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If You Adopt Your Lover Are You Committing Incest?

Posted on | April 30, 2009 | No Comments

In an article too juicy to pass up, Terry L. Turnipseed writes Syracuse University College of Law writes that:

“For some time now adults - both heterosexual and homosexual - have been adopting their lovers and spouses all over the country for various reasons: to better guarantee the adoptee’s right to inherit directly from the adoptor; to keep collateral relatives from having standing to contest the adoptor’s estate plan; or to add a loved one to a class of trust beneficiaries (allowing the adoptee to inherit “through” the adoptor). It appears that, post-Lawrence, both the academy and the judiciary have completely overlooked this steadily growing, albeit stealthy, trend.”

What will the Supreme Court do? Click here to learn more. Brought to my attention by Professor Beyer.

Category: Estate Planning - Generally
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Disinheritance Provisions – California Will Drafting That Restrains Marriage

Posted on | August 25, 2008 | No Comments

As highlighted in a recent Wills, Trusts, and Estates Prof post, parties to a lawsuit in Illinois are disputing a provision contained in a will described as the “Jewish clause.” The deceased “expressed his wish to disinherit any descendant “who married outside the Jewish faith.” Two grandchildren married outside the Jewish faith, and contested the clause’s validity. An Illinois appellate court has ruled that the restraint on marriage is void, but the parties have appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court.

Restraints on marriage contained in wills are generally void as against the public policy of promoting marriage. In California, the rule has been codified in Civil Code §710 which provides that “Conditions imposing restraints upon marriage, except upon the marriage of a minor, are void; but this does not affect limitations where the intent was not to forbid marriage, but only to give the use until marriage.”

In Feinberg’s case a trial would not be held on this issue, and the will clause would be defeated upon a motion for summary judgment or demurrer as a matter of law.

Category: Uncategorized, Will Contests
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The Fiscal Costs of Marriage and Divorce

Posted on | April 15, 2008 | No Comments


From the article:

A similar approach led Kelly Bedard and Olivier Deschenes to a rather striking conclusion: divorce may not be financially harmful to women. They find that divorce actually led women to live in households with greater income per person. (To be more precise, they argue that the marginal divorces caused by the gender of the first-born led women to live in higher income households.)

And Ananat and Michaels agree, finding similar effects. They then slice and dice this surprising finding, concluding that divorce may raise incomes on average, but it leads some women to lower incomes, and some to higher incomes. Those who gain tend to be in a (slight) minority, but they tend to gain more, which explains the rise in average income.


But the research may not present the whole picture . . .
Category: San Diego Estate Planning, Tax
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