Wills, trusts, estates A laughing heir in the law of inheritance , is an heir who is legally entitled to inherit the property of a person who has died, even though that heir is only distantly related to the deceased, and therefore has no personal connection or reason to feel bereavement bereaved over the death. In most jurisdiction s, the law of intestacy requires that the property of a person who died without leaving a Will law will must first go to that person s immediate family, such as a spouse, descendants, ascendants, or persons descended from the same parents or grandparents. Under the common law , if no such persons exist, the property passes to the nearest living person who can demonstrate some degree of kinship with the deceased, no matter how distant the relation. Some jurisdictions have a laughing heir statute , which cuts off the right of inheritance when the remaining relatives become too remote. In such jurisdictions, if no relative falls within the limitation set by the statute, then the property escheat s to the state. 2 103 of the Uniform Probate Code , which has been adopted by a number of states, sets the outer limits of the right to inheritance with grandparent s, aunt s and uncles, and first cousin s. Under the code, heirs that are farther removed from the deceased are left with no claim to the estate at all. By contrast, some states such as Virginia have extended the principle to cover the family of a predeceased spouse . In those states, if the decedent had been married, and their spouse had died before the decedent, and if the decedent had no blood relatives at all, then the decedent s property would pass to any living relatives of the spouse , no matter how remote. Jurisdictions with no laughing heir statute Africa South Africa North America Texas ref http www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us Docs PB htm PB.II.htm 38 Texas Probate Code, Chapter II, Section 38.a.4. The operative phrase which differs from the Uniform Probate Code , and thus allows ... more details
Strong v Bird 1874 LR 18 Eq 315 is an English property law case. It is an exception to the maxim Equity will not assist a volunteer . Facts Bird borrowed 1000 from his stepmother. She is living with him and paying him for rent. It was agreed by both parties that the loan was to be repaid by a reduction in the rent, until the loan was settled. Bird s stepmother only paid the reduced rent twice. Thereafter, she paid the full rent until her death. On her death, she appointed Bird as her executor and the next of kin now attempted to recover the debt from Bird. The conduct of his stepmother stopped paying the reduced rent as per their agreement does not discharge the debt at law because there was no consideration provided for the release. The issue was whether Bird must pay back the loan. Judgment The appointment of Bird as the executor was an evidence that the loan to Bird was a gift to him. This is because the executor is responsible for calling in debts to the testator s estate, It would be ridiculous for the executor to sue himself for the debt. Therefore, common law rulings cancelled the debt to avoid this anomaly. Furthermore, the stepmother s donative intention had continued until her death. Significance When a donor makes an imperfect gift during his lifetime, and the donee is subsequently appointed as the donor s executor or becomes the donor s administrator on intestacy, the gift is perfected because the donee obtains legal title to the donor s property, including the subject matter of the intended gift, in the donee s capacity as executor or administrator. There are four conditions for the rule in Strong v. Bird The donor must have intended to make an inter vivos gift. Such donative intention must have persisted until the donor s death. The donee is appointed the donor s executor or administrator, Re James 1935 1 Ch 449 The subject matter of the intended gift must have been capable of enduring the death of the donor. In Re James ref 1935 1 Ch 449 ref Farwell J ... more details
peoples Germanic custom law custom for intestacy intestate inheritance which was the norm under ... of the legitime or what they would have received through intestacy LCC art. 1495, Succession of Greenlaw ... more details
shall descedent sic by intestacy or devise but shall escheat to that tribe if such interest represents ... their property by will or intestacy created a sufficient injury in fact for the plaintiffs to bring ... more details
& intestacy Abatement of debts and legacies Acts of independent significance Ademption Administrator ... will Inheritance Intestacy Joint wills and mutual wills Laughing heir Legatee Letters of Administration ... more details
For the magazine Trusts & Estates journal Wills, trusts, estates The law of trusts and estates is generally considered the body of law which governs the management of personal affairs and the disposition of property of an individual in anticipation of the event of such person s incapacity or death , also known as the law of successions in civil law legal system civil law . Its techniques are also used to fulfil the wishes of philanthropic bequests or gifts through the creation, maintenance and supervision of charitable trust s. In some jurisdictions, such as the United States, it can overlap with the area that has come to be known as elder law that deals not only with estate planning but other issues that face the elderly, such as home care, long term care insurance or social security or disability benefits. There may also be overlap with areas of the law touching on End of life issues, not solely for the elderly, but also persons with terminal conditions. Estates In common law , an estate law estate consisted of the Tangibility tangible asset s of real property real and personal property which belong to a natural person. The property of the estate must either be bequeathed through a will or transferred through the laws of intestacy if there is no will. A will law will is the most commonly used legal instrument for the distribution of the property of a deceased person. Before property can be disposed of pursuant to the terms of a will, the will must be submitted to a probate court having jurisdiction of the estate of the deceased. Probate is often considered a relatively lengthy and expensive process, albeit one which may provide greater safeguards with regard to the rights of a deceased person s beneficiaries, though probate often is contested by creditors or disgruntled members of the family of the deceased who feel they have not received their fair share of the deceased s property. Uses of trusts Main Trust law In order to expedite the process of transferring ass ... more details
The Uniform Simultaneous Death Act is a uniform act enacted in some U.S. state s to alleviate the problem of simultaneous death in determining inheritance . The Act specifies that, if two or more people die within 120 hours of one another, and no will law will or other document provides for this situation explicitly, each is considered to have predeceased the others. However, the Act contains a clause that states if the end result would be an intestate estate escheating to the state, the 120 hour rule is not to be applied. The Act was promulgated in 1940, when it was adopted by all 48 then existing states. It was last amended in 1993. As of 2010 , 19 states Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Hawaii, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin and the Washington, D.C. District of Columbia have explicitly adopted the Act in its current version. A number of other states have indirectly adopted the Act as part of the Uniform Probate Code . The United States Virgin Islands Virgin Islands adopted the Act in 2010. Inheritance The Act primarily helps to determine the heirs of a person who has died intestacy intestate . For example, Alice and Bob are a married, retired couple with no offspring. They die in a plane crash, and it cannot be determined which person died first. Neither had executed a will, so both Alice s and Bob s families claim inheritance of the couple s estate. The court uses the Uniform Simultaneous Death Act to resolve the dispute. In accordance with the Act, Alice is considered to have predeceased Bob, but Bob is also considered to have predeceased Alice. The inheritance is divided equally among their closest living relatives, according to degree of kinship . The 120 hour period is intended Fact date August 2007 to simplify probate estate administration by preventing an inheritance from being transferred more times than necessary. For example, ... more details
Adam White 29 April 1817 30 December 1878 was a Scotland Scottish zoologist . White was born in Edinburgh on 29 April 1817. ref name DNB http www.oxforddnb.com view article 29234 White, Adam 1817 1878 , naturalist by Ann Datta in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . DNBfirst wstitle White, Adam ref He became acquainted with John Edward Gray , Keeper of Zoology at the British Museum . At the age of eighteen, White obtained a post in the Museum in the Zoology Department. ref name DNB White specialised in insect s and crustacean s, writing the List of the Specimens of Crustacea in the British Museum 1847 and A Popular History of Mammalia 1850 . ref name DNB White was a member of the Entomological Society of London from 1839 to 1863, and a Fellow of the Linnean Society from 1846 to 1855. ref name DNB White suffered a nervous breakdown after the death of his first wife in 1861. He remarried in 1862, and had at least three children by his second wife. He died intestacy intestate in Pollokshields on 30 December 1878. ref name DNB Selected works refbegin cite book author Adam White year 1841 chapter Appendix F. Notes on some insects from King George s Sound editor G. Grey title Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North West and Western Australia volume 2 publisher T. & W. Boone location London pages 242 262 cite journal author Adam White year 1844 title Descriptions of some new species of Coleoptera and Homoptera from China journal Annals and Magazine of Natural History volume 1 issue 14 pages 422 426 url http biostor.org reference 60325 cite journal author Adam White year 1844 title Description of some coleopterous insects in the collection of the British Museum apparently unnoticed journal Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London volume 24 pages 8 17, 406 410 cite book author Adam White year 1846 chapter Part XI. Insects of New Zealand editor J. Richardson & J. E. Gray title The Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Erebus & Terror under Command of Capta ... more details
Sir Francis Blake, 3rd Baronet c. 1774 &ndash 10 September 1860 was a Northumbrian landowner, politician and baronet. Background Born at Heston , he was the son of Sir Francis Blake, 2nd Baronet, of Twizell Castle Sir Francis Blake, 2nd Baronet and his wife, the daughter of Alexander Douglas. ref name Dod cite book last Dod first Robert P. title The Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage of Great Britain and Ireland date 1860 publisher Whitaker and Co. location London pages 120 ref In 1818, he succeeded his father as baronet. ref name Dod Career Blake was commissioned captain in the Northumberland Militia in 1794 and was appointed colonel of the Northumberland Fencibles in 1795. He entered the British House of Commons in 1820, sitting as Member of Parliament MP for Berwick upon Tweed UK Parliament constituency Berwick upon Tweed until 1826. A year later, he was reelected for the constituency, representing it until 1834. Blake owned estates at Twizell Castle , Tillmouth House , Seghill and Duddo , which later he sold for 45000 in 1823. Death and legacy He married Jane, daughter of William Neale, in 1827 but had no legitimate children and the baronetcy became extinct on his death. His illegitimate son Frederick Blake 1835 1909 suffered severe sunstroke while serving as an army officer and was confined to a mental asylum in 1873. His father granted him a life interest in property at Seghill and also bequeathed Helen, the widow of his brother Robert Dudley Blake 1776 1860 . Blake s principal beneficiary was Captain Francis Blake 1832 1861 whose son Sir Francis Blake, 1st Baronet, of Tillmouth Park Francis Douglas Blake was created a baronet in his own right in 1907. The family repurchased Seghill Park from the Treasury Solicitor following the intestacy of Helen Blake. References Reflist http www.leighrayment.com commons Bcommons2.htm Historical list of MPs B, part 2 Rayment bt date March 2012 S start s par uk s bef before Henry Heneage St Paul br Charles Bennet, 5th Earl of ... more details
Lieutenant General James Murray, 1st Baron Glenlyon Royal Society FRS Royal Guelphic Order KCH 29 May 1782 &ndash 12 October 1837 was a British Army officer, member of parliament and House of Lords peer . Before being granted the title of Baron Glenlyon in 1821, he was known from birth as Lord James Murray . Life Murray was born in 1782 at Dunkeld , Perthshire , the son of John Murray, 4th Duke of Atholl and his wife the Hon. Jane Cathcart. He was first commissioned into the British Army in 1798 and rose to the rank of Major General by 1819. In 1807, he was elected Member of Parliament for Perthshire UK Parliament constituency Perthshire , holding the seat until 1812. He served as a Gentleman of the Bedchamber from 1812 to 1832 and from 1813 to 1819 was also aide de camp to the George IV of the United Kingdom Prince Regent . He was created Baron Glenlyon , of Glenlyon , Perthshire, on 17 July 1821, and was promoted Lieutenant General in 1837. ref name thepeerage http www.thepeerage.com p1056.htm i10553 Lt. Gen. Sir James Murray, 1st Lord Glenlyon at thepeerage.com, accessed 24 July 2008 ref Lord Glenlyon died at Fenton s Hotel, St James s Street , London, on 12 October 1837, aged fifty five, and was buried on 30 October at Dunkeld. He died intestacy intestate . ref name thepeerage Wife and children On 19 May 1810 Murray married Lady Emily Frances Percy, a daughter of General Hugh Percy, 2nd Duke of Northumberland , at St Martin in the Fields , Covent Garden , London . They had four children ref name thepeerage ref Cokayne et al. , eds, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant , Volume I new edition, 1910 , page 321 ref Hon. Frances Julia Murray died 4 November 1868 Hon. Charlotte Augusta Leopoldina Murray died 2 May 1889 George Murray, 6th Duke of Atholl born 20 September 1814, died 16 January 1864 Colonel the Hon. James Charles Plantagenet Murray born 8 December 1819, died 3 June 1874 Honou ... more details
Property law italictitle Bona vacantia Latin language Latin for ownerless goods is a legal concept associated with property that has no owner. It exists in various jurisdictions, with consequently varying application, but with origins mostly in English law. Canada Bona Vacantia is applied according to the laws of the relevant province, the roots of the laws tracing back to English law. England and Wales Bona Vacantia is partly a common law doctrine and partly found in statute. It deals with Assets of dissolved companies that have failed to be distributed Assets of dissolved Voluntary association unincorporated associations that have failed to be distributed Assets of the estates of deceased persons that have failed to be distributed due to intestacy and a lack of known persons entitled to inherit Some failed trust property In the Duchies of Duchy of Cornwall Cornwall and Duchy of Lancaster Lancaster , a firm of solicitor s, Farrer and Co , deals with bona vacantia . In both cases, if no rightful owner is found for the assets, they are donated to charity. ref http www.duchyoflancaster.co.uk output Bona Vacantia.aspx Official Website of the Duchy of Lancaster and http www.duchyofcornwall.org managementandfinances bonavacantia.htm Official Website of the Duchy of Cornwall ref In England and Wales , the Bona Vacantia Division of the Treasury Solicitor s Department of the United Kingdom UK Government is responsible for dealing with bona vacantia assets ref http www.duchyoflancaster.co.uk output Bona Vacantia.aspx Official Website of the Duchy of Lancaster ref except in the Duchy of Lancaster or the Duchy of Cornwall . ref http www.duchyofcornwall.org managementandfinances bonavacantia.htm Official Website of the Duchy of Cornwall ref The Treasury Solicitor is appointed by Royal Warrant to be the Crown s Nominee for the collection of Bona Vacantia ref HM Procurator General and Treasury Solicitor Accounts for the Crown s Nominee for the year ended 31 March 2010 ref The Div ... more details
Citations missing article date November 2010 Gavelkind was a system of land tenure associated chiefly with the county of Kent , but found also in other parts of England . Its inheritance pattern bears resemblance to Salic patrimony and as such might testify in favour of a wider, probably ancient Germanic tradition. Under this law, land was divided equally among sons or other heirs. ref http www.merriam webster.com dictionary gavelkind ref It was legally abolished in Britain in 1925. ref Citation first Stephen last Friar title The Sutton Companion to Local History edition rev. location Stroud publisher Sutton Publishing year 2001 isbn 0 7509 2723 2 page 182 ref Gavelkind in Kent In Kent all land was When date November 2010 presumed to be held by this tenure until the contrary is proved, but some lands have been disgavelled by particular statutes. It is more correctly described as socage tenure, subject to the custom of gavelkind. The chief peculiarities of the custom were the following A land tenure tenant could pass on part or all of his lands as a fiefdom from fifteen years of age. On conviction for a felony , the lands were not confiscated by The Crown . Generally the tenant could always dispose of his lands in his will law will . In case of intestacy , the estate law estate was passed on to all the sons, or their representatives, in equal shares, leaving all the sons equally a gentleman. Although females claiming in their own right were given second preference, they could still inherit through representation. A dowager was entitled to one half of the land. A widow may be tenant by curtesy courtesy , without having had any issue, of one half, but only so long as she remains unmarried. An act for commuting manorial rights in respect of lands of copyhold and customary tenure contained a clause specially exempting from the operation of the act the custom of gavelkind as the same now exists and prevails in the county of Kent. Reword please. Too complex for me Gavelkin ... more details
Richard Lane 1926 2002 was an American scholar, author, collector, and dealer of Japanese art . He lived in Japan for much of his life, and had a long association with the Honolulu Museum of Art in Hawaii , which now holds his vast art collection. Life Lane was born in Kissimmee, Florida . After graduating from high school in 1944, during World War II , he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps . In the Marines he trained as a Japanese language Japanese translator, and served in Japan during the war. He later received a bachelor s degree from the University of Hawaii in Japanese and Chinese literature, and continued his studies at Columbia University , where he earned a master s degree and a Ph.D in 18th century Japanese literature. In 1957, he moved to Japan, where he lived for the rest of his life. Lane was never on a university faculty, but supported himself as an author, dealer and consultant. He was a visiting research associate at the Honolulu Museum of Art from 1957 to 1971, during which time he helped catalog the James A. Michener collection of Japanese prints . ref Boehm, 2009, p. 29 ref In 1960 he married physician Chiyeko Okawa they remained married until her death in 1999. ref Boehm, 2009, p. 31 ref In 2002, he died Intestacy intestate and without heirs in Kyoto, Japan , and the Honolulu Museum of Art purchased his collection from the Japanese judicial authorities. The Lane Collection consisted of nearly 20,000 paintings, prints and books. ref Calendar News, 2008, p. 6 ref From October 2008 to February 2009, the Academy exhibited a sampling of the collection under the title Richard Lane and the Floating World . From March 2010 to June 2010, the Academy exhibited a second installment of the collection under the title Masterpieces from the Richard Lane Collection . Publications Richard Lane s publications include Lane, Richard, Erotica Japonica Masterworks of Shunga Painting , New York, Japan Publications, 1986. ISBN 0870406655 Lane, Richard, Hokusai , ... more details
of taking the property as heir . For example, a common law jurisdiction s intestacy statute might ... the laws of intestacy , then any property he owned at death would escheat. This rule has been ... more details
such law. Intestacy If there is no will, the appointment and duties of personal representatives will be determined by the deceased s personal law. Succession to an Intestacy intestate s estate ... more details
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