Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog

Article: Book Review: A Better Understanding of Common Law Ownership of Trust Property and its Introduction in China Through Comparative Studies

Andrew Godwin recently published an article entitled, Book Review: A Better Understanding of Common Law Ownership of Trust Property and its Introduction in China Through Comparative Studies, Wills, Trusts, & Estates Law ejournal (2022).

Provided below is the abstract to the Article: 

Book review of: Ruiqiao Zhang, A Better Understanding of Common Law Ownership of Trust Property and its Introduction in China Through Comparative Studies. Guangzhou: World Publishing Guangdong Co Ltd, 2019

Hirsch & McGovern California Probate Code Annotated 2022 edition released

The 2022 edition of Adam J. Hirsch & William M. McGovern's California Probate Code Annotated was recently released. Here is a summary of this volume:

Hirsch & McGovern California Probate Code Annotated, 2022 ed. (California Desktop Codes) is your comprehensive resource for probate law and estate planning in California. It provides you with the complete text of the California Probate Code, related state and federal statutes, and rules of court regarding estate planning and probate.

This volume contains:

• Authoritative commentary, annotations, and analysis of leading cases
• Law Revision Commission editorial notes that provide additional guidance in the construction and application of particular sections
• References to Witkin’s Summary of California Law, 10th which direct you toward further research
• A table of Judicial Council forms to help you identify forms to be used in conjunction with the statutes and rules
• A table of cases illustrating the cases discussed in the author’s commentary
• A table of affected sections indicating recent modifications
• Underlining to indicate additions or changes in statutes
• Asterisks to indicate deletions.

New book: An Attorney’s Introductory Guide to the IRA Distribution Rules Under the Secure Act

Seymour Goldberg's new book, An Attorney’s Introductory Guide to the IRA Distribution Rules Under the Secure Act, is now available for purchase from the website of the New York County Lawyers Association. Here is a description of his book:

The Guide, written in clear, concise language with multiple examples, is designed to help attorneys advise their clients on the major changes the Secure Act made regarding retirement distribution rules.

Not only will the Guide assist attorneys in counseling their clients, but it will also help them with their own retirement planning!!!

An Attorney’s Introductory Guide to the IRA Distribution Rules Under the Secure Act

New York County Lawyers Association has just released Seymour Goldberg's excellent eBook entitled An Attorney’s Introductory Guide to the IRA Distribution Rules Under the Secure Act. As the website to order this book explains:

The Guide, written in clear, concise language with multiple examples, is designed to help attorneys advise their clients on the major changes the Secure Act made regarding retirement distribution rules.

Not only will the Guide assist attorneys in counseling their clients, but it will also help them with their own retirement planning!!!

Article: The Reasonably Loyal Person

Andrew S. Gold recently published an article entitled, The Reasonably Loyal Person, Wills, Trusts, & Estates Law ejournal (2021). Provided below is the abstract to the Article:

This chapter is a contribution to a book on John Gardner’s work in private law theory. The chapter takes up a puzzle that Gardner raised: why is there no “reasonably loyal trustee” in fiduciary law? Notably, he proposes that the role of a trustee might lack a law-independent counterpart. That, in turn, could make it impossible for trust law (and by implication, fiduciary law) to “pass the buck” to whatever it is that the “reasonably loyal person” would do. I will suggest that fiduciary relationships frequently do have law-independent counterparts, and moreover that such counterparts can evolve over time. Relatedly, I will argue that a wide range of extra-legal conceptions of loyalty are available for buck passing purposes; not all loyalty is built on a prior meaningful relationship between a loyal party and the object of her loyalty. Lastly, I will conclude with some thoughts on why buck passing could be valuable.

Succession Drama Grips Scholastic: CEO's Sudden Death, an Office Romance and a Surprise Will

In June, M. Richard Robinson Jr., the longtime lead of Scholastic Corp., died suddenly while on a walk in Martha's Vineyard. Robinson Jr.'s death was not the only surprise, as he also left behind a surprising succession plan. 

Instead of giving control of the publisher to his two sons, his siblings, or his ex-wife, control went to Iole Lucchese, Scholastic's chief strategy officer. Lucchese also inherited all of his personal possessions. 

In his 2018 will, Robinson described Ms. Lucchese as "my partner and closest friend." Lucchese has been with the company for 30-years. Ms. Lucchese and Mr. Robinson had been "longtime romantic partners, according to interviews with family members and former employees. 

The surprise heir has "set in motion a family succession drama at the century-old-company." The company, which is one of the world's largest publishers of children's books like the Harry Potter novels and Magic School Bus series, now has its future being called into question due to Lucchese's "sudden emergence as Scholastic's heir." 

Some family members have began to review their legal options—like reaching an agreement with Ms. Lucchese to transfer some voting shares to family members or to "ensure that get a greater share of the estate." 

Richard Robinson's youngest son, Maurice Robinson, stated that his father's decision to give control to Ms. Lucchese was "unexpected and shocking." John Benham Robinson, Richard Robinson's eldest son, described his father's estate plans as "salt in an open wound." 

See Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg & Shalini Ramachandran, Succession Drama Grips Scholastic: CEO's Sudden Death, an Office Romance and a Surprise Will , The Wall Street Journal, August 1, 2021.

Special thanks to David S. Luber (Florida Probate Attorney) for bringing this article to my attention.

New Edition of Excellent Estate Planning Book Released

I am excited to announce that Alexander A. Bove, Jr. and Melissa Langa have recently published the 4^th Edition of their book entitled The Complete Book of Wills, Estates, and Trusts published by St. Martin’s Griffin.

This book, designed for a non-attorney audience, does a stellar job of explaining the estate planning and probate process from start to finish. The book is divided into 14 chapters as follows:

1. The World of Wills
2. Do you Really Need a Will?
3. What is a Will?
4. How to Cancel or Change Your Will
5. Common Will Provisions
6. Uncommon Will Provisions – Controlling from the Grave
7. Spouses’ and Children’s Rights to an Estate
8. Estate Management
9. Personal Representatives
10. Will Contests, Lost Wills, and Beneficiary Rights
11. Avoiding Probate and Wills Altogether
12. Everything You Need to Know About Trusts
13. Probate, Trusts, and Taxes
14. Dealing with Lawyers

The conversational nature of the authors’ writing style makes their book easy to read and both enjoyable and informative.

As the authors make clear, the book “is NOT a substitute for expert professional advice.” However, reading this book prior to seeking estate planning advice, or during the estate planning process, will make you a well-informed client so that you will have greater understanding of legal concepts when you visit with your attorney. In this way, you can help assure you ask the right questions, get the answers you need, and obtain the estate plan you want to carry out your intent.

Law Professor from Poland releases book on will formalities

Mariusz Załucki, Professor of Law at AFM Kraków University (Poland), recently released his treatise entitled Wills Formalities versus Testator’s Intention (2021).

His "main objective is to demonstrate that it is possible, justified by the needs of the practice of drawing up wills, to give the provisions on the form of a will a wording which makes them technologically independent, allowing the testator's declaration of last intent, made in any manner whatsoever, recorded by means of any method enabling the testator's last intent to be reflected after his death, to produce legal effects mortis causa. For it is not in all the current formalities and methods of testation indicated by individual legislators, but in the reflection of the testator's intentions that the most important value underpinning modern succession law lies."

2021 Edition of Hirsch & McGovern California Probate Code Annotated Released

Adam J. Hirsch & William M. McGovern recently published Hirsch & McGovern California Probate Code Annotated (2021 ed.). Provided below is a summary of the book.

Your comprehensive resource for probate law and estate planning in California, Hirsch & McGovern California Probate Code Annotated provides the complete text of the California Probate Code, related state and federal statutes, and rules of court regarding estate planning and probate.

This volume contains:

• • Authoritative commentary, annotations, and analysis of leading cases
  • Law Revision Commission editorial notes that provide additional guidance in the construction and application of particular sections
  • References to Witkin's Summary of California Law, 10th which direct you toward further research
  • A table of Judicial Council forms to help you identify forms to be used in conjunction with the statutes and rules
  • A table of cases illustrating the cases discussed in the author's commentary
  • A table of affected sections indicating recent modifications
  • Underlining to indicate additions or changes in statutes
  • Asterisks to indicate deletions

Tapes reveal Marvel icon Stan Lee’s bitter battle with daughter J.C.

Tape recordings caught the late Stan Lee arguing with his daughter JC, and they are not pleasant.. 

“I think you’re the dumbest white woman I’ve ever known!” Lee is screaming, apparently at his adult daughter, J.C. 

“F–k you, Stan!” she fires back. 

In another recording, Lee is told that J.C. has phoned to tell him she loves him. “F–k, she doesn’t know what love is,” Lee responds. “I don’t need to be upset every f–king time she calls.” 

The recordings were made by Stan Lee's ex-manager during the last years of Stan Lee's life. 

"The tapes are revealed in the new book “True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee” (Crown) by Abraham Riesman, out Tuesday. The gloves-off biography goes behind Lee’s jovial, public face to reveal a man who was distant, troubled and at times unscrupulous. " 

Riesman claimed that the book is not about tearing Stan Lee down, but instead the point is to spread the message that "there are not superheroes." 

The book highlights what appears to be a disturbing relationship between Lee and his daughter JC. 

See Reed Tucker, Tapes reveal Marvel icon Stan Lee’s bitter battle with daughter J.C. , N.Y. Post, February 13, 2021.

Special thanks to Laura Galvan (Attorney, San Antonio, Texas) for bringing this article to my attention.