Trusts and Estates Simulations Bridge to Practice

This book provides students the opportunity to draft an entire estate plan for a fairly typical couple, from the initial client meeting and retainer letter, to the will, revocable trust and the transmittal letter. Students can role-play as clients or lawyers and work in teams to draft the documents, or they can work through the documents individually. The chapters take them through the initial client meeting where they learn details about their clients’ lives and probable beneficiaries. Then the students will analyze the clients’ property and work through the advantages and disadvantages of different ways of holding the property, as well as the clients’ intentions regarding the succession of the property at death. The students will learn to calculate homestead, family allowance, exempt property, intestate shares, and the elective share, in order to understand how the estate would devolve under various default rules. Then students will draft a living will, durable power of attorney, health care proxy, and disposition of physical remains. Finally, they will draft a basic will and revocable trust. When they are done drafting the plan documents, the students will draft a letter explaining the work they have done for their clients and enclose a final bill, which they will draft from the time sheets they will have maintained throughout the representation. The final chapters offer some additional drafting exercises to deal with future interests, a special needs trust, and the clients’ acquisition of additional property that could lead to tax consequences. This book provides students with a real live case study, so when they reach practice they should be able to hit the ground running.

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