article on...
Transplant waiting list tops 100,000 -- possible solution offered
Posted on October 08, 2008The following excerpts are from LifeSharers, U.S. Transplant Waiting List Hits 100,000 -- America Needs Two Waiting Lists, Not One (Oct. 7, 2008): The waiting list for organ transplants in the United States has topped 100,000 people. America needs two...
Dead Men Reproduction -- What should be done?
Posted on October 08, 2008Browne Lewis (Assistant Professor of Law, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law) has recently posted on SSRN her article entitled Dead Men Reproducing: Responding to the Existence of Afterdeath Children. Here the syllabus of her article: Medical advances currently available permit dead...
Lack of Control and Marketability Discounts for Tiered Partnership Interests
Posted on October 08, 2008Steve Akers (Bessemer Trust) wrote an analysis of the case of Astleford v. Commissioner. Here is his synopsis of the case: This gift tax case allows lack of control and marketability discounts for tiered partnership interests. An FLP owned a...
Talking sweetly to the elderly -- a dangerous practice
Posted on October 07, 2008The following excerpts are from John Leland, In ?Sweetie? and ?Dear,? a Hurt for the Elderly, NY Times, Oct. 7, 2008: Professionals call it elderspeak, the sweetly belittling form of address that has always rankled older people: the doctor who...
Tortious Interference With Expectancy
Posted on October 07, 2008Irene D. Johnson (Professor of Law, Pace University School of Law) has recently authored an article entitled Tortious Interference with Expectancy of Inheritance or Gift--Suggestions for Resort to the Tort, 39 U. Toledo L. Rev. 769 (2008). Here is an...
Golden Gate Seeks TWE & Property Visitor
Posted on October 07, 2008Golden Gate University School of Law invites applications for a visiting position for the 2009-2010 academic year at the rank of Assistant Professor, Associate Professor or Professor. The school's curricular needs are likely to include the following: Property, Wills &...
Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act -- Update
Posted on October 07, 2008[This material updates an earlier entry on this blog.] An updated version of the Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act was discussed at the Uniform Law Commission's annual meeting in July 2008 and is available at http://www.law.upenn.edu/bll/archives/ulc/tod/2008_amdraft...
FATF Remains Suspicious of United States? Trusts
Posted on October 06, 2008Duncan E. Osborne (Osborne, Helman, Knedbel & Deleery, LLP) recently published an article entitled Guardians at the Gate: Update on the Gatekeeper Initiative as part of the ABA's Section of Real Property, Trust and Estate Law 19th Annual Symposia. Here...
Will Non-Fiduciary Substitution Trigger Grantor Trust?
Posted on October 06, 2008Steve Akers (Bessemer Trust) recently published his article entitled Non-Fiduciary Substitution Power as Grantor Trust Trigger and Helpful Guidance in Revenue Ruling 2008-22 which looks at the various tax rules and regulations concerning grantor trust treatment...
"Nothing to be Frightened of"
Posted on October 06, 2008On September 2, 2008, Julian Barnes book Nothing to be Frightened of was released. This interesting work provides the author's view of the upcoming certainty of death. As described on the author's website: 'I don?t believe in God, but I...
Happy First Monday of October
Posted on October 06, 2008Today is the first day of the new session of the United States Supreme Court. Topics for today's arguments include: Tobacco advertising ("light" as deceptive) Unions Arbitration I have not reviewed the Court's entire docket but I have not yet...
Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act
Posted on October 05, 2008Thomas P. Gallanis (Julius E. Davis Professor of Law, University of Minnesota) recently wrote a memorandum regarding the latest draft of the Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act by the NCCULS. The memo and draft can be summarized as...
Top SSRN Downloads
Posted on October 05, 2008Here are the top downloads from August 6, 2008 to October 5, 2008 from the SSRN Journal of Wills, Trusts, & Estates Law for all papers announced in the last 60 days. Rank Downloads Paper Title 1 116 Tax Court...
Threats to estate planning structures
Posted on October 04, 2008Mario A. Mata (Partner at Cantey Hanger, LLP) recently published his article entitled Piercing of Spendthrift Trusts, Family Limited Partnerships, and Other Threats to Estate Planning Structures as part of the ABA's Section of Real Property, Probate and Trust Law...
Distributable net income and estates and trusts
Posted on October 04, 2008Michael T. Yu (Associate Professor, California Western School of Law) has recently published his article entitled Deductions in a Proposed Calculation and Allocation of Distributable Net Income to the Separate Shares of a Trust or Estate, 5 Pitt. Tax Rev...
Tax Developments Affecting Estate Planning
Posted on October 03, 2008Howard Zaritsky (J.D., LL.M Consulting Counsel) recently published an article entitled The Year in Review: An Estate Planning Perspective on Recent Tax Developments. Here is a summary of this extensive article: The article summarizes the legislation, regulations, revenue rulings and...
Employees of assisted living facility arrested for elder abuse
Posted on October 03, 2008The following details are from Scott Glover, Elder abuse alleged at assisted-living facility, LA Times, Oct. 3, 2008: Four former employees of the Silverado Senior Living facility in Calabasas, California were arrested on October 2, 2008. There are allegations that...
Remains found at Steve Fossett's crash site
Posted on October 03, 2008According to Jesse McKinley and Steve Friess, Remains Are Found at Site of Fossett Plane Crash, NY Times, Oct. 3, 2008, investigators have located remains at the crash site of Steve's plane. Mark V. Rosenker (acting chairman of the National...
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If a person defames me and threatens me to pay a bill that they made and it is posted to others besides myself, can I sue ?
The documentation of your actions in this case pretty much preclude any legal ac...
Is it libel to write blog posts and/or online reviews about a local business that defames one's reputation?
Libel is the form of defamation expressed in fixed-- usually written form. Sland...
I myself live in chicago and i believe me grandmother and father have left me property in flordia but i belive my father is trying to hide it from me. i was wondering if anybody knows how i can get a copy of both of ther
public records or hire and attorney and have the documents subponead...
How can I make my blog more popular?
You have to write and submit articles, with backlinks to your blogsite....

If a person defames me and threatens me to pay a bill that they made and it is posted to others besides myself, can I sue ?
The documentation of your actions in this case pretty much preclude any legal ac...
Is it libel to write blog posts and/or online reviews about a local business that defames one's reputation?
Libel is the form of defamation expressed in fixed-- usually written form. Sland...
I myself live in chicago and i believe me grandmother and father have left me property in flordia but i belive my father is trying to hide it from me. i was wondering if anybody knows how i can get a copy of both of ther
public records or hire and attorney and have the documents subponead...
How can I make my blog more popular?
You have to write and submit articles, with backlinks to your blogsite....








