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This volume of the Examples and Explanations series focuses on intestate succession, wills, trusts, estate administration, non-probate assets, wealth transfer taxation, disability and death planning, and malpractice and professional responsibility. I designed this book to augment Wills, Trusts, Wills & Estates, Trusts & Estates, Gratuitous Transfers, and similarly titled courses which provide law students with their first comprehensive introduction to property transmission upon death. This book also provides essential background and review material for students taking advanced courses in estate planning and wealth transfer taxation. The discussion, along with the examples and explanations, covers both the theoretical and practical applications of the legal concepts. I attempted to present the material in a lively, lucid, and conversational style to grab and hold your interest. Each section begins with a discussion of the applicable concept (including policies and basic “rules”) and, if appropriate, is followed by a series of examples (fact-based questions) accompanied by explanations (answers). I am optimistic that this “learn-by-doing” approach will encourage you to master the concepts and enjoy the process because this book provides you with the opportunity, in a non-threatening environment, to evaluate how well you can apply what you have learned. Working through problems is one of the best ways to understand intestacy, wills, and trusts concepts. For example, it is one thing to learn about per stirpes, per capita, per capita by representation, and per capita at each generation in the abstract but the differences really strike home after you see the tremendous impact on an heir’s inheritance depending on the view adopted by local law. Likewise, full appreciation of concepts such as exoneration, ademption, abatement, and lapse cannot be achieved until you see the effect on the distribution of a testator’s estate. Practical suggestions are liberally sprinkled throughout the book to enhance its pedagogical and utilitarian value. The book also contains sample will and trust provisions. These features should help you to appreciate the “real world” application of your law school course and thus motivate you to study. You may realize that this subject is perhaps the only area of law that will apply to each of your clients because, as Shakespeare wrote in King Henry IV, “death . . . is certain to all, all shall die.” Once this idea has taken hold, you should be positioned to draft wills and trusts which avert legal problems and some of the emotional stress and financial costs surrounding this undeniable and inescapable fact. |
