depositor may revoke/alter cotenancy designations as he would beneficiaries for any other will substitute All avoid probate on death and transfers title to survivor Planning for Incapacity Living not really a will, but requires similar formalities made during lifetime Lays out what circumstances you want to be kept alive under life support, and under what circumstances you want them to pull the plug Durable of Attorney of attorney gives somebody else the power to engage in legal actions for you normally, this stops when you become incompetent, but NOT if it is made durable This allows another person to make the decision to remain alive or die for you Will Construction Mistaken/Ambiguous language Plain meaning rule Extrinsic evidence may not be used to prove the testator intended a different meaning unless the word/phrase is ambiguous Patent/Latent ambiguity Patent Ambiguity is on the face of the will Common Law did not allow extrinsic evidence to construe patent ambiguity Latent Ambiguity is not on the will’s face, but appears during probate Common Law did extrinsic evidence to construe latent ambiguity Modern trend Extrinsic Evidence is allowed to construe any ambiguity Personal Usage Exception If the testator had an idiosyncratic way of referring to people, extrinsic evidence may be used to show the testator meant somebody other than whose actual name is in the will False Demonstratio Doctrine Courts cannot change the language in the will, but they can language out! When a description of a person/thing has many aspects and not all of them fit any one person/thing, less essential aspects may be rejected if the rest of the description clearly fits i.e. Southfield Dr,” but testator owns 17 Southfield out to have just “19 “19” “Southfield Dr”…this is enough to identify the property as 17 Southfield Dr Scrivener’s Doctrine If there is clear and convincing evidence that the scrivener made a mistake If there is clear and convincing evidence of what the testator’s intent was Then the may use extrinsic evidence to correct the mistake EXAM: use ONLY on ESSAY…NOT on MC Validity of the will Extrinsic evidence is admissible to determine whether a will was or not
depositor may revoke/alter cotenancy designations as he would beneficiaries for any other will substitute All avoid probate on death and transfers title to survivor Planning for Incapacity Living not really a will, but requires similar formalities made during lifetime Lays out what circumstances you want to be kept alive under life support, and under what circumstances you want them to pull the plug Durable of Attorney of attorney gives somebody else the power to engage in legal actions for you normally, this stops when you become incompetent, but NOT if it is made durable This allows another person to make the decision to remain alive or die for you Will Construction Mistaken/Ambiguous language Plain meaning rule Extrinsic evidence may not be used to prove the testator intended a different meaning unless the word/phrase is ambiguous Patent/Latent ambiguity Patent Ambiguity is on the face of the will Common Law did not allow extrinsic evidence to construe patent ambiguity Latent Ambiguity is not on the will’s face, but appears during probate Common Law did extrinsic evidence to construe latent ambiguity Modern trend Extrinsic Evidence is allowed to construe any ambiguity Personal Usage Exception If the testator had an idiosyncratic way of referring to people, extrinsic evidence may be used to show the testator meant somebody other than whose actual name is in the will False Demonstratio Doctrine Courts cannot change the language in the will, but they can language out! When a description of a person/thing has many aspects and not all of them fit any one person/thing, less essential aspects may be rejected if the rest of the description clearly fits i.e. “19 Southfield Dr,” but testator owns 17 Southfield out “19” to have just “Southfield Dr”…this is enough to identify the property as 17 Southfield Dr Scrivener’s Doctrine If there is clear and convincing evidence that the scrivener made a mistake If there is clear and convincing evidence of what the testator’s intent was Then the may use extrinsic evidence to correct the mistake EXAM: use ONLY on ESSAY…NOT on MC Validity of the will Extrinsic evidence is admissible to determine whether a will was or not
Trusts-Wills-Outline.docx