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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.
Succession Agreements in Spain
Posted on July 19, 2009Susanna Navas has recently posted on SSRN her article entitled Particular Succession Agreements in the Catalan Civil Code, 2 InDret. (2009). The abstract of the article is below: Law 10/2008, of July 10, of the fourth Book of the Civil...
Simplifying Retirement Benefits in the Estate Plan
Posted on July 19, 2009Edward V. Atnally, (attorney, White Plains, New York) has recently published his article entitled Estate Planning and Retirement Benefits: An Approach Toward Simplification, Part I, Prob. & Prop., July.Aug. 2009, at 23. The following is the introduction to the article:...
Blog ranked #21 among blogs edited by law professors
Posted on July 19, 2009The Wills, Trusts, & Estates Prof Blog ranked #21 in number of visitors among blogs edited by law professors with publicly available SiteMeters for the most recent 12-month period (July 1, 2008 - June 30, 2009). To all my readers,...
Top SSRN Downloads
Posted on July 19, 2009Here are the top downloads from May 20, 2009 to July 19, 2009 from the SSRN Journal of Wills, Trusts, & Estates Law for all papers announced in the last 60 days. Rank Downloads Paper Title 1 325 How the...
Articles Focus on Creative Solutions In Elder Law
Posted on July 18, 2009The Elder Law and Consumer Protection Clinic at Penn State Law has published a new edition of Adventures in Law and Aging, Summer 2009, and it contains the following articles: Katherine C. Pearson (Director of Elder Law and Consumer Protection...
Ashes Used to Print Comic Books
Posted on July 18, 2009When Marc Gruenwal, executive director of Marvel Comics, died in 1996, he was cremated and his ashes were mixed with inks used to print 4,000 copies of the mini-series Squadron Supreme, Gruenwald's proudest achievement. See TruTV, Weirdest Wills.
Covenants Provide Beneficial End-of-Life Surroundings
Posted on July 17, 2009A recent NY Times article spotlights the Mother House of the Sisters of St. Joseph covenant. A Mother House is a retirement and nursing community for Roman Catholic sisters. A geriatrician who provides primary care to many of the sisters...
Texas Law Affects Trustees After Trust Founder Dies
Posted on July 17, 2009Texas's enrolled version of S.B. 666 will prevent some trustees from moving a trust from Texas without a notification to the state AG and a court determination that removal will not interfere with the founder's wishes. The law applies to...
Cremains Supposed to be Buried Next to Pet Found in Filing Cabinet
Posted on July 17, 2009The new owners of a Tuscon pet cemetery discovered human cremains in a filing cabinet, alerting them to fraud and misconduct committed by the cemetery's prior owner. The cremains belonged to individuals who paid to be buried next to their...
Will Leaves Home to Enemies and the Fertile
Posted on July 16, 2009Charles Vance Miller, a Canadian Lawyer, played his ultimate prank upon his death. His will left his Jamaican vacation home jointly to three men who hated each other for a period of ten years. After that, it was to pass...
More On Nina Wang and her Feng Shui Master
Posted on July 16, 2009Here is more detailed information about Nina Wang, whom I briefly blogged about yesterday: When she died of cancer in 2007, she was a widow without children and an estimated $3.9 billion. Her husband was declared dead in 1999 after...
'Amending & Terminating Perpetual Conservation Easements'
Posted on July 16, 2009Nancy McLaughlin (professor of law, University of Utah) & Benjamin Machlis (J.D. Candidate, University of Utah) have recently published their article entitled Amending and Terminating Perpetual Conservation Easements, Prob. & Prop., July/Aug. 2009, at 53...
Charitable Giving Declines With the Economy
Posted on July 16, 2009A study by the Giving USA Foundation concludes that charitable giving in America fell by 5.7% last year. While this is much less than the 40% drop in endowments and the stock market, the decline has been especially hard on...
Feng Shui Consultant Inherits Billions
Posted on July 15, 2009Asia's richest woman, Nina Wang, was worth $4.2 billion when she died in 2007. She left everything to her personal feng shui consultant. A prior will left everything to charity. See TruTV, Weirdest Wills.
Mother of Jackson's Children Speaks Out
Posted on July 15, 2009The attorney for Deborah Rowe, Michael Jackson's ex-wife and the mother of two of his children, sent a letter to the New York Post demanding a retraction of an article stating that Rowe agreed to give up parental rights to...
Conductor and Wife Commit Suicide Together
Posted on July 15, 2009Sir Edward Downes, Principal Conductor at the BBC Philharmonic from 1980 to 1991, and his wife, Joan, committed suicide hand-in-hand on Tuesday, July 14. The details are as follows: Joan, 74, was diagnosed with cancer and given weeks to live....
Wealth Strategies Journal Posts New Articles
Posted on July 15, 2009The following articles have now been posted on the Wealth Strategies Journal and are available for download: Drafting a Flexible Life Insurance Trust, by Julius H. Giamarco, Esq. The Practical Planner: Brooke Astor Estate: Questions and Lessons, by Martin M...
McCartney Comments on Jackson's Will
Posted on July 14, 2009Michael Jackson did not leave the rights to his Beattles back-catalogue to Paul McCartney. Despite rumors otherwise, McCartney is not surprised or dissapointed. McCartney never thought Jackson would leave him these rights. See Sean Michaels, Paul McCartney 'not devastated' Over...
Christie's Handles Majority of Estate Business
Posted on July 14, 2009Christie's, the fine-art auction company, has nurtured relationships with the trusts and estates departments of major law firms. A Christie's executive summarized the result as follows: We have been getting the lion?s share of the estate business for close to...
Special Needs Children & Estate Planning
Posted on July 14, 2009Sebastion V. Grassi, Jr., (attorney, Grassi & Toering, PLC) has recently published an informative article entitled Estate Planning for a Family with a Special Needs Child, Prob. & Prop., July/Aug. 2009, at 15. The article provides a general overview of...
Houdini's Will Called for Seances
Posted on July 14, 2009Harry Houdini's will instructed his wife to conduct a seance each year so that he could contact her if it was possible. He left his wife a secret set of random words that she could use to identify him during...
Elvis as a Model for Jackson
Posted on July 14, 2009Robert L. Moshman has written an article discussing, among other things, the King of Pop in light of the King of Rock. Although Elvis died over 30 years ago, Elvis' estate has successfully merchandised his image, sold his music, and...
Rules for Tax Return Preparers
Posted on July 13, 2009Brian C. Bernhardt (partner, McGuireWoods LLP) has recently published his article entitled Tax Return Preparer Penalties: The New Rules of Code Sec. 6694, Part I, Prob. & Prop., July/Aug. 2009, at 63. Below is the introduction to the article: Until...
Man Previously Worth Millions Claims Debt After Wife Files for Divorce
Posted on July 13, 2009Scott Young, a successful British business man, claims he went from an estimated worth of £400 million in 2006 to a negative worth of £27 million today. His estranged wife, soon to be ex-wife, is now seeking maintenance, up to...
Jackson's Estate Tax
Posted on July 13, 2009One source estimates that Michael Jackson's estate could be liable for $80 million in estate taxes. The estate tax is usually due 9 months after the individual dies, however, payment plans are available as are interest-bearing extensions. The exact amount...
New York Court Addresses Estate Planning Malpractice
Posted on July 13, 2009The Supreme Court of New York, New York County, recently dismissed a widow's claim alleging estate planning malpractice. Decedent bequeathed half of his estate to his wife, Plaintiff. Plaintiff sued, arguing that Defedants committed malpractice by failing to remind decedent...
Loans by trust to insurance trust violated prohibition on retention of unproductive property
Posted on July 12, 2009An income beneficiary objected to the trustees? accounting which showed that the trust had made loans to a second trust to pay premiums on a life insurance policy on the income beneficiary. The court granted summary judgment for the income...
Top SSRN Downloads
Posted on July 12, 2009Here are the top downloads from May 12, 2009 to July 11, 2009 from the SSRN Journal of Wills, Trusts, & Estates Law for all papers announced in the last 60 days. Rank Downloads Paper Title 1 302 How the...
The History of U.S. Inheritance Laws
Posted on July 11, 2009Adam J. Hirsch wrote an interesting article on the evolution of inheritance laws in the United States. The article is divided by time period. The colonial period: Authority over inheritance of personal and real property was handled by one court...
Romance After Death
Posted on July 11, 2009Jack Benny, hollywood comedian, died of pancreatic cancer in 1947. Benny left money for a local florist to deliver one long stem rose to his wife of 47 years every day after his death. Benny's wife lived for nine years...
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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...
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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....








