Wills and Trusts (Solmssen)
Additional Information
Skills Training
Other Professional Skills: The course will help students identify real world risks related to property ownership and family relationships and will give them the tools to manage many of those risks. The course will also help students to identify conflicts of interest in a family representation.
Grading
90% Exam,
10% Other (Scheduled ungraded multiple choice quizzes will in aggregate count approximately 10% toward the final grade for students on the border between two grades. Timely completion of the quizzes, not the score of the quizzes, is the relevant factor. )
Exam
Short Answer,
Essay,
In Class,
Partial Open Book (The textbook, notes, outlines and other written materials are permitted. Generative AI and the internet may not be used. )
No
Class meets in person.
Course Continuity
Students are encouraged to stay home if you are ill or experience flu-like symptoms. If you miss a class for any reason, it is still your responsibility to make up the work missed.
I offer the following to students who miss class due to illness:
- Class sessions are regularly recorded. If you are absent due to illness or some other unavoidable circumstance, email me and I can send you an email with instructions for accessing the recording for the class session(s) you missed.
- I will make PowerPoint slides or other class materials routinely available on the course site to everyone in the class.
- When you are better, please make an appointment to meet with me and I will review/answer questions about what you missed.
Meeting Times/Location
TR 10:30AM - 11:50AM
Silverman Hall 240B
Category
Upper-Level
Credits
3.0
This course is a general survey of the law relating to property transmission during lifetime and at death. The course will study transfers within the probate system - wills and intestate succession - and transfers outside of it, with attention to the creation and administration of revocable and irrevocable trusts, beneficiary designations, joint property and gifts. The course will also cover the theoretical and practical aspects of incapacity, powers of attorney, living wills, medical directives and guardianship. The course will review the history and structure of federal wealth transfer taxation and a few of the tools currently used to achieve tax planning goals. Property and tax classes are not prerequisites.
Attendance is mandatory. Participation in class is expected but not graded. Students will be called on in class. There will be a number of scheduled multiple choice quizzes. Completion of the quizzes in a timely manner, not the score in each quiz, is the relevant factor. The final exam will be in-class and open book (no internet or AI) and will count 90% toward the final grade.
Skills Learning outcomes: Demonstrate an understanding of the individual course skill; Demonstrate the ability to receive and implement feedback; Demonstrate an understanding of how and when the individual course skill is employed in practice.
Family Law Learning outcomes: Demonstrate a core understanding of family law; Perform legal analysis in the context of family law; Communicate effectively on topics related to family law; Demonstrate an understanding of how family law affects other areas of law.
Property and Real Estate Law Learning outcomes: Demonstrate a core understanding of property and real estate law; Perform legal analysis in the context of property and real estate law; Communicate effectively on topics related to property and real estate law; Demonstrate an understanding of how property and real estate law affect other areas of law.
Tax Law Learning outcomes: Demonstrate a core understanding of tax law and policy; Perform legal analysis in the context of tax law and policy; Communicate effectively on topics related to tax law and policy; Demonstrate an understanding of how tax law and policy affect other areas of law and business.
Textbooks
"Wills, Trusts, and Estates, " by Robert H. Sitkoff, Jesse Dukeminier |