Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2010
Abstract
Part I of this article considers the default rules of testacy and intestacy, analyzes various policies proffered to justify these rules, and proposes that succession law should return to its original mission of effectuating decedent's intent. Part II introduces the case study of the 2008 UPC Amendments in a detailed description. Part III then analyzes whether the primary policy goal of testamentary intent and succession law's structural goals are effectuated by the 2008 UPC Amendments. Part IV provides recommendations to states considering adoption of the 2008 UPC Amendments on an a la carte basis and also recommends language for practitioners to avoid the new default rules, if adopted in the practitioner's state. Finally, the Article concludes that the 2008 UPC Amendments, though beneficial to a sliver of the emerging nontraditional family demographic, are, in fact, hollow technical tweaks which fall short of changes that would ultimately benefit all families, traditional and nontraditional.
Recommended Citation
Lee-ford Tritt, Technical Correction or Tectonic Shift: Competing Default Rule Theories Under the New Uniform Probate Code, 61 Ala. L. Rev. 273 (2010).