Decedents' Estates

The second edition of Decedents' Estates: Cases and Materials builds upon the previous edition. The authors have chosen cases with interesting and instructive factual contexts, updated state, federal, uniform, and international statutes, and the same logical sequencing is used, together with the Tool Bars at the start of each chapter. Of course, the teacher's manual has been rewritten, and additional exam questions and feedback sheets have been added.

Noteworthy additions to the new edition include the most recent revisions made to the Uniform Probate Code, including new rules for notarized wills, posthumous conception, elective share, and an expanded definition of parent-child. Also, we have included the new standards for prudent investing pertaining to responsible investing, removal of a trustee, pet trust requirements, trust protectors, unitrusts, and public policy restraints. Throughout the material we have integrated the most recent developments in federal and state taxation, pertinent observations from noted scholars and practitioners, and the changes in investing prompted by the economic collapse of 2008 have been included. All of this is complemented by extensive references to legal periodicals, Web addresses, and commentary, thereby providing additional material for classroom discussion. Finally, we have enhanced the material on planning for incapacity, to include the new statutes on anatomical gift giving, a checklist of planning items, and some good illustrations of incapacity and capriciousness from the lives of some notable persons.

"The cases are carefully selected to provide the student with both a solid historical basis, as well as the ability to see the application of both traditional and modern concepts… The text is well-written and more extensive than that typically found in a casebook. The writing is clear, concise, and demonstrates the authors' comprehensive grasp of both basic and complex concepts and the interplay between them." — The University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review, on the first edition