Trusts & Estates

This course in Trusts & Estates will cover goals, methods, and effects of the law relating to donative transfers of assets, mostly across generations. Included will be purposes of donor control; intestate succession; execution, revocation, and revalidation of wills; creation, modification, and termination of trusts; construction of wills and trusts; the law relating to future interests, the Rule Against Perpetuities and other limitations on donative intent. The intricate rules and extensive doctrinal material covered will require a fast pace of presentation. Nonetheless, policy issues involving both fairness and efficiency will be considered.

The prerequisite for this course is a course on Property. This course should be taken prior to any advanced courses in Estate Planning. It is intended as a basic introduction to the trusts and estates area and as elemental preparation for students hoping to enter general practice or specialize in estate planning or fiduciary administration.

Extensive use of power point slides is anticipated. Class preparation is required. The exam will probably include only multiple-choice questions. The readings will be primarily, if not entirely, from the Trusts and Estates, Second Edition casebook written by Prof. Stake.