Category Archives: Succession
‘Uniform Law Commission Approves Electronic Estate Planning Documents Act’
“On July 13, 2022 at the annual meeting of the Uniform Law Commission in Philadelphia, the Commissioners voted to approve and recommend for enactment in all the states the Uniform Electronic Estate Planning Documents Act. Here is the current draft of the Prefatory Note explaining the Act …” (more) [Gerry W Beyer, Wills, Trusts and […]
Richard Storrow, ‘Legacies of a Pandemic: Remote Attestation and Electronic Wills’
ABSTRACT The coronavirus pandemic has compelled governors and legislatures to fast-track remote attestation, a previously prohibited form of will-execution witnessing that has largely been left out of the thoughtful, nearly two-decades-long but largely unsuccessful effort to validate electronic wills. This Article examines the unforeseen problems that have arisen in the rush to institute remote attestation […]
John Mee, ‘Obliteration and revocation in the law of succession: Re McEnroe [2021] IECA 28′
“When should the testator’s act of obliterating text in a will, subsequent to the execution of the will, be effective to remove that text from the will? The recent decision of the Irish Court of Appeal in Re McEnroe highlights an interesting difference between English and Irish law on the point and raises the question […]
Adam Hirsch, ‘When Beneficiaries Predecease: An Empirical Analysis’
ABSTRACT Under current law, bequests to beneficiaries who predecease the testator ‘lapse’ to the beneficiary of the residuary, unless they are preserved for the descendants of predeceased beneficiaries under an ‘antilapse’ statute. The beneficiaries covered by antilapse statutes vary from state to state, but in most states today the statutes apply only to blood relatives […]
Jacob Wilson, ‘Electronic Wills: Why Would Georgia Choose to Delay the Inevitable?’
“… This Comment assesses the changes in Georgia’s laws regarding the formalities of wills and analyzes how acceptance of an electronic will in Georgia would be an acceptable response to the changing times. Part I analyzes how Georgia’s wills statutes have changed and discusses how the wills law came into fruition today. Part II analyzes […]
‘Proving Missing Wills’
“In Re the estate of Cooper, deceased (probate); Cooper (a child, by her litigation friend) and another v Chapman and others [2022] EWHC 1000 (Ch), a draft will found on the Deceased’s computer after his death could be admitted to probate as his last will in circumstances where the executed will could not be located, […]
‘The Problem With Wills’
“The chances are reasonable that you’ll die before making a will. According to most studies, fewer than half of American adults report having a last will and testament that lays out how they want their property divided up, among other final wishes. Though some portion of that group opts for alternative types of estate planning, […]
Mark Glover, ‘Conditional Purging of Wills’
ABSTRACT The laws of most states unconditionally purge a testamentary gift to an individual who serves as an attesting witness to the will. Under this approach, the will is valid despite the presence of an interested witness, but the witness forfeits all, some, or none of her gift, depending on the particularities of state law. […]
Gardiner and Aitken, ‘Rebutting the Presumption of Intentional Revocation of a Will by Destruction: An Examination of Electronically Signed and Remotely Witnessed Wills’
ABSTRACT The introduction of electronic execution and remote witnessing and attestation of Wills by New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland in response to COVID-19 invites examination of a wide range of foreseeable probate issues. While wet ink Wills ordinarily result in a single static physical document, a Will executed under the interim measures may result […]
Cooper, Ivimey and Mulry, ‘2020 Developments in Connecticut Estate and Probate Law’
ABSTRACT This Article provides a summary of recent developments affecting Connecticut estate planning and probate practice and surveys selected 2020 case law relevant to the field. Cooper, Jeffrey A and Ivimey, John R and Mulry, Katherine, 2020 Developments in Connecticut Estate and Probate Law (December 31, 2021). Connecticut Bar Journal, volume 95 (2022). First posted […]