Comments for Trusts & Estates

Comment on Leveraging Trust Law to Protect Child Influencers by February Wrap-Up: Taxes and Tech - Tucson Elder Law Attorney

February Wrap-Up: Taxes and Tech - Tucson Elder Law Attorney — Sun, 22 Feb 2026 14:32:54 +0000

[…] space is so new, there is a lack of regulation as to how their wealth is managed for them. Professor Naomi Cahn’s article explores how Trust law could be used to protect these children’s fortunes from their parents […]

Comment on A Life Insurance Tax Dodge Under Layers of Math by Andrew Granato Joins University of Texas Tax Faculty • TaxProf Blog

Andrew Granato Joins University of Texas Tax Faculty • TaxProf Blog — Sun, 15 Feb 2026 14:00:23 +0000

[…] A Matter of High Interest: How a Quiet Change to an Actuarial Assumption Turbocharges the Life Insurance Tax Shelter, 29 Conn. Ins. L. J. (2023) (reviewed by Kent Schenkel (New England) here) […]

Comment on Leveraging Trust Law to Protect Child Influencers by ‘Leveraging Trust Law to Protect Child Influencers’ | Private Law Theory - Obligations, Property, Legal Theory

Wed, 11 Feb 2026 18:13:52 +0000

[…] Naomi Cahn, ‘Trusting Remedies for the Child Influencer Space: Blocked Trust Accounts and Child Beneficiaries’, 17 Drexel Law Review 971 (2025). Professor Naomi Cahn’s recent article, ‘Trusting Remedies for the Child Influencer Space: Blocked Trust Accounts and Child Beneficiaries’, exists at the intersection of centuries-old legal doctrine and the technology-based influencer economy. The family influencer, parent-facilitated influencer, and kidfluencer spaces are thriving (from TikTok sponsorships to YouTube ads), and these are spaces in which federal protections for children are arguably inadequate. Instead, we must rely on limited oversight provided by a patchwork of state privacy and labor laws. A parental conflict of interest is inherent when a child is unable to give informed consent, and parents are overseeing a child who is also a profit center. As with child actors, the question becomes: who is overseeing or regulating the parents? … (more) […]

Comment on Small Gifts, Big Problems by ‘Small Gifts, Big Problems’ | Private Law Theory - Obligations, Property, Legal Theory

Wed, 14 Jan 2026 13:38:55 +0000

[…] Mark Glover, ‘Nominal Bequests’, 59 UC Davis Law Review 731 (2025). When I read the premise of Mark Glover’s terrific new article ‘Nominal Bequests’ – that some small-dollar gifts are problematic – I couldn’t help wonder whether it was a kind of stunt, like writing a novel without using the letter ‘e’. What could be wrong with testamentary gifts of trivial sums? Even if these bequests were somehow harmful, wouldn’t the payoff from regulating them pale in comparison to the costs? But Glover (who has been publishing up a storm) is waiting in the weeds with creative and thoughtful answers … (more) […]

Comment on A Proposed Framework for Privacy Rights After Death by Professor Anita L. Allen

Professor Anita L. Allen — Mon, 01 Dec 2025 20:39:20 +0000

Thank you for this thoughtful and thorough review of our article. We do indeed think it of interest to the trust and estates law community, as well as the privacy and publicity torts, data protection, and intellectual property communities.

Comment on A Proposed Framework for Privacy Rights After Death by ‘A Proposed Framework for Privacy Rights After Death’ | Private Law Theory - Obligations, Property, Legal Theory

Mon, 01 Dec 2025 14:43:22 +0000

[…] Anita L Allen and Jennifer E Rothman, ‘Postmortem Privacy’, 123 Michigan Law Review 285 (2024). Professors Allen and Rothman have written an excellent piece that addresses an issue of growing importance. While questions about privacy have always existed, technological changes that are occurring at a lightning-fast pace are creating demand for a consistent and clear legal framework. These technological changes include artificial intelligence, social media and email accounts, as well as the ubiquitousness of cameras and recording devices. This raises new questions regarding rights to a person’s name, image, voice, life history, beliefs, and identity after death … (more) […]

Comment on The Double-Edged Sword of Hunting Heirs by Amy Malek

Amy Malek — Mon, 24 Nov 2025 06:17:28 +0000

This is one of the best essays I have read. Unfortunately it is too late for me. My brother died intestate, and I was bombarded by heir hunters. A cousin had filed a determination of heirship which the companies picked up on. I was required to meet with my cousin regardless so the litigation attorney was not needed. The heir company claimed it was 20 percent co-heir and I could not live in the house without paying rent or fix anything without their permission! I might as well have been in North Korea! And my state had an Ad Litem looking for me – serving the exact same function as the heir finder – at a miniscule cost. Unfortunately it was a month after I signed. Run from these companies! You don’t need them for anything. I learned the hard way and am being depleted from an inheritance that was solely mine.

Comment on Placing Limits on Trust Asset Protection by ‘Placing Limits on Trust Asset Protection’ | Private Law Theory - Obligations, Property, Legal Theory

Thu, 31 Jul 2025 16:47:40 +0000

[…] Adam Hofri-Winogradow and Mark Bennett, ‘Looking through Trusts’, Osgoode Hall Law Journal (forthcoming), available at SSRN (9 October 2024). The issue of whether trust beneficiaries should be treated differently from individuals who own their assets directly has been a central one in the trusts and estates world for centuries, and it shows no signs of disappearing. While it would be preferable to have a standard, across-the-board response to this matter, its intractable nature reveals a balancing of interests. The trust is a centuries-old fiduciary relationship that is not nefarious in and of itself. Much as they do with corporations, governments find themselves torn between respecting such voluntary arrangements according to their terms or setting them aside to prevent abuse. The purpose of look-through rules is to prevent trusts from undermining other policy goals, such as facilitating debt collection or restricting certain government benefits to individuals who demonstrate financial need … (more) […]

Comment on Dead Hand Control by ‘Dead Hand Control’ | Private Law Theory - Obligations, Property, Legal Theory

Wed, 23 Jul 2025 07:26:58 +0000

[…] Lawrence M Friedman, ‘Immortal Longings: Perpetuity in Context’, 71 Buffalo Law Review 695 (2023). Professor Lawrence M Friedman has had a remarkable career. Much of his work has focused on legal history, and he has served as president of the American Society for Legal History in recognition of his distinction in that field. He also helped to pioneer empirical legal studies as a subdiscipline of scholarship. And, most fortunately for those of us who work in wills-and-trusts, he has contributed to our area as well, with a stream of articles and one book, beginning in the early 1960s and continuing until today – no fewer than six decades of superb scholarship on inheritance law … (more) […]

Comment on A Minimalist Theory of Trust Law Codification by ‘A Minimalist Theory of Trust Law Codification’ | Private Law Theory - Obligations, Property, Legal Theory

Wed, 25 Jun 2025 07:21:09 +0000

[…] Thomas P Gallanis, ‘The Dark Side of Codifying US Trust Law’, 49 ACTEC Law Journal 283 (2024). When legal scholars identify and analyze a social problem, they usually conclude with law reform recommendations for potential adoption by courts or legislatures. In ‘The Dark Side of Codifying US Trust Law’, Professor Thomas Gallanis reboots that familiar template by reversing the inquiry: This superb article evaluates how a reformer’s choice of institutional forum – court versus legislature – can impact the effectiveness of legal intervention. Gallanis presents an intriguing case study that documents the plight of several well-intended trust law reforms which Gallanis contends inadvertently created fertile ground for legislative capture by special interests. Gallanis describes how the political influence of special interests ultimately persuaded state legislatures to alter model legislation in ways that undermined the reformers’ original policy goals … (more) […]