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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

And yet another probate lawyer falls from grace

Posted on September 24, 2008
Charles Barnes a probate lawyer in Duncan, Oklahoma, has recently been charged with embezzlement and forgery. According to prosecutors, Barnes spent approximately $150,000 which belonged to one of his clients. He was holding the funds for the family's estate but...

Impact of Wall Street woes on Trusts

Posted on September 24, 2008
With all of the financial problems impacting investments in recent days, it is important to appreciate the impact these developments have on trusts. The following points are made in Arden Dale, Trusts Require Attention During Market Turmoil, Wall St. J...

Evil probate lawyer sentenced to 15 years in prison

Posted on September 23, 2008
Earlier on this blog, I reported that Terry Erwin Stork, an Austin, Texas lawyer, pled guilty to felony theft for conduct relating to various estates. Here is some of the conduct in which Stork is accused of engaging: Mismanaged or...

Wills & Trusts -- United Kingdom Style

Posted on September 23, 2008
A useful website for information relating to estate planning in the United Kingdom is EstatesOrTrusts. This site contains over 90 articles on various estate planning topics such as: What is Estate Planning? Why Might a Trust be Used? Tax Relief...

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Advice for caregivers of individuals with Alzheimer's

Posted on September 23, 2008
Vaughn E. James (Professor of Law, Texas Tech University School of Law) has recently published his book entitled The Alzheimer's Advisor -- A Caregiver's Guide to Dealing with the Tough Legal and Practical Issues. Here is the publisher's description of...

Valuation of gifts of family limited partnership interests

Posted on September 23, 2008
Wendy Gerzog (Professor of Law, University of Baltimore School of Law) has recently posted on SSRN her article entitled Holman: The FLP's New Clothes. Her article discusses Holman v. Commissioner, 130 T.C. No. 12 (2008), a recent Tax Court decision...

Death -- The Final Frontier

Posted on September 22, 2008
So, what really happens when a person dies? That is the question now being studied by Dr. Sam Parnia and his associates at the Human Consciousness Project. Here are some details from M.J. Stephey, What Happens When We Die?, Time,...

Contributions Sought for AALS Section Newsletter

Posted on September 22, 2008
The AALS Section on Donative Transfers, Fiduciaries and Estate Planning is preparing its Fall 2008 newsletter. Please send any news you'd like to share (promotions, publications, conferences, etc.) to the newsletter editor, Professor Bridget Crawford (Pace): bcrawford@law...

Heir precluded from suing VA because heir did not prove no administration necessary

Posted on September 22, 2008
The United States District Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recently decided in Johnson v. United States, 2008 WL 2753424 (5th Cir. 2008), that decedent?s sister could not bring a tort claim on behalf of the decedent without evidence...

Happy First Day of Autumn

Posted on September 22, 2008
Happy First Day of Fall!!

Who controls Superman?

Posted on September 21, 2008
Move over Lois Lane ? two other women are fighting in court to have Superman and Clark Kent all to themselves! The two women are the widow and daughter of one of the creators of the Superman comic, Jerome Siegel....

Top SSRN Downloads

Posted on September 21, 2008
Here are the top downloads from July 23, 2008 to September 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 1078 A Guide...

Attorney sanctioned for mistreating elderly client given chance to present evidence to the contrary

Posted on September 20, 2008
A New York attorney was suspended for 2 years for conversion, misappropriation, and conduct adversely reflecting on his fitness as a lawyer after making an oral agreement with a sick, elderly client in which she agreed to give him a...

Estate of Evelyn A.J. Hall

Posted on September 20, 2008
Walter Annenberg, the publishing giant who among other things created the magazines TV Guide and Seventeen, died in 2002. His sister, Evelyn A.J. Hall, died in 2005 survived by her three sons, John Friede, Robert Friede, and Thomas Jaffe. A...

Steeler Update

Posted on September 19, 2008
Earlier on this blog, I discussed the considerable family and business strife involved with the Pittsburgh Steelers professional football team. Here are some recent developments according to Billionaire Druckenmiller withdraws offer to buy majority share of Steelers, ESPN...

IRS formalizes deadline extension for those impacted by Hurricane Ike

Posted on September 19, 2008
Yesterday (September 18, 2008), the IRS issued IR-2008-107 entitled Texas Hurricane Ike Victims Qualify for IRS Disaster Relief. Here are some excerpts from this IR: Texas taxpayers who were adversely affected by Hurricane Ike qualify for tax relief from the...

Inflation to lower taxes in 2009

Posted on September 19, 2008
According to Tom Herman, Why Inflation Means Relief For Taxpayers, Wall St. J., Sept. 17, 2008, "[n]o matter who wins the White House, most taxpayers can look forward to some relief next year." Here are Mr. Herman's predictions based on...

"Last Will and Testament" -- The Comic Book

Posted on September 19, 2008
On August 27, 2008, DC Comics released Last Will and Testament by Brad Meltzer. I was excited at the possibility of estate planning instruction being presented in graphic novel format. I thought that this would be a great method of...

Restrictions and Charitable Gifts

Posted on September 18, 2008
John K. Eason (Professor of Law, Tulane Law School) has recently posted his article on SSRN entitled The Restricted Gift Life Cycle, or, What Comes Around Goes Around, 76 Fordham L. Rev. 693 (2007). Here is the abstract of his...

Detailed account of Brooke Astor's situation published

Posted on September 18, 2008
Earlier on this blog, I discussed various issues regarding Brooke Astor and the disputes with her son and grandson. On August 13, 2007, Brooke died at her Holly Hill estate in Briarcliff, New York at the age of 105. A...

Another probate lawyer misbehaves

Posted on September 18, 2008
A Texas lawyer was suspended from the practice of law for 2.5 years (amazingly, full-probated) for several acts of misconduct which included the following as reported in Disciplinary Actions, 71 Tex. B.J. 692, at 695 (2008): An evidentiary panel of...

AALS Section on Donative Transfers Annual Meeting Program

Posted on September 18, 2008
Here is the program for the New Voices in Trusts and Estates panel discussion of the Section on Donative Transfers at the AALS meeting in San Diego on January 8, 2009. Sophie Smyth, Associate Professor of Law, Temple University Beasley...

Will contests -- English style

Posted on September 17, 2008
The following material is based on Rosanna Spero, How to make sure your will is not contested, Telegraph.co.uk, Sept. 17, 2008: The number of will and trust contests in the United Kingdom have tripled in the past few years. The...

Ethics and the Estate Planner

Posted on September 17, 2008
The Second Annual ACTEC/ALI-ABA Live Telephone Seminar/Audio Webcast entitled Top Ten Ethical Challenges Facing Estate Planners will be held on Thursday, October 16, 2008 at the following times: Eastern 12 noon ? 2 pm | Central 11 am ? 1...

October 20-26, 2008 declared National Estate Planning Week

Posted on September 17, 2008
The following is from National Estate Planning Awareness Week Declared, Sept. 12, 2008: The NAEPC Foundation, in conjunction with the National Association of Estate Planners & Councils, has declared the third full week in October of each calendar year to...

The economic impact of the charitable deduction

Posted on September 17, 2008
Wendy Gerzog (Professor of Law, University of Baltimore School of Law) has recently posted on SSRN her article entitled From the Greedy to the Needy. Here is the abstract of her article: In some instances when the taxpayer makes a...

Is sharing your estate plan with your family a good idea?

Posted on September 16, 2008
Should your estate plan remain private while you are alive? It's nobody's business but yours, right? Or, should you share your estate plan with your family members so they know what's coming down the road once you buy the farm?...

"Directed Trusts" gain in popularity

Posted on September 16, 2008
A "directed trust" is one in which the settlor grants a third party the ability to tell the trustee what to do with regard to certain activities (especially investing) the decisions about which were traditionally performed by the trustee acting...

Estate of Sammy Davis, Jr.

Posted on September 16, 2008
Although singer and performer Sammy Davis, Jr. died in 1990, his estate is still in turmoil. The following details are from AP, Lawyer struggles to restore Sammy Davis Jr.'s legacy, CNN.com, Sept. 15, 2008: Attorney Albert "Sonny" Murray, Jr. was...

Hurricane Ike even displaced dead people

Posted on September 16, 2008
Not only did Hurricane Ike cause untold number of people to flee their homes, it also caused disruption to the dead. The following details are from Allen G. Breed, Even dead seemed to try to flee Ike's wrath, Yahoo! News,...

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