Faculty and Staff
Professor Moore's Course Information - Fall 2013
Federal Estate and Gift Tax
Office Hours: Wednesdays 8 to 10am or by appointment.
Text: Federal Estate and Gift Taxation (10th ed.), Bittker, Clark, McCouch. American Casebook Series, ISBN 978-0-314-19970-6.
Code: Selected Federal Taxation, Statutes and Regulations; edited by Daniel J. Lathrope. A recent edition will be sufficient.
Course coverage: This course covers the estate and gift tax components of the federal transfer tax system, which also contains the generation skipping transfer tax. By the end of the course, you will be able to determine whether a lifetime transfer is a taxable gift and what items are in a decedent’s gross estate. In addition, computation of the taxes will be covered, including application of deductions and credits against the transfer taxes. Select estate planning topics will also be covered.
Attendance: Attendance will be taken. More than four absences may result in removal from the course.
Assessment: The class we will be assessed based on a three-hour open book exam administered at the end of the semester.
Assignments:
Pages
Topic
1) 1-26
Historical Perspectives
2) 26-40
State law and policy
3) 44-69
Gross gifts
4) 69-83
Gross gifts cont’d, value
5) 83-103
Incomplete transfers
6) 103-12, 119-21, 139-48
Incomplete transfers
7) 148-75
Annual exclusions/disclaimers
8) 175-99
Gross estate
9) 199-205
Gross estate
10) 209-38
Gross estate/string provisions
11) 238-62
String provisions
12) 262-83
Reciprocal gifts/string provisions cont’d
13) 283-90
String provisions
14) 307-28
String provisions
15) 359-79
Life insurance
16) 391-415
Power of appointments
17) 418-20
2514e
18) 422-46
Deductions/credits
19) 458-72
Deductions/credits
20) 473-88
Marital Deduction
21) 488-523
Marital Deduction
22) 523-37
Marital Deduction
23) 545-51
Split gifts/credits
24) Discussion of Generation Skips
I will be handing assorted problem sets over the course of the semester that we will discuss in class. The readings refer to various code sections and regulations that we will discuss in class, as well.
Trusts and Estates
Office Hours: Wednesdays 8 to 10am or by appointment.
Text: An Introduction to Trusts and Estates, Vollmer, Hess and Whitman (American Casebook Series). ISBN: 0-314-21152-7. This is an excellent text, though somewhat dated. I will be supplementing with a few handouts over the course of the semester.
Course coverage: This course will cover laws and concepts governing gratuitous transfers of property inter vivos and at death, including discussions of the probate process, wills and intestacy. In addition, concepts governing the creation and operation of private express trusts will be covered. Though the laws of various states will be discussed as part of the assignments, much of the course will focus on the Uniform Probate Code and the Uniform Trust Code.
Attendance. Attendance will be taken. More than four absences may result in removal from the course.
Assessment: The course will be assessed based on a 3-hour closed book exam administered at the end of the semester. The exam will consist of a half-hour bar question, 1 hour multiple choice section and an hour and a half short essay section.
Assignments:
1) 1-11, 18-36
General introduction
2) 37-61
Estate planning context of trusts and estates
3) 61-90
Lifetime transfers
4) 91-109
Capacity to make gifts
5) 111-33
Will substitutes
6) 133-52
Will substitutes cont’d
7) 160-86
Will substitutes, trusts
8) 186-213
Trusts
9) 213-35
Trusts
10) 236-50
Trusts
11) 250-71
Trusts
12) 271-82
Trusts
13) 282-88/91-99
Powers of appointment
14) 299-313
Powers of appointment
15) 316-38
Trust creditors
16) 545-70
Intestacy
17) 571-77/84-87
Intestacy
18) 589-610
Wills
19) 614-632
Will execution
20) 632-52
Will execution/contests
21) 652-85
Will contests
22) 685-713
Will contests and revocation
23) 713-37
Revival and contracts to make wills
24) 745-67
Rights of spouse
25) 772-81
Rights of spouse
26) 801-26
Construing wills
27) Lecture on class gifts and drafting mistakes
28) Lecture re trust modification, charitable trusts and estate administration.