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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

Trust laws in England and Wales -- are they gender biased?

Posted on July 02, 2009
Simone Wong (Senior Lecturer, Kent Law School) has posted her article on SSRN entitled The Iniquity of Equity: A Home-Sharer's Tale, Singapore J. of Leg. Studies 326 (Dec. 2008). Here is a summary of the article: The article is concerned...

Treasure Hunter Loses Bid to Find His Treasure

Posted on July 02, 2009
Nathan Smith, a musician, was inspired by the movie National Treasure and began hunting for his own booty. Using Google Earth, he thought he found the site of a sunken ship bearing $3 billion worth of Southwest of Houston, and...

Article argues for Repeal of Estate Tax on Gifts Made with Strings Attached

Posted on July 02, 2009
Richard L. Dees (partner, McDermott, Will & Emery) has recently posted on SSRN his article entitled Time Traveling to Strangle Strangi (and Kill the Monster Again): Part 2. Here is the abstract of his article: In Part 2 of this...

Michael Jackson's Will -- Update

Posted on July 01, 2009
Earlier on this blog, I discussed Michael Jackson's alleged will. Here is an update based on Source says Jackson will gives mom custody, MSNBC.com, July 1, 2009: Michael Jackson's mother (Katherine Jackson) is named as the guardian of his three...

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Book Review: Estate Taxation

Posted on July 01, 2009
Ronald H. Jensen (Professor of Law, Pace University) has recently posted on SSRN a Review of Federal Income Taxation of Estates and Beneficiaries, 20 Buff. L. Rev. (forthcoming). Here is the abstract of the review: Review of Federal Income Taxation...

Michael Jackson's Will Released -- Read it for yourself!

Posted on July 01, 2009
Follow this link to see a copy of Michael Jackson's will.

AALS Section on Trusts and Estates Call For Papers for 2010 AALS Annual Meeting

Posted on July 01, 2009
Trusts and Estates law was for centuries a fairly stable, if dusty, body of doctrine. Over the past few decades, however, striking changes in the economic, legal and social landscape have prompted an explosion of new doctrinal developments. Major trends...

Exchange of life insurance policies not imprudent

Posted on July 01, 2009
The Indiana intermediate appellate court upheld as prudent a trustee?s decision to exchange variable universal life (VUL) insurance policies on the life of the settlor for a standard whole life policy with a death benefit less than one-third that of....

Terms of Michael Jackson's Alleged Will Revealed

Posted on June 30, 2009
Here is some of the most currently reported information about Michael Jackson's alleged will: Prepared in 2002. Drafted by John Branca (an entertainment lawyer who Michael hired from 1980 to 2006 and rehired again earlier this month). Primary beneficiaries are...

Charitable Giving Techniques CLE

Posted on June 30, 2009
The ABA Section of Taxation and the ABA Section of Real Property, Trust & Estate Law are co-sponsoring a live course andcorresponding live video webcast CLE entitled Charitable Giving Techniques on July 9-10 in Seattle, WA. A description of the...

Michael Jackson -- Will or No Will?

Posted on June 30, 2009
The debate rages whether Michael Jackson died intestate or testate. In Michael Jackson's Estate in Court, myjoyonline.com, June 29, 2009, it is reported that Michael's parents, Joe and Katherine Jackson, claim in their probate filing that Michael died intestate...

Fiduciary Duties in Canada

Posted on June 30, 2009
Robert Flannigan (Professor, University of Saskatchewan College of Law) has recently posted on SSRN his article entitled Fiduciary Accountability Transferred, 35 Advocs. Quarterly 334 (2009). Here is the abstract of his article: The Supreme Court of Canada has toyed with...

Implied requirement of good faith allows beneficiaries to recover

Posted on June 29, 2009
A prenuptial agreement provided that if the husband died first, wife would maintain a valid will giving not less than one-quarter of her entire estate to each of her husband?s three sons. The husband?s will left a substantial portion of...

Top SSRN Downloads

Posted on June 29, 2009
Here are the top downloads from April 29, 2009 to June 28, 2009 from the SSRN Journal of Wills, Trusts, & Estates Law for all papers announced in the last 60 days. Rank Downloads Paper Title 1 285 How the...

Dead But Still on the Payroll

Posted on June 29, 2009
Deceased city employees in Cincinatti may continue to receive retirement checks well after their death. A recent Cincinatti.com article reports that poor managment of the system has resulted in investigations in at least 18 cases of payments to dead people,...

Hard Times are Hard on Everyone, Even the Super-Rich

Posted on June 29, 2009
The newest World Wealth Report, which is produced by Merrill Lynch and Capgemini, shows that the current financial crunch has impacted the wealthy as well as those living paycheck to paycheck. The number of "ultra high net worth individuals," those...

The right of publicity and Michael Jackson's Estate

Posted on June 28, 2009
The following discussion is reproduced with permission from Bridget Crawford, Estate Tax Disaster Looms for Michael Jackson?s Estate, Feminist Law Professors, June 27, 2009: The right of publicity is descendible in California. This means that a person may transfer by...

Article Examines Succession Without Administration

Posted on June 28, 2009
Karen J. Sneddon (Assistant Professor, Mercer University School of Law) has recently published her article entitled Beyond the Personal Representative: The Potential of Succession Without Administration, 50 S.Tex. L. Rev. 449 (2009). Below is the abstract from the article: The...

Jackson's Estate: Major Debt and A Major Asset

Posted on June 27, 2009
At this point, little is known about Michael Jackson's estate plan or will, but this is what is known: Heirs include three children, well-known siblings, and his parents. Jackson was plagued with large debts and multiple lawsuits seeking to recover...

Estate of Third Wife of Drew Peterson Reopened

Posted on June 27, 2009
An Illinois Appellate Court recently upheld reopening the estate of a deceased ex-spouse of Drew Peterson. At the time of Kathleen Savio's supposedly accidental drowning death in 2004, the final order in her divorce from Drew Peterson was pending. A....

Jackson's 'This Is It' Tour

Posted on June 27, 2009
Michael Jackson was slated to perform a 50-run show entitled This Is It in London beginning July 13th. Now AEG, the concert promoter, will have to figure out how to refund more than $85 million in ticket sales and recover...

The Ramifications of Post-Mortem Sperm Retrieval

Posted on June 26, 2009
Mary F. Radford (Professor of Law, Georgia State University College of Law) has recently posted on SSRN her article entitled Post-Mortem Sperm Retrieval and the Social Security Administration: How Modern Reproductive Technology Makes Strange Bedfellows...

Oral contract barred by statute

Posted on June 26, 2009
Alaska Statute 13.12.514 (identical to UPC � 2-514) requires that all contracts to make a will or devise be in writing. In its opinion in Cragle v. Gray, 206 P.3d 446 (Alaska 2009), the Alaska Supreme Court held that an...

Unclaimed Ashes Despite Next-of-Kin

Posted on June 26, 2009
I recently wrote about the change in traditional funeral and burial practices, due in part to the high cost of traditional practices. For some, however, any burial or funeral costs too much. As a result, one funeral home is storing...

Financial Adviser 101

Posted on June 26, 2009
Here are some things to consider to protect yourself when picking a financial advisor: The advisor's background: start with http://www.finra.org, http://www.adviserinfo.sec.gov/, www.cfp.net, and www.fpanet.org. References from other clients: remember to rely more on references with similar investing goals...

Class Gifts in the the New Restatement of Property

Posted on June 25, 2009
Frederic S. Schwartz (Professor of Law, Oklahoma City University School of Law) has recently published The New Restatement of Property and Class Gifts: Losing Sight of the Testator's Intention, 22 Quinnipiac Prob. L.J. 221(2009). The following are excerpts from the...

Tainted Organ Transplants Lead to Litigation

Posted on June 25, 2009
More than 300,000 organ transplants have occurred in America since 1994, with fewer than 30 of these cases involving transmission of a disease not identified prior to transplant. But in those few cases, there have been devastating results: In 2002,...

Basics of Trust Administration CLE

Posted on June 25, 2009
Planning For Estates is sponsoring a CLE a teleconference on July 16, 2009, entitled Basics of Trust Administration. Here is a description of the program: This teleconference will provide an overview of basic principles of trust administration under U...

Robert H. Sitkoff Appointed as John L. Gray Professor of Law at Harvard

Posted on June 25, 2009
Congratulations to Robert H. Sitkoff, who was recently appointed as the new John L. Gray Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. He is the youngest tenured faculty member to receive a chair in the school's history. At an event...

Burial Lots: Buy One, Get One Free!

Posted on June 24, 2009
For those who have not picked out their final resting place, Memorial Park Cemetery in Indianapolis has a deal for you - buy one lot, get one free, with no credit check required. The cemetery said that business is fine,...

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