Category Archives: Succession
Mark Johnson, ‘Modernisation of will-making formalities requires a fulsome embrace of technology’
ABSTRACT Reform to enable electronic wills in England and Wales is on the horizon as the Law Commission reviews responses to its supplementary consultation with a view to reporting in early 2025. This article considers will-making in England and Wales and the potential impact of Wills Act 1837 formalities as a drag on the propensity […]
‘A Proposal to Save Property for Heirs of Decedents of Modest Wealth’
Danaya C Wright, ‘Trapped Between the URPTODA and the UPHPA: Probate Reforms to Bridge the Gap and Save Heirs Property for Modest-Wealth Decedents’, 127 Penn State Law Review 749 (2023). Although my law practice prior to entering academia focused on representing the uber wealthy, my recent interests focus more on preserving wealth in families of […]
‘“Pryket, Pryket, Pryket”: The Persistence of Orality in Fifteenth-Century English Legal Culture’
Unlike many other places in Europe, notaries public did not take hold and proliferate in England after the twelfth-century Legal Revolution. While judge-led law in the newly instituted inquisitorial system of justice implemented by the church and some Continental states necessitated a vast army of notaries to take down depositions and record court proceedings, in […]
Paolo Panico, ‘From Edinburgh to Rome via The Hague: The International Appeal of the Trusts and Succession (Scotland) Act 2024’
ABSTRACT The Scottish legal system is independent of the English one. Two relevant differences are that the system of property rights in Scotland is based on Roman law, and equity is not a separate source of Scots law. Nonetheless, trusts have been known in Scotland since at least the 16th century. The Trusts and Succession […]
Masayuki Tamaruya, ‘The Comparative Law of Trusts and Succession: Italy, Japan, and Beyond’
ABSTRACT In recent years, courts in Italy and Japan are faced with cases involving trust dispositions that allegedly encroach on forced heirship protections. This is significant from the comparative history of trust law. On the one hand, this reflects the recent trends in civilian jurisdictions where trusts are seen as a flexible alternative to wills […]
Alexandra Braun, ‘Testamentary responsibility’
INTRODUCTION … The aim of this article is to challenge these perceptions and related assumptions and to question testamentary freedom as the self-evident organising principle of modern succession law. Its purpose is to bring into sharper focus another important value of succession law: ‘responsibility’. While we speak of responsibility in other areas of private law […]
‘Testamentary capacity: warning signs and professional best practice’
The recent decision of Joanna Smith J in Leonard v Leonard [2024] EWHC 321 (Ch) is instructive for private client practitioners, non-contentious and contentious alike. The validity of a will was disputed on the grounds of lack of testamentary capacity and want of knowledge and approval. The case stands out for its unusual facts, of […]
William Moppett, ‘Donatio mortis causa: new signs of life? Rahman v Hassan [2024] EWHC 1290 (Ch)’
ABSTRACT In Rahman v Hassan [2024] EWHC 1290 (Ch), HHJ Paul Matthews held that registered land and online bank and shareholding accounts can form the subject-matter of donatio mortis causa, and that, respectively, handing over the land certificate or certain lease documents, and sharing the login/password, can suffice for ‘parting with dominion’ over them. It […]
Lee-ford Tritt, ‘The Curious Case of the James Brown Estate’
ABSTRACT Great musicians are larger than life, and the most iconic of them become members of an elite musical monarchy: Michael Jackson was the King of Pop, Aretha Franklin was the Queen of Soul, and Prince Rogers Nelson was Prince. Similarly, James Brown, the inventor of funk music, landed a seat at this table of […]
Alexandra Braun, ‘Testamentary Responsibility’
ABSTRACT Testamentary freedom – the freedom to determine the distribution of our assets after we die – is often described as the bedrock or organising principle of succession law. In fact, for many people testamentary freedom is something we have always had, should continue to have, and is therefore both self-evident and untouchable. This emphasis on testamentary freedom and, […]