Wills, Trusts, and Estates

The Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction (CALI) hosts and facilitates the creation of CALI Lessons, a library of over 950 interactive legal tutorials written by law professors and geared towards law students. CALI is a 501(c)(3) non-profit consortium of law schools, law libraries and related organizations. Almost every United States law school is a member of CALI and they make up the bulk of our membership.

An introduction to the laws governing the disposition of property after death, either by intestate succession or by will. This course will also look at the creation and termination of trusts and the laws of estate planning.

Most students view the Rule against Perpetuities as the most difficult rule in law school. Moreover, the Rule is still covered on MBE for Property and MEE for Wills and Trusts and yet few student-centered resources exist. The Little Book on Perpetuities fills this gap. An ideal subject for self-study, this guide covers all key parts of the Rule, including problems for self-testing. It presents the Rule in its historical context but in a fun, engaging, and accessible way that is simple and clear for students to use. It can be used for Property classes, as well as Wills & Trusts and can supplement a casebook or be used as a separate, self-continued unit. Coverage includes: the common-law Rule and all the famous classics traps; modern statutory reforms, including the new generations-based rule by the Restatement Third of Property; recent efforts by some states to abolish the Rule; and the history and policies of the Rule.

Black Letter Outlines are designed to help a law student recognize and understand the basic principles and issues of law covered in a law school course. Black Letter Outlines can be used both as a study aid when preparing for classes and as a review of the subject matter when studying for an examination. Each Black Letter Outline is written by experienced law school professors who are recognized national authorities in their subject area.

Authoritative coverage provides detailed explanations of the provisions, definitions, and concepts of the Uniform Probate Code (UPC) and the Uniform Trust Code (UTC). UPC topics covered include probate jurisdiction of the courts; intestate succession involving wills and donative transfers; and probate of wills and administration. UTC topics include creation, validity, modification, and termination of trust; discretionary and revocable trusts; creditor's claims and spendthrift trusts; duties, powers, and liability of trustees; and rights of persons dealing with trustees.

This title provides a basic introduction to estates and future interests law. Designed to offer solid knowledge of the area’s central concepts, it guides readers through a series of increasingly complex conveyances. The workbook begins with an analysis of the fee simple estate and builds sequentially toward more complicated interests and conveyances. The information proceeds from the simple to more complex, later problems building on the successful command of earlier material. Each problem is followed not only by that problem’s answer but also by a complete analysis of how the answer was derived. The workbook also contains an extensive glossary, summary charts, and a set of review problems that test the reader’s developing mastery of the material.

This comprehensive guide provides an overview of the rules and principles of estates and future interests, including concurrent estates, marital estates (including the modern elective share), and powers of appointment. It includes new innovations from the Restatement 3d of Property, modernizing the law of future interests and dramatically changing the Rule Against Perpetuities. The book is also the very first publication to incorporate the new Uniform Powers of Appointment Act (2013). The book also has exercises, with answers at the back. Valuable for students in first-year Property and upper-year courses in Trusts and Estates.

Detailed outline on Future Interests and Perpetuities law, including expert explanation of black letter law, charts, and practice exam questions.

This product contains an outline on trusts. Topics covered include elements of a trust, trust creation, transfer of beneficiary's interest (including spendthrift trusts), charitable trusts (including the cy pres doctrine), and a trustee's responsibilities, power, duties, and liabilities. It also covers duties and liabilities of beneficiaries, accounting for income and principal, power of settlor to modify or revoke, powers of trustee beneficiaries or courts to modify or terminate, termination of trusts by operation of law, resulting trusts, purchase money resulting trusts, and constructive trusts.

The topics covered in this outline are intestate succession, simultaneous death, advancements, disclaimer, killer of decedent, elective share statutes, pretermitted child statutes, homestead, and formal requisites of a will. Also discussed are revocation of wills, incorporation by reference, pour-over gift in an inter vivos trust, joint wills, contracts relating to wills, lapsed gifts, ademption, exoneration of liens, will contests, and probate and estate administration.

High Court Case Summaries on Wills, Trusts, and Estates contain well-prepared briefs for each major case in Sitkoff and Dukeminier’s casebook on Wills, Trusts & Estates. High Court briefs are written to present the essential facts, issue, decision and rationale for each case in a clear, concise manner. While prepared briefs can never substitute for the insight gained by actually reading a case, these briefs will help readers to identify, understand, and absorb the core “take away” knowledge from each case. Moreover, these briefs are followed by a useful legal analysis, which provides extra tips and contextual background about each case, connecting the case to the broader concepts being developed throughout the casebook. This book also supplies case vocabulary, which defines new or unusual legal words found throughout the cases. Finally, to enhance the reader’s recall, there is a corresponding memory graphic for each brief that portrays an entertaining visual representation of the relevant facts or law of the case.

Professor Stanley M. Johanson condenses wills and trusts into one five hour lecture. Included are exam tips and hypotheticals to help you master the subject.

Gain the advantages of office hours with professors on your own schedule! The West Academic Office Hours series is a collection of short audio and video tracks that tackle some of the thorniest questions plaguing law students. The professors answer students’ most frequently asked office hour questions. With clear and easy-to-understand explanations, these professors will help you reach that “lightbulb” moment of comprehension, just as they have with their own students in their own offices. You now have virtual faculty explanations available at the click of a button! The Office Hours series features a variety of notable law faculty explaining these tough topics in new and thoughtful ways.

This book introduces students to the federal gift, estate, and generation-skipping transfer tax laws; grantor trust rules affecting the wealth disposition process; and the income tax rules applicable to estates and trusts. It covers recent cases and secondary literature and, reflecting the current trend toward globalization, it also includes a discussion of comparative law. It emphasizes the lawyer's role as drafter or estate planner and suggests ways to avoid problems that otherwise lead to litigation. It closely tracks the authors? more detailed hornbook, using the same section numbers for easy retrieval of information in the longer version.

This book provides an outline and analysis of Wills, Trusts, and Estates, in a convenient format both for class preparation and studying for exams. It is a clear and concise explanation of legal concepts and terms, the rationale and inter-relation of various principles, and provides hints for analysis, strategies for evaluation, and study tips. Topics covered include intestacy, will execution formalities and contest, revocation, will contracts, will substitutes, construction and interpretation, restrictions on disinheritance, trust creation and operation, fiduciary administration, powers of appointment, future interests, the Rule Against Perpetuities, and planning for incapacity. It is particularly useful in cutting through the fog of future interests, and making sense of the many ancient doctrines that befuddle students and inform modern practice. This title also includes self-testing, review questions, and detailed explanations.

This audio lecture is designed to enhance your understanding of the topics covered in courses in wills, trusts, and estates. The discussion begins with intestate succession, that is, how a person’s property is distributed when he or she dies without a will, with special attention given to the issues that arise in determining whether a person qualifies as an heir. Attention then turns to wills, with coverage divided into sections dealing with the requirements of a valid will, changing circumstances after will execution, will revocation, will interpretation and construction, and will contests. The process of administering a decedent’s estate is covered next. Trusts are covered in detail starting with how trusts operate and why they are popular, the creation of trusts, trust administration, and trust enforcement. The audio lecture also covers related subjects such as disability planning, non-probate assets, the basics of estate planning, resulting and constructive trusts, and examination strategies.

The Fourth Edition of Concepts and Insights on Trusts and Estates makes complex doctrinal rules easier to understand by exploring the history and rationale behind those rules. The analysis is thorough, and focuses both on common law doctrines and statutory reforms—with an emphasis on the Uniform Probate Code and the Uniform Trust Code. Each substantive chapter closes with a set of exam-like problems designed to test understanding of the material included in the chapter. The authors also include thorough solutions to each of these problems. This is the only book in the field that combines thorough doctrinal analysis with more than 60 review problems, each with complete solutions.

The fifth edition of this book updates laws affecting intestate succession, wills, guardianships and trusts. It introduces wills terminology to the lay audience and summarizes the law of trusts with references to the Uniform Trust Code and the Restatement of Trusts. It uses problems arising from celebrity peccadilloes and deaths, such as those of Prince, and the mother/daughter team of Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher to illustrate legal issues. The book can be adopted to supplement a traditional wills and trusts class or as the sole text for a seminar.

A comprehensive one-volume treatise on the law of trusts and estates written by leading experts. Among the topics covered are intestate succession, wills, nonprobate mechanisms, trusts, fiduciary administration, and choice of law. The book includes the very latest hot topics including electronic wills, trust decanting, directed trusts, asset protection trusts, and planning for modern families. The book incorporates the most recent provisions of the Uniform Probate Code, the Uniform Trust Code, and the many other uniform laws relating to the donative transfer of wealth. The book also includes an overview of the federal transfer tax laws. An essential guide for students and practitioners.