LibGuides: Wills, Trusts &amp; Estates: Current Developments

Publicly Accessible Repositories of Legal Articles

Digital Commons Network, Estates and Trusts Commons
Digital Commons Network, Taxation - Federal Estate and Gift Commons
bepress Legal Repository
Includes legal working papers and unpublished/recently published legal articles.
Use "Advanced Search" to find articles by subject, keywords in abstract, author or title. Recommended subject: Estates and Trusts.
SSRN
Scope: Worldwide. Includes legal working papers, forthcoming/recently published legal articles, and even some forthcoming book chapters. Search default = search of title, abstract and keywords. Recommended keywords: digital estate, estate planning, estate tax, trusts and estates, wills.

Journals

ACTEC Law Journal (American College of Trust and Estate Counsel) (in HeinOnline)
Published 3 times/yr. Remote access requires implementation of the BLS proxy server instructions.
ACTEC Law Journal (in Westlaw)
Slightly more current coverage than in HeinOnline. Click title above and and log in with your Westlaw uesrname/password.
Columbia Journal of Tax Law (in HeinOnline)
Published 2 times/yr. Remote access requires implementation of the BLS proxy server instructions.
Estates, Gifts and Trusts Journal (in Bloomberg Law)
Published 6 times/yr. Available in Bloomberg Law. Enter your Bloomberg Law username/password.
Estate Planning (WG&L)
Monthly periodical available in Westlaw. Highlights current tax developments and new decisions. Click title above and log in with your Westlaw uesrname/password.
Financial Planning Journal (in Bloomberg Law)
Monthly journal available in Bloomberg Law. Enter your Bloomberg Law username/password.
Journal of Financial Planning (Financial Planning Association)
Monthly journal available in BLS subscription database: Business Source Premier. Remote access requires implementation of the BLS proxy server instructions.
Probate and Property (American Bar Association. Section of Real Property, Probate, and Trust Law) (in HeinOnline)
Published 6 times/yr. Available in HeinOnline. Remote access requires implementation of the BLS proxy server instructions. Includes the updates: Keeping Current - Probate (highlighting selected recent decisions, tax rulings/regulations, laws and articles) and Keeping Current - Property (highlighting selected recent decisions, laws and articles).
Probate and Property (American Bar Association. Section of Real Property, Probate, and Trust Law) (in Westlaw)
Selected articles from this bi-monthly magazine are available in Westlaw. Click title above and log in with your Westlaw username/password.
TIP: Westlaw includes the updates: Keeping Current - Probate (highlighting selected recent decisions, tax rulings/regulations, laws and articles) and Keeping Current - Property (highlighting selected recent decisions, laws and articles).
Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Journal (Section of Real Property, Trust, and Estate Law, American Bar Association) (in HeinOnline)
Published 3 times/yr. Available in HeinOnline. Remote use requires implementation of the BLS proxy server instructions.
Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Journal (Section of Real Property, Trust, and Estate Law, American Bar Association) (in Westlaw)
Selected documents available in Westlaw. Click title above and log in with your Westlaw username/password.
Trusts and Trustees ("official journal of the International Academy of Estate and Trust Law") (platform: Oxford Academic)
States it is "an international journal on trust law and practice." Published 10 times/yr. Includes "Advance Articles." Available through Oxford Academic. Remote use requires implementation of the BLS proxy server instructions.

Link to: BLS Proxy Server Instructions. BLS librarians recommend the instructions for Firefox.

Law.com (subscription) Legal News Topic: Trusts & Estates

Law.com Topic: Trusts & Estates

Law.com aggregates news stories and commentary from ALM publications such as The American Lawyer, National Law Journal, New Jersey Law Journal, New York Law Journal and The Recorder. Provides articles such as: Ilene Sherwyn Cooper, Exit Spring, Enter Summer (Aug. 2, 2024), which discusses recent Surrogate and Appellate Court decisions of interest and Renee R. Roth & William P. LaPiana, The Future of Wills in New York (Feb. 26, 2024), which discusses a proposed New York Assembly bill (A. 7702) that would change New York's Estates, Powers and Trusts Law to authorize "electronic wills." Click here to track this bill in the 2023-2024 Legislative Session.

BLS students, faculty and administrators: Remote access to Law.com requires implementation of the BLS proxy server instructions for 1 web browser. BLS librarians recommend the instructions for Firefox.

Aggregator & Blogs

LexBlog "channel": Probate & Estate Planning
Highlights recent blog posts. Near bottom of screen, links to individual legal blogs.
American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys: Blog
Includes a link to sign up for AAEPA's blog.
New York Probate Lawyer Blog (Jules Martin Haas)
New York Trusts and Estates Litigation (Farrell Fritz attorneys)
Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog (Gerry W. Beyer, ed.)

Career Advice & Planning Articles

Josh Crowfoot, Editor of Young Lawyers Network & Contributing Author Julian C. Zebot, What All Young Trust And Estate Litigators Should Know, Prob. & Prop. Mag. (May/June 2023)

American Bar Association (ABA) law student membership is free. A law student could choose to join ABA's Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Section to access many resources of this Section through the ABA's website.

BLS patrons also can access What All Young Trust and Estate Litigators Should Know in HeinOnline > Law Journal Library > Probate and Property. But there appears to be a [1 year?] embargo on HeinOnline's access to recent content from Probate and Property - as of 05/10/2024, no 2024 articles from this periodical are available here,

Kamron Sanders, How to Become an Estate Planning Attorney, Nat'l. L. Rev. (Aug. 23, 2022)

Selected Current Articles

Tereina Stidd, The View from Heckerling 2024 (Jan. 16, 2024)
Blog post highlighting leading estate planning developments in 2023 discussed at the Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning that occurred in Jan. 2024.

Tip: See also Heckerling 2024 Reports highlighting proceedings from the Jan. 2024 Heckerling Institute provided by the ABA Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Section.

Additional Selected Articles:

Hannah Albarazi, Calif. Justices Rule Living Wills Not A Path To Arbitration (Mar. 29, 2024)
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Article excerpt: "The California Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that an advance healthcare directive, or living will, does not permit a designated power of attorney to opt into arbitration on a patient's behalf...."
Frank C. Mindicino, Can Digital Engagement Products and Predictive Data Analytics Align With Fiduciary Duties? (Mar. 19, 2024)
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Proposes "four methodologies to evolve the fiduciary duty landscape."
Sarah Martinson, BakerHostetler Launches Tech Offering For Estate Planning (Feb. 28, 2024)
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Discussing Financial Clarity, an estate planning app created for clients by BakerHostetler's private wealth group.
Justin H. Brown & Brittany A. Yodis, Commentary: International Income and Estate Tax Planning for Cross-Border Clients, Legal Intelligencer (May 3, 2023)
Jenifer Caneschi-Mirto, Self-Destructing Corporeal Painting or Performance Act?: Banksy's Girl with Balloon, Grey Areas in U.S. Federal Income Tax Law, and Implications for Estate Planning, 35 Quinnipiac Prob. L.J. 296 (2022) (as available in HeinOnline)
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Discusses an interesting income tax issue: Is the" extra value" added to the Banksy painting when it is shredded at Sotheby's a windfall for the purchaser that counts as income?
Hunter M. Glenn & Allison A. Tait, Wills, Trusts, and Estates, 57 U. Rich. L. Rev. 125 (2022)
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Discusses developments concerning "the role of fiduciaries, what responsibilities they have with respect to reporting as well as asset management, and when they can be removed."
Sarah Moore Johnson & Raymond C. Odom, The Forgotten 40 Acres: How Real Property, Probate & Tax Laws Contributed to the Racial Wealth Gap and How Tax Policy Could Repair It, 57 Real Prop. Tr. & Est. L.J. 1 (2022) (as available in Westlaw)
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Discusses the potential use of the estate tax to ameliorate the racial wealth gap.
Mariah Paulger, In the Crypt: The Importance of Planning for Distribution of Cryptocurrency Assets after Death, 14 Est. Plan. & Cmty. Prop. L.J. 621 (2022) (as available in HeinOnline)
Spencer Riegelman, Conveying Estate Planning to the 21st Century: Adoption of Electronic Wills Legislation, 18 U. St. Thomas L.J. 208 (2022)

Sarah Moore Johnson & Raymond C. Odom, The Forgotten 40 Acres: How Real Property, Probate & Tax Laws Contributed to the Racial Wealth Gap and How Tax Policy Could Repair It, 57 Real Prop. Tr. & Est. L.J. 1 (2022)