Category Archives: Succession
‘Electronic Wills Even Further Updated’
“The Uniform Law Commission in the United States has now published the revised text and commentaries to the Uniform Electronic Wills Act adopted at its annual meeting in July 2019 …” (more) [John Gregory, Slaw, 31 October] First posted 2019-10-31 13:13:35
Jane Baron, ‘Fixed Intentions: Wills, Living Wills, and End-of-Life Decision Making’
ABSTRACT Contemporary trusts and estates law is built on the premise that individuals can and should have fixed intentions with respect to the disposition of their property at death. These intentions can and should be fixed in a written document, and that document can and should be fixed against other outside evidence of intention. Experience […]
Thomas Gray, ‘Succession Law: Reflections and Directions’
INTRODUCTION Succession law impacts the lives of all Australians. The transfer of property from one generation to the next is a rite of passage, and the making of a will is considered a ‘social norm’. It is estimated that almost 60% of adult Australians have a will. Moreover, 54% of those that do not have […]
‘Article on Voice, Strength, and No-Contest Clauses’
“Karen J Sneddon recently published an Article entitled, ‘Voice, Strength, and No-Contest Clauses’, 2019 Wisconsin Law Review 239-268 (2019). Provided below is an abstract of the Article. ‘His will was read, and like almost every other will, gave as much disappointment as pleasure – Jane Austen. The will is a unilateral written disposition of probate […]
Karen Sneddon, ‘Voice, Strength, and No-Contest Clauses’
ABSTRACT The will is a unilateral written disposition of probate property to be effective upon the will-maker’s death. To have any legal effect, however, the will-maker’s family, beneficiaries, and personal representatives, along with the probate court, need to implement the will provisions. To buttress the strength of the will, the language of the will is […]
Mark Glover, ‘Boilerplate in Pour-Over Wills’
ABSTRACT In their intriguing and innovative article, ‘Boilerplate and Default Rules in Wills Law: An Empirical Analysis’, 103 Iowa Law Review 663 (2018), Professors Reid Kress Weisbord and David Horton conduct an empirical examination of the use of boilerplate provisions in wills. This response essay explores the consequences of their decision to exclude pour-over wills […]
Villios and Plater, ‘Who May Inspect a Will’
ABSTRACT The Attorney-General of South Australia, the Hon John Rau MP, invited the South Australian Law Reform Institute to identify the areas of succession law that were most in need of review in South Australia, to review each area and to recommend reforms. The Institute identified seven topics for review. This Report examines who may […]
Beyer and Peters, ‘Sign on the [Electronic] Dotted Line: The Rise of the Electronic Will’
Abstract The electronic will is here … almost. The last two years have seen rapid development in the area of electronic wills. As of September 2018, several states either have enacted electronic will statutes or are in the process of considering such legislation. This article provides the history of e-wills and reviews e-will statutes, both […]
Popovici and Smith, ‘Freedom of Testation and Family Claims in Canada’
Abstract … At the dawn of the twentieth century, an unbridled freedom of testation prevailed in most of Canada. In the decades that followed, the law evolved to temper this principle in favour of protecting the family of a deceased person, so that obligations of support did not simply vanish upon death. The shape and […]
David Horton, ‘Wills Without Signatures’
Abstract We think of an unsigned ‘will’ as an oxymoron. Since 1837, the Wills Act has required testators in Anglo-American legal systems to memorialize their last wishes in a signed writing. But recently, several American states have adopted an Australian innovation called harmless error, which validates a botched attempt to make a will if there […]