To Sign On After You Have Enrolled

1. To Sign On After You Have Enrolled http://www.blackboard.com/courses/91_122

2. Http://www.blackboard.com

3. The Real Truth About Wealth Transfer • Today, most people pass their disposabletangible wealth to their children during life by education expenditures • Today, most wealth passes outside of the probate system (not by will or inheritance) • Life insurance • Joint tenancy • Pensions

4. Some Trusts and Estates Terminology • Will and trust • Execution • Proof • Testator/Testatrix • Personal Representative • Executor/Executrix/Administrator/Administratrix • Heir • Beneficiary • Settlor/Donor/Trustor • Probate

5. Should intergenerational inheritance be permitted? • Inheritance is simply “natural and proper” • Best way to allocate resources at death—who can trust the “STATE” • Incentive for wealth holder to create, produce and work hard • Best way to assure younger generation will watch over the older generation as it ages

6. Should intergenerational inheritance be permitted? • Inequality of opportunity • Creates ideal class of undeserving persons • Merely rewards the “luck” of birth • Creates a society of “jealousy” and caste

7. Mandatory inheritance • Should wealth holder be precluded from disinheriting their spouses? • Their children?

8. Hodel v. Irving • What did the federal statute provide? • Fractional shares of Indian allotted land escheats to the tribe. Statute extinguished both the right to pass the land to one’s designee’s at death • What did the court hold? • Statute was an unconstitutional taking. • Did the federal scheme completely eliminate the right to transmit property at death? • Didn’t affect right to gift property during life outright or through use of a trust • Does court hold that states cannot alter the right to receive property as distinguished from right to transmit? • Could Congress provide that a decedent’s Indian’s heir was the Indian’s tribe? • What are the implications of this case for a confiscatory estate tax?

9. Dead Hand Control • To what extent should wealth holders be able to control the behavior of their descendants through testamentary conditions? Consider Shapira v. Union National Bank.

10. Shapira v. Union National Bank • What are the facts of this case? • On what basis does son Daniel challenge the will? • What does court hold? • Judicial enforcement of provision in will not state action; therefore, not violative of US Constitution as it is merely private discrimination • Suppose the bequest to Daniel was conditioned on Daniel never marrying? • Partial vs. complete restraint • Daniel a son; not a spouse.

11. Probate Process

12. Functions of Probate • Title Proving • Title Clearing • Timing of probate • The five year rule

13. Sample Assets • Household furniture and goods • Bank account (joint/individual) • Stocks and bonds (joint/individual)

14. Sample Assets • Life insurance policy • Automobile (joint/individual) • Real property

15. Probating The Will • Petition • Affidavit of Witnesses (Self-proving; other) • Bond • Oath • Designation of the attorney

16. Filing Will With the Court • Clerk’s Office • Letters testamentary

17. Notice of Probate • Notice of Probate (Notice to Creditors) • Once each week for two weeks • The Tulsa Case • Legislative Response • 4 months/1 month • Mail notice to known persons whose whereabouts are known

18. Duties of the Personal Representative • Collect assets • Pay debts and expenses • Distribute balance to the distributees of the estate

19. Debt Collection • Notice to creditors • Allowance by personal representative • Disallowance by personal representative • 20 days to file notice with the court

20. Final Report • Three year rule • Waivable by court • Includes accounting unless waived • Affidavit re fees