Wills, Trusts and Probate Law

Probate attorneys handling wills, trusts, and estate administration must typically advise their clients on matters such as beneficiary designation, how to form a life estate in property, what will happen to property if your client fails to make an estate plan, and more. FindLaw’s Corporate Counsel Center Law Library has law articles written to help you better understand specific estate planning techniques and when to consider forming a trust on your client’s behalf. If your client needs a living will or an advance health care directive, click on the articles below to help inform your research and learn the requirements of each state, such as the number of witnesses necessary and who can be designated as a health care surrogate.

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Wills, Trusts and Probate Law Articles

The Living Will: Is it Just a Simple Declaration?

Nevada law refers to a Living Will as a declaration. This document serves as a directive to physicians and family that life support devices may be withheld if a person is in a terminal condition and death is imminent within a relatively short ...
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The Nuts and Bolts of Unit Investment Trusts

The author acknowledges the substantial contribution of Lita M.Dwight in the preparation of this outline. PaineWebber II also incorporated the additional criteria for automatic disposal of securities stated in Prudential (i.e., based on a downgrade ...
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The Private Foundation

The private independent foundation (not the private operating foundation), as qualified under Section501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, has the most restrictive rules of all of the five different organizations that can be qualified under this ...
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The Probate Division

Most people are familiar with the operation of the civil and criminal divisions, having seen trials portrayed on television and described in various newspaper articles. However, to the average person, the role of the probate division (formerly the ...
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The Revocable Living Trust in California

Introduction Revocable Living Trusts are used by thousands of people in California to avoid having their estates subject to probate. In California estates with a market value over $100,000, anyone in California who owns a house is likely to be in ...
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The Significance of Intellectual Property at the Community Level Vis-a-Vis Non-E.U. Trading Nations

When the WTO Agreement, with all its annexes (GATT (1994), GATS and TRIPs being the main ones) that resulted out of the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations was finally signed on 15 April 1994, the European nations were engaged in a ...
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The Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997: An Overview of Selected Provisions

The Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997, which was signed by President Clinton on August 5, 1997 (the "Act"), provides tax benefits that affect a broad range of taxpayers. The following is a brief description of the important provisions of the Act that will ...
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Things You Need to Know if You Are Named Executor of a Will or Trustee of an Estate

Quite often a good friend or a member of your family will have a will or trust drawn up and ask you to act as the executor or trustee. While this may make you feel you have been honored, people feel compelled to accept this office. This situation ...
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Titling Trusts Make Lease Securitizations Less Costly and Easier

Unlike the securitization of vehicle installment sale contracts, vehicle lease securitizations have developed rather slowly. Although the legal, tax, accounting and regulatory framework and analyses are somewhat different than for installment sales ...
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Transferring Assets to Your Minor Children

In many cases, it makes sense for a parent/taxpayer to start transferring his wealth to his children well before the end of his own life expectancy and even before his children have reached their majority. There are two primary advantages to making ...
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