Wills, Trusts, and Estates

Lexis+ links to treatises, guides, and jurisprudence on Estate, Gift & Trust Law.

Westlaw's Estate Planning page has cases, statutes, secondary sources and other materials

Navigate the maze of today's tax laws, administrative rules and regulations, and trust-focused court decisions with Bogert Trusts and Trustees. This title covers the entire field of modern trust uses and illustrates how to plan an estate as well as various uses of trusts in personal estate planning and in business and commercial arrangements. Regularly updated, it includes:

• The latest key developments in law
• Techniques relating to estate and tax planning with trusts
• Citations to all cases supporting the text
• Practical guidance on how to proceed under particular circumstances
• References to pertinent state and federal statutes
• Forms to assure completeness and accuracy when drafting trust instruments

With Family Estate Planning Guide, resolve estate planning problems with creativity and sure knowledge of the law. This important set answers questions on issues such as:

• Marital deduction planning
• Charitable lead and remainder trusts
• Insurance planning
• Generation-skipping transfer tax
• Annual exclusion planning
• Estate and gift tax
• Will provisions
• Unusual assets
• GRITS, GRATS & GRUTS
• Healthcare directives
• Federal taxation aspects of estate plans, including succession arrangements and property preservation
• Developments in I.R.C. Chapter 14 estate freezes, limited liability companies, and family partnerships
• Partnership tax, employee benefits plans, and IRAs

O’Connor’s Texas Probate Law Handbook — edited by Craig Hopper and D’Ana H. Mikeska, board-certified attorneys in estate planning and probate law — provides an in-depth and practice-focused explanation of probate law in Texas.

Designed to help attorneys and paralegals handle probate matters quickly and effectively with detailed, step-by-step instructions and comprehensive analysis, this guide will be an indispensable resource in any office.

The book’s main topics include the following:

Death and disposition of the body
Collecting, securing, and managing estate property
Jurisdiction and venue
Wills: Requirements and construction
Testate administrations
Intestate administrations
Personal representatives: Duties and powers, and how to sue and replace
Opening an administration
Federal, state, and foreign taxes
Dependent administrations
Independent administrations
Temporary administrations
Will contests
Foreign wills
Alternatives to administration

This seven-volume, comprehensive set features an exhaustive discussion of all aspects of Wills, from their history at common law through the development of statutory requirements and case law interpretations. All elements of a Will are discussed, as are testamentary capacity, execution formalities, and tax considerations. Probate is explored, with emphasis on contests and construction. Also included is an entire volume of forms.

Planning an Estate: A Guidebook of Principles and Techniques provides tools and techniques for solving frequently encountered problems regarding estate planning. With this guidebook, get clear information regarding:

• The advantages, disadvantages, and tax ramifications of estate planning alternatives
• Marital deductions
• QTIPS
• Second tax deductions
• Minor children
• Lifetime transfers
• Probate avoidance
• The handling of business interests

Restatement of the Law of Trusts aims to organize and explain the principles in the field of trusts. The work offers guidance to trustees, lawyers, and judges by explaining and illustrating the governing rules and discussing relevant cases, statutes, and secondary sources.

Often cited by the courts, Restatement of the Law of Trusts:

• Identifies particular social goals, such as implementing a settlor's purposes
• Bounds those purposes with society's appropriate limitations
• Applies rules efficiently and fairly

Commentary provides a scholarly and analytical discussion of particular rules, and general rules are clearly and concisely stated for easy reference. Other editorial features include an appendix containing citations and summaries of cases that have been decided with the help of the Restatements.

Restatement of the Law of Property covers donative transfers, the core of family estate planning, which require application of many fields of law including federal and state tax law, and corporate, partnership, contract, agency, and domestic relations law. This treatment of the law proceeds with these and other relevant fields in the background. Coverage includes:

• Will substitutes
• Intestacy
• Gifts
• Present and future interests
• Construction of donative documents

Tax, Estate & Financial Planning for the Elderly offers simple, direct guidance through the myriad regulations, forms, and agencies encountered in an elder law practice. Expert commentary offers easy-to-find, easy-to-understand answers to common elder law questions, and practice notes highlight key practice tips.

Convenient cross-references to Tax, Estate & Financial Planning for the Elderly: Forms & Practice, the companion forms set, lead to sample forms and checklists for every practice need.

With Texas Estate Planning at your side, preparing wills, trusts and durable powers of attorney has never been easier. This must-have guide explains current federal and state statutory and case law. Hundreds of forms, together with explanations of how best to apply them, will assist you in preparing client wills, trusts, durable powers of attorney and more. From writing a simple will to preparing a complicated trust document, Texas Estate Planning clarifies statutes and outlines court opinions in an easy-to-understand, quick-to-reference manner.

Texas Estate Planning includes comprehensive coverage of wills, trusts and durable powers of attorney. It guides you through the basics of selecting the appropriate estate planning device and tax considerations, and provides detailed information such as requirements for a valid will and organization of the document. Trust planning, terms, types, funding and implementation are thoroughly explained.

This all-encompassing guide is ideal for Texas general practice, estate planning and probate attorneys, as it contains the most current federal and state statutory and case law. Attorneys with little or no estate planning experience will manage client needs with ease and even the most experienced estate planning expert will save countless hours by using Texas Estate Planning for clarification and reference.

Will and trust forms annotated with alternate clauses, pitfalls to avoid, practice tips, recent cases, and tax considerations, and includes questionnaires, explanatory cover letters, asset flow charts, and case-based examples.

Probate is a guide for Texas litigators that includes step-by-step analysis of the probate process, as well as easy-to-use forms, checklists, and practice tips. This definitive how-to guide answers questions that regularly confront probate lawyers and judges in Texas, and provides:

• Substantive treatment of probate principles, including an understanding of Texas marital property principles
• Advice on the estate procedures to employ to avoid formal probate administration of the estate
• A full discussion of Texas' independent administration system – how it works and when it is available
• A general overview of current guardianship law in Texas
• Access to the latest information available and the guidance you need to expertly handle this complex area of law
• Citations to leading and recent caselaw and extensive library cross-references
• Practice tips by well-known Texas attorneys

Built by Texas practitioners for Texas practitioners, Wills, Trusts and Estate Planning answers the questions that regularly confront estate planning attorneys, and contains:

• Overviews of topics such as income taxation of estates and trusts, planning opportunities following a testator's death, retirement plans, and powers of attorney
• Step-by-step analysis of will and trust preparation, and ancillary documents pertaining to powers of attorney, healthcare directives, disposition of remains, and more
• Citations to leading and recent caselaw
• Extensive library cross-referencing to forms, digest topics, caselaw, codes, statutes, and other analytical products
• Practice tips by well-known practicing attorneys to provide thorough coverage of every issue?
• Examples, cautions, and ethical considerations

Law of Wills provides detailed coverage of intestate succession, wills and their construction, and probate avoidance techniques, along with authoritative guidance on planning for incompetence and “persona rights” after death. It includes an analytical discussion of both relevant legislation and applicable case law.

This comprehensive set examines:

• Spousal and non-spousal rights in intestate property
• Potential disqualification of heirs
• Simultaneous death
• Nature and extent of testamentary power
• Tax apportionment
• Will revocation
• The rule against perpetuities
• Will contests and preventing will contests
• Guardians for minor children
• Planning for incompetence and death
• Anatomical Gift Act and related statutes

Organized to parallel the Texas Probate Code, Probate and Decedents' Estates furnishes the information needed to make your probate practice more efficient and profitable. The authors' valuable commentaries on both the Probate Code and significant decisions interpreting it direct you to controlling authority. Coverage includes:

• Jurisdiction of probate court and district court
• Pleadings and procedure
• Probate records
• Review of probate decrees
• Suits by and against estates
• Determination of heirship
• Proceedings to set aside probate of will
• Administration of community property
• Homestead and other exempt property
• Creditors' claims
• Partition and distribution
• Final settlement

From guardianships to probate proceedings to taxation, Texas Probate, Estate & Trust Administration provides in-depth coverage of every aspect of probate law and estate and trust administration in Texas. Four comprehensive volumes offer the straightforward guidance, expert analysis and practice tools you need to successfully meet your client's needs and avoid liability to beneficiaries or other third parties.

Rely on Detailed Legal Analysis and Information Vital to Your Practice, Including:

• The independent administration system
• Attorney's role in probate practice
• Guardianship issues
• Will contents
• Administration and management of estates and trusts
• Fiduciary duties of personal representatives
• Health care powers of attorney and directives to physicians
• Effect of community property laws on the distribution of an estate
• Information and tips regarding deadlines, required documents and mandatory procedural requirements under the Probate Code

A cornerstone of probate law practice. From the initial contact with a client to the closing of the estate, this System will be in constant use, providing a step-by-step guide to the efficient handling of a decedent’s estate.

The Texas Probate System includes:

• Letters of a standard, routine, and repetitive nature
• Forms to be prepared for court proceedings
• Worksheets designed to guide you through proper decisions, to make calculations, or to maintain a single summary record of multiple related transactions
• Significant Date List to assist you in calculating and recording important dates for all proceedings
• Checkplan containing a checklist of all activities to be considered and performed in handling a decedent’s estate.

Use Will Contests to help organize your case and save significant drafting time. You will find in-depth analysis of standing of parties, jurisdiction issues, and lack of formalities and improper execution of a will. The authors offer advice on pretrial planning, pleadings and motions, and discovery, as well as discussion of testamentary capacity, undue influence, fraud, and duress. The text is divided into three main parts:

• Substantive Law and Theory, setting forth the governing legal principles and structure of will contests in all U.S. jurisdictions, so you can handle contest situations in multiple states
• Practical Techniques, laying out the techniques you'll need for bringing or defending against a will contest
• Forms and Checklists Appendixes, containing valuable, practice-tested materials you'll need to thoroughly and efficiently prepare for a will contest

Wills pares down the potentially infinite selection of wills to roughly 30 essential documents, divided into eight categories, which can be adapted for handling almost any type of will. This invaluable treatise helps you draft wills quickly and efficiently, because you can modify each will to address virtually any situation. Wills provided in the book include:

• Simple wills without trust provisions
• Wills containing trust provisions that are not tax-planning documents
• Tax-planning disclaimer wills
• Spousal companion wills
• Wills with a primary objective of charitable giving