Trusts and Estates

3 units

This course examines the laws governing the transfer of property at death. Topics to be addressed include the state's control of inheritance; intestate succession; rules governing wills, family protection and the protection of non-traditional families and relationships; private express and charitable trusts; and fiduciary administration. The course will not cover future interests, estate planning, or estate and gift taxation since separate, specialized classes and seminars are offered on each of these important topics. The course gives substantial emphasis to complexities and problems generated by common law rules and various statutory responses; tensions between family norms and individual freedom to dispose of property; how demographic shifts in wealth-holding, mortality, marriage, and education have revolutionized estate planning; and how probate law has (or has not) responded to the rise of "will substitutes" marketed by financial institutions. Final grades will be based mainly on an open-book exam, but class participation also will be taken into account.