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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

Meetings between organ donees and donor?s family beneficial

Posted on July 21, 2008
Evidence is mounting that it is a good thing for an organ donor?s family and the donee to have contact. The following is from Marilyn Elias, Heart-to-heart connections, USA Today, July 15, 2008, at 6D: After a spouse in the...

Texas lawyer suspended for mishandling probate case

Posted on July 21, 2008
According to Disciplinary Actions, 71 Tex. B.J. 590, at 594 (2008), Sharon D. Evans accepted a three-year, partially probated suspension from the practice of law with a mere three months actively served for her conduct with regard to a probate...

Top SSRN Downloads

Posted on July 21, 2008
Here are the top downloads from May 22, 2008 to July 21, 2008 from the SSRN Journal of Wills, Trusts, & Estates Law for all papers announced in the last 60 days. Rank Downloads Paper Title 1 138 Limited Liability...

Evil wills lawyer disbarred for life

Posted on July 20, 2008
John D. Duncan, who formerly worked for almost 30 years for the Verrill Dana law firm in Portland, Maine, was recently disbarred for life by the Supreme Court of Maine. The following details of this sordid tale are from Board...

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"I have a dream" that my children won't fight over my estate -- MLK Update

Posted on July 20, 2008
Earlier on this blog, I reported that Bernice King and Martin Luther King III claim that their brother, Dexter King, has been plundering funds from the estates of their parents, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King. The...

Evil People Target the Greatest Generation

Posted on July 19, 2008
The "Greatest Generation," that is, individuals who reached adulthood between the start of the Great Depression (1929) through the end of World War II (1945), are now considered as "the greatest generation to exploit." The following excerpts are from Lou...

The Sensible Tax Act of 2008

Posted on July 19, 2008
On July 15, 2008, Rep. James McDermott [D-WA] introduced into the House The Sensible Tax Act of 2008. Here are some of the highlights of this bill: The estate tax applicable exclusion amount would be set at $2,000,000 and subsequently...

Do you want to be an English Solicitor?

Posted on July 18, 2008
According to Houston Putnam Lowry (Chartered Arbitrator, Brown & Welsh, P.C., Meriden, CT): Changes were announced on July 1, 2008, to take effect September 1, 2008 on the requirements to become a solicitor in England. The present rules do not...

The story of Betty Neumar, aka, "The Black Widow," continues

Posted on July 18, 2008
Earlier on this blog (here and here), I reported about Betty Neumar who may have been killing off her husbands for fifty years. Five times since the 1950s, she has been married and each marriage has ended with the death...

Massachusetts wants to share in same-sex marriage business

Posted on July 18, 2008
Earlier on this blog, I discussed how 12,000 New York same-sex couples are anticipated to head to California to marry because California does not limit such marriages to California citizens. Although the first state to legalize same-sex marriage, Massachusetts has...

Proposition 8 -- Will same-sex marriage be banned in California?

Posted on July 18, 2008
Earlier on this blog, I discussed the case of In re Marriage Cases decided May 15, 2008 in which the California Supreme Court held in a 4-3 opinion that two state laws that had limited marriages to opposite-sex partners are...

How to Effectively and Efficiently Interact with Grieving Clients

Posted on July 17, 2008
Gary Glober, M.D. (Leadership and Communication Skills Consultant, Houston, TX) has written an articled entitled How to Effectively and Efficiently Interact with Grieving Clients, 22 Probate & Property 61 (2008). This article overviews the possible symptoms and problems that a...

Use of Captive Insurance Companies in Estate Planning

Posted on July 17, 2008
Gordon A. Schaller and Scott A. Harshman have written an article entitled Use of Captive Insurance Companies in Estate Planning, 33 ACTEC Journal 252 (2008). Here is an introduction to the article. Rising insurance costs coupled with increasing self-insured risk...

The "2% Floor" Grows Up

Posted on July 17, 2008
Ronald D. Aucutt (McLean, Virginia and Washington D.C.) has written an article entitled The ?2% Floor? Grows Up ? A Biography of Legislation, Litigation, and Regulations, 33 ACTEC Journal 214 (2008). Here is an introduction to the article. On January...

A Hitchhiker's Guide to International Estate Planning

Posted on July 16, 2008
Samuel Donaldson (Associate Professor of Law, Director of Graduate Program in Taxation, University of Washington School of Law) haw written an article entitled A Hitchhiker's Guide to International Estate Planning: Estate Planning for United States Citizens with Assets Abroad and...

Prevention and Resolution of Trust and Estate Controversies

Posted on July 16, 2008
Mark S. Poker and Amy S. Kiiskila have written an article entitled Prevention and Resolution of Trust and Estate Controversies, 33 ACTEC Journal 262 (2008). Here is the introduction to the article. Trust and estate litigation can take a financial...

Congress Takes the Stuffing out of Charitable Donations

Posted on July 16, 2008
Matthew S. Wilcox has written an article entitled Congress Takes the Stuffing our of Taxidermy Charitable Donations, Heritage Trusts & Estates Newsletter, Jul./Aug., 2008, at 4. The article discusses the effect of the Pension Protection Act of 2006 on taxidermy...

Who has the Capacity to Vote

Posted on July 16, 2008
Charles P. Sabatino and Sally Hurme have written an article entitled Who has Capacity to Vote?, 5 Nat'l College of Probate Judges 8 (2008). The article discusses the right of persons with cognitive disabilities to vote. It gives an overview...

Current Perpetuities Law in the State

Posted on July 15, 2008
Lynn Foster has written an article entitled Fifty-one Flowers: Post-Perpetuities War Law and Arkansas's Adoption of USRAP, 29 U. Ark. Little Rock L. Rev. 411 (2007). Here is a summary of the article. After decades of "perpetuities wars," the unmodified...

Did Reform of Prudent Trust Investment Laws Change Trust Portfolio Allocation?

Posted on July 15, 2008
Max Schanzenbach (Benjamin Mazur Professor of Law, Northwestern School of Law) and Robert H. Sitkoff (John L. Gray Professor of Law, Harvard Law School) wrote a new article entitled Did Reform of Prudent Trust Investment Laws Change Trust Portfolio Allocation?,...

Choices for Care

Posted on July 15, 2008
Tracy L. Bach (Professor of Law and Associate Director of the Climate Legacy Initiative, Vermont School of Law) has written an article entitled Choices for Care: Consumer Choice and State Policymaking Courage amid Medicaid's Shifting Entitlement to Long-term Care, 9...

Involuntary Passive Euthanasia in U.S. Courts

Posted on July 14, 2008
Thaddeus Pope (Associate Professor of Law, Widener University School of Law) has written an article entitled Involuntary Passive Euthanasia in U.S. Courts: Reassessing the Judicial Treatment of Medical Futility Cases, 9 Marq. Elder's Advisor 229-268 (2008)...

Leaving More than Money

Posted on July 14, 2008
Lela Love (Professor of Law, Director, Kukin Program for Conflict Resolution and the Cardozo Mediation Clinic, Cardozo School of Law) and Stewart Sterk (H. Bert and Ruth Mack Professor of Real Estate Law, Cardozo School of Law) have written an...

Should Probate Procedure be Revisited?

Posted on July 14, 2008
Kent D. Schenkel has written a new article entitled Testamentary Fragmentation and the Diminishing Role of the Will: an Argument for Revival, 41 Creighton L. Rev. 155 (2008). Here is the abstract of the article. Popularized by a desire to...

A "simple" probate should not be this complicated

Posted on July 14, 2008
University of Wisconsin law student Mark T. Johnson has written an article entitled A "Simple" Probate Should Not be This Complicated: Principles and Proposals for Revising Wisconsin's Statutes for Probate Summary Procedures, 2008 Wis. L. Rev. 575 (2008)...

Contest precluded if court approves conservator suggested estate plan

Posted on July 13, 2008
On June 26, 2008, a California appellate court ruled in Murphy v. Murphy that when a conservator seeks court approval of an estate plan, while the subject is living, any challenge to the will must be raised at that hearing-...

Top SSRN Downloads

Posted on July 13, 2008
Here are the top downloads from May 14, 2008 to July 13, 2008 from the SSRN Journal of Wills, Trusts, & Estates Law for all papers announced in the last 60 days. Rank Downloads Paper Title 1 125 Result-Selectivism in...

Hershey's Kiss-Off

Posted on July 12, 2008
Jonathan Klick (Jeffrey A. Stoops Professor of Law, Florida State University College of Law) and Robert H. Sitkoff (John L. Gray Professor of Law, Harvard Law School) have written a new article entitled Agency Costs, Charitable Trusts, and Corporate Control:...

MLK's children in battle over parents' estates

Posted on July 12, 2008
Bernice King and Martin Luther King III claim that their brother, Dexter King, has been plundering funds from the estates of their parents, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King. The suit against Dexter is in both his...

Chicago Cubs fans to get special cemetery

Posted on July 12, 2008
Fans of the Chicago Cubs baseball team will soon have the option of being buried in a cemetery designed to look like Wrigley Field. The cemetery is called Beyond the Vines and should be ready in October 2008. Plans include...

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