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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

South Dakota and Delaware Trust Companies Should Raise Prices

Posted on June 16, 2010
Pricing expert Rafi Mohammed recommends trust companies in South Dakota and Delaware charge higher fees for services unavailable elsewhere. These trust providers can offer dynasty trusts and self-settled asset protection trusts, products that not many others can offer...

Charitable Trusts and Treasury Regulations

Posted on June 16, 2010
Mark Powell (Adjunct Professor of Law, Chapman University School of Law) recently published his article entitled Proposed Guidance Under Treasury Regulation Section 1.509(A)-4, SSRN, working paper series, April 1, 2010. The abstract available on SSRN is below: Current Treasury Regulations...

Acquittal by Reason of Insanity Does Not Affect Slayer Statute in Illinois

Posted on June 16, 2010
A summary of Dougherty v. Cole,No. 4-09-0658, 2010 WL 1818920 (Ill. App. Ct. Apr. 29, 2010) is below: The Illinois slayer statute bars ?a person who intentionally and unjustifiably causes the death of another? from receiving any property or benefit...

Play Conveys Legal Concepts

Posted on June 16, 2010
Conrad Teitell, a practicing lawyer and adjunct professor, writes songs and plays to entertain while communicating legal information. His latest play was called AVATAX ? Planned Giving on Planet PandIRA and was presented at the American Council on Gift Annuities...

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Proposed Reform to Restrict GRATs

Posted on June 15, 2010
On June 9, Representative Sander Levin introduced H.R. 5486 which would make several non-estate tax reforms to provide tax incentives for small business creation. In order to help pay for the reforms, H.R. 5486 would restrict grantor retained annuity trusts...

Amendments to Nevada's LLC and LP Acts

Posted on June 15, 2010
Thomas E. Rutledge (attorney, Louisville, KY) recently published his article entitled The Nevada Restricted LLC/LP: Damned If You Do and Damned If You Do, J. of Passthrough Entities, March-April 2010. Here is the abstract available on SSRN: In 2009, Nevada...

"Lawful Descendant" Excludes a Non-Marital Child

Posted on June 15, 2010
A summary of Hood v. Todd, No. S10A0131, 2010 WL 1944271 (Ga. May 17, 2010) is below:The testator?s will poured over the residue to an existing trust which in turn is divided into trusts, one for each living child of...

Guidelines for Determining Brain Death

Posted on June 15, 2010
The U.S. Uniform Determination of Death Act defines brain death as occurring when a person permanently stops breathing, his heart stops beating, and all functions of the brain cease. While the definition is not disputed, a 2008 study disclosed surprising...

Using QPRTs to Pass Down Homes

Posted on June 14, 2010
The Goldbergers love their weekend-getaway home in rural Connecticut and want to pass it to their descendants. But they?re concerned because their two sons live busy lives on opposite coasts. So the Goldbergers are using a qualified personal residence trust...

Coleman's Third Will Surfaces

Posted on June 14, 2010
A third Will, written before Gary Coleman married Shannon Price, has surfaced. This Will names a new woman, Anna Gray, as executor and sole beneficiary of Coleman?s estate. Anna Gray was a close friend of Coleman?s, the CEO of his...

Ohio Trust Code Update

Posted on June 14, 2010
Alan Newman (Professor of Law, University of Akron School of Law) recently published his article entitled Ohio Trust Code Update: Recent Developments, 20 Ohio Probate L. J. 1 (2009). The abstract from SSRN is below: This article is based on...

Liver Donor Dies in Surgery

Posted on June 14, 2010
On May 24, a liver donor died while undergoing transplant surgery at Lahey Clinic in Burlington. This is only the third time an adult living liver donor has died since the first procedure was done twenty years ago. Dr. James...

Heirs Fight for $56 Million in Life Insurance Proceeds

Posted on June 13, 2010
Arthur Kramer, New York attorney, took out seven life insurance policies worth $56.2 million in his final years. Kramer quickly sold the right to claim the benefits to investors rather than leave the proceeds to his family members. Kramer?s widow,...

Arlington Cemetery Bodies Misplaced

Posted on June 13, 2010
An Army investigation has uncovered the misidentification and misplacement of potentially hundreds of remains at Arlington National Cemetery. This cemetery is one of the nation?s most hallowed burial sites; people buried there include Civil War heroes, people with military honors,...

Price Claims She's Coleman's Common-Law Wife

Posted on June 12, 2010
Shannon Price just filed documents requesting that she be appointed special administrator of Gary Coleman?s estate on grounds that she was Coleman's common-law wife. She?s also submitted the previously-mentioned 2007 codicil which leaves everything to her...

63-Year-Old Trumpeter Might be an Heir to a Tremendous Fortune

Posted on June 12, 2010
Jos� Collado, a trumpeter in Marbella Spain, finally met his mother when he was 49 years old. She said his father was the fourth Marquis de Larios. Mr. Collado, who grew up in an orphanage and had a rough life,...

Sample Client Letter on Estate Tax Reform

Posted on June 11, 2010
A sample client letter on estate tax reform, taken from Robert L. Moshman, The Estate Analyst, May 2010, is below: Dear Client, Your estate plan has been affected by a series of highly unpredictable legislative developments. The Federal estate tax...

Anna Nicole Smith's Estate Gets Nothing from Her Deceased Husband's Estate

Posted on June 11, 2010
Katarinna McBride (attorney, Chicago, IL.) recently published her article entitled The Anna Nicole Smith Case: an Opera in Five Acts, 98 Ill. Bar J. 266 (May 2010).The introduction is below: The immortality of Anna Nicole Smith was something that could...

Business Valuation Resources' New Book

Posted on June 11, 2010
Business Valuation Resources recently published its book entitled BVR?s Guide to Business Valuation Issues in Estate and Gift Tax (Linda Trugman ed. 2010). Business Valuation Law's summary of the book is below: Issues like tax-effecting S-Corporations, non-signing tax preparer penalties,...

Dan Duncan's Estate Passes Untaxed

Posted on June 11, 2010
When America?s first billionaire, John Rockefeller, died in 1937, his estate paid 70% in estate taxes. Since then, estate tax rates have fluctuated, but 2010 is the first year that the tax has been repealed altogether. As I previously blogged,...

Gary Coleman's 2007 Codicil is Not Valid

Posted on June 10, 2010
In 2007, Gary Coleman hand-wrote a codicil to his 1999 Will (previously thought to be his last) leaving everything to Shannon Price. Kent Alderman, attorney for Dion Mial, says that the codicil is not valid. Utah, like 37 other states...

Compensation for Caregivers in Illinois

Posted on June 10, 2010
Margot Gordon (Attorney, Chicago, IL) recently published her article entitled Custodial Claims: Compensation for Family Caregivers, 98 Ill. Bar J. 256 (May 2010). An excerpt from the beginning of the article is below: Many families with disabled parents, siblings, or...

Tips for Avoiding the 2011 Estate Tax

Posted on June 10, 2010
Under the current law, the federal estate tax will rise from the ashes on January 1, 2011. Only $1 million will be exempt from a 55% tax, meaning that many more families need to start planning. Here are some tips...

Bernie Madoff Lacks Remorse

Posted on June 10, 2010
In federal prison in Butner, North Carolina, Madoff told a fellow inmate, ?F--- my victims. I carried them for twenty years, and now I?m doing 150 years.? Madoff also tells inmates that he took money when it was thrown at...

Battle Over C.C. Wang's Estate

Posted on June 09, 2010
C.C. Wang, a Chinese �migr� who dominated the market for ancient Chinese art, came to New York in 1949. He brought with him his two youngest daughters and his wife, and he left his oldest daughter and only son in...

Complexities of Slayer Statutes

Posted on June 09, 2010
The May 2010 edition of The Estate Analyst is comprised of an article by Robert L. Moshman (attorney and writer) entitled Murder With a Twist: Slayer Statutes Produce Unpredictable Results. The introduction to the article and the May 2010 edition...

Duquesne University School of Law Seeks T&E Visitor

Posted on June 09, 2010
Due to an unexpected retirement and other events, Duquesne University School of Law in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is in need of a visitor for this coming academic year. The school's primary needs are Estates and Trusts (Fall) and Civil Procedure (Spring)...

Michael Jackson's Estate Continues to Grow

Posted on June 09, 2010
Michael Jackson?s estate has made close to $1 billion in the year since he died, 47 times what he made the previous year. This money came from soaring record sales and contracts for shows about Jackson. Jackson isn?t the first...

Illinois POA Amendment Confusion

Posted on June 08, 2010
Helen Gunnarsson (attorney, Illinois) recently published The POA Act Amendment That Wasn't, Lawpulse, 98 Ill. Bar J. 232 (May 2010). The introduction is below: Some ISBA members whose practices include the preparation of health care powers of attorney recently did...

Gary Coleman's Will Surfaces

Posted on June 08, 2010
The previously-mentioned will of Gary Coleman has surfaced. Salt Lake City Attorney Kent Alderman has Coleman?s 1999 will and plans to bring it to a Utah County court next week. After seeing a copy of the will naming Dion Mial,...

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