In a trust decanting, a trustee who under the terms of a trust (the first trust) has a discretionary power over distribution uses that power to distribute the trust property to a new trust (the second trust) with updated provisions, leaving behind the sediment of the first trust’s stale...

The organizing principle of the American law of succession is freedom of disposition. This book chapter surveys freedom of disposition in American succession law--intestacy, wills, trusts, and nonprobate transfers. The chapter also considers the main limits on freedom of disposition, focusing on...

This book chapter, prepared for the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Fiduciary Law, canvasses the fiduciary principles applicable to a trustee of a donative, irrevocable private trust subject. The focus is on prevailing American law. The chapter examines (a) the trigger for finding a trust...

This book chapter, prepared for the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Fiduciary Law, canvasses the fiduciary duties other than the primary duties of loyalty and care. The core claim is that these other, subsidiary duties are field-specific elaborations of the primary duties of loyalty and care that...

This paper investigates the effect of changes in state prudent trust investment laws on asset allocation in noncommercial trusts. The old prudent-man rule favored “safe†investments and disfavored “speculation†in stock. The new prudent-investor rule directs trustees to craft...