Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog: Estate Planning

Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Estate Planning Blogs

OR PHONE (866) 635-1838 for Bankruptcy Help, (866) 635-6190 for Divorce,
(866) 635-2689 for Personal Injury or (866) 635-9402 for Criminal Defense

Find a Local Lawyer

Bankruptcy (866) 635-1838
Divorce (866) 635-6190
Personal Injury (866) 635-2689
Criminal Defense (866) 635-9402

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

Texas Court Interprets Conflicting Dispositions in a Will

Posted on July 04, 2010
A summary of In re Estate of Craigen, 305 S.W.3d 825 (Tex. App.?Beaumont 2010, no pet. h.) is below: Testator?s holographic will provides that his wife is to ?get[] everything till she dies? but later in the will he leaves...

More on the "Bettencourt Affair"

Posted on July 04, 2010
I previously blogged about Ms. Bettencourt?s daughter?s lawsuit against Mr. Banier, which was due to start last Thursday. A judge delayed the case to investigate 21 hours of secret recordings made by the heiress? butler. Ms. Bettencourt refuses to comply...

"Unproduction Royalty" is an Unambiguous Term

Posted on July 03, 2010
A summary of In re Estate of Slaughter, 305 S.W.3d 804 (Tex. App.?Texarkana 2010, no pet. h.) is below: Testator died in 1965 and his 1955 holographic will was duly admitted to probate. A dispute arose whether this will either...

Trust Banks are Marketing Again

Posted on July 03, 2010
In 2008, many leading trust banks made big marketing pushes in order to compete for the record-breaking number of wealthy U.S. households. But they withdrew when the Wall Street collapse and the Bernie Madoff scandal made the marketing irrelevant. Recently,...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

Customized Cremation Urns

Posted on July 02, 2010
Artist Holly Denslow creates customized cremation urns. The following is a description of her service from her website: The ability to customize a unique final resting place provides each individual with comfort and eternal expression of their own personal individuality...

CLE on Estate Planning Tactics in a Low-Interest Market

Posted on July 02, 2010
The National Business Institute is sponsoring a 90-minute national teleconference entitled Estate Planning Tactics in a Low-Interest Market on July 8, 2010. The program description is below: Recent drastic changes in our economic environment have forced many clients to acknowledge...

Comic About Estate Planning

Posted on July 02, 2010
Chris Cassatt, Gary Brookins, and Susie MacNelly, authors/artists of Shoe Comics, created a comic on January 10, 2010 about estate planning. To see the comic, click here. Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (WealthCounsel) for bringing this to my attention.

DIY Estate Planning Dangers

Posted on July 02, 2010
With the help of online tools and books, many people are bypassing lawyers and creating their own estate planning documents. While some people (for example, the general counsel for LegalZoom) argue that do-it-yourself documents are better than no documents at...

Attorney Stole from Mentally Incompetent Military Veterans

Posted on July 01, 2010
Joe Phillips, a 71-year-old attorney, was formerly employed by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in Houston. Phillips maintained bank accounts to receive benefits for mentally incompetent military veterans and pay their expenses. Starting in 2003, Phillips and his wife...

"Wait and See" Approach for the Estate Tax

Posted on July 01, 2010
While some attorneys? solution to the estate tax mess is to draft for every possible scenario, others have decided to ?wait and see? what happens. New York estate planner Mark Eghrari tells his clients to postpone filing any forms for...

Trust Advisor Blog Offers a New Service

Posted on July 01, 2010
The Trust Advisor Blog is offering a new service. The announcement is below: This July, we celebrate our first year anniversary by launching a new service for our readers. We will be bringing you email announcements from important product providers...

CLE on Federal Gift Tax

Posted on July 01, 2010
The National Business Institute is sponsoring a 90-minute national teleconference entitled Estate Planning: Federal Gift Tax in a Nutshell on August 3, 2010. The program description is below: This dynamic course focuses on federal gift tax planning principles and procedures...

Confusion Surrounding Regulation R

Posted on June 30, 2010
Regulation R mandates that non-SEC-regulated institutions refer most securities sales to broker-dealers. Not all trust companies are sure they can demonstrate that they?re obeying Regulation R because the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has not yet issued guidance...

Non-Residents May Not Benefit from Alaska's New Statute

Posted on June 30, 2010
I recently blogged about Alaska adopting a statute that allows individuals to prove Wills and trusts pre-mortem. As a result, Alaskan estate planners have gotten many calls from non-residents wanting to prevent ugly Will contests like the one surrounding Gary...

Avoiding Malpractice in the Estate Planning Field

Posted on June 30, 2010
The June 2010 edition of The Estate Analyst is comprised of an article by Robert L. Moshman (attorney and writer) entitled Estate Planning Malpractice: A Best Practices Checklist as well as an interview with Robert G. Alexander, a prominent estate...

A New Website for Information on Elder Issues

Posted on June 30, 2010
The National Center for State Courts (NCSC) launched a new website, http://eldersandcourts.org/, to provide the nation's courts with resources, information, and training related to aging, probate issues, and elder abuse on June 15, which was World Elder Abuse Awareness Day...

State Estate Taxes Uncertain Too

Posted on June 29, 2010
The federal estate tax isn?t the only estate tax that?s unresolved. State politicians have also been putting off decisions. However, some of the state uncertainty is linked to the uncertainty surrounding the federal estate tax. For example, North Carolina?s estate...

Five Rules to Help Stretch Out IRAs

Posted on June 29, 2010
These five rules can help you to stretch out the tax benefits of IRAs, possibly for decades: First, do no harm. Don?t take out money or make any changes until you know what rules apply. You must also retitle the...

Top SSRN Downloads

Posted on June 29, 2010
Here are the top downloads from April 29, 2010 to June 28, 2010 from the SSRN Journal of Wills, Trusts, & Estates Law for all papers announced in the last 60 days. Rank Downloads Paper Title 1 521 The Generation-Skipping...

A Quick Guide for the GST Tax

Posted on June 29, 2010
Mark Powell (Adjunct Professor of Law, Chapman University School of Law) recently published his article entitled The Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax: A Quick Guide, Working Paper Series (2009). The abstract available on SSRN is below: Sooner or later, every estate planner...

L?Or�al Heiress' Financial Affairs Revealed

Posted on June 28, 2010
Long-serving butler of Liliane Bettencourt, 87-year-old L?Or�al heiress, recently released tapes that he privately recorded over the course of a year. The tapes reveal Liliane?s relationship with her long-estranged daughter, Liliane?s relationship with photographer Francois-Marie Banier, and political connections cultivated...

Jackson's Father Files Wrongful Death Action

Posted on June 28, 2010
Michael Jackson?s father, Joe Jackson, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Dr. Conrad Murray, the doctor charged with giving Michael a fatal mix of sedatives. Joe?s complaint seeks more than $75,000 in damages and alleges that the doctor was...

Estate Tax System Reform Options

Posted on June 28, 2010
Lily Batchelder (Professor of Law, NYU Law) recently published her article entitled Reform Options for the Estate Tax System: Targeting Unearned Income, Testimony Before the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, NYU School of Law, Public Law Research Paper No...

Banks Provide Elder Care

Posted on June 28, 2010
Private banks and trust companies are increasingly helping older clients manage their financial affairs. Banks with elder services programs will do things like manage crises, sort out medical bills, manage the sale of a home, manage Medicare-coverage claims, or hire...

More on the Billionaire's Estate Tax

Posted on June 27, 2010
Independent and Democrat Senators proposed an estate tax plan on Thursday, which I previously blogged about in detail. What I didn?t mention, however, is that this proposal would be retroactive to January 1, 2010. The heirs of Dan Duncan (previously-mentioned...

Withdrawing a Feeding Tube is Now Legal in Germany

Posted on June 27, 2010
An attorney in Germany was suspended for nine months for advising a daughter to cut off her comatose mother?s feeding tube. The Federal Court of Justice overturned that ruling and acquitted the attorney. Germany?s Justice Minister, Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, said that...

Coleman Chose Between the Two Women Who are Now Fighting for His Estate

Posted on June 26, 2010
Randy Kester, Coleman?s attorney, says that Coleman was forced to choose between Anna Gray and Shannon Price while he was alive. As I previously mentioned, these are the two women who are currently fighting to be executor of Coleman?s estate....

Jackson's Estate Might Surpass Presley's

Posted on June 26, 2010
As I previously blogged, Michael Jackson?s estate grew tremendously in the past year since his death. Experts in the management of celebrity estates are waiting to see whether or not the Jackson estate will surpass the ultimate entertainment estate: Elvis...

Revocable Trusts in Florida

Posted on June 25, 2010
Donna Litman (Professor of Law, Nova Southeastern University) recently published her article entitled Revocable Trusts Under the Florida Trust Code, 34 Nova L. Rev. 1 (2009). The synopsis is below: Revocable trusts are a special type of inter vivos trust...

Indiana State Bar Association Wins Unauthorized Practice of Law Action

Posted on June 25, 2010
A summary of State ex rel. Indiana State Bar Ass'n v. United Financial Systems Corp., 926 N.E.2d 8 (Ind. 2010) is below: In October 2008, the Indiana State Bar Association filed an action against United Financial Systems, an estate planning...

Previous | Next

Related Law Bulletins

New Baptist Covenant Blog
Last week, I pointed to the New Baptist Convenant website, now onl...

The Mexico Trucker Blog
I've written before about the perceived problems with relaxed rest...