Exam 50: Wills and Trusts

A married person who makes a will generally cannot avoid leaving a certain portion of the estate to the surviving spouse.

Eighty-year-old Clark exhibits confusion, forgetfulness, and disorienta?tion. To Clark's doctor Dave, the symptoms indicate dementia. Elsa, who has significant contact with Clark, believes that he is in a state of men?tal decline. These facts indicate

A testator may revoke a will by tearing it.

A constructive trust is "constructed" by a property owner to fulfill certain unique functions outside the usual bounds of a trust.

An express trust is created or declared in explicit terms.

In most states, a person must be sixteen years of age to execute a valid will.

Ruby, an elderly woman, is diagnosed with lung cancer. She real?izes her condition may worsen, and that there is a chance that at some point she will become so weak the only way she will be able to breathe is with the help of medical machinery. She does not want to be kept alive in such a "vegetative state." What are Ruby's options?

Before dying from injuries suffered in an auto accident, Beamer tells his relatives that on his death, Clotilde is to have all of his posses?sions. Beamer has made

A codicil is a clause in a will affirming the testator's testamentary capacity.

Philomena dies without a will. A court appoints Quigley to handle the probate of Philomena's estate. The administrator of the estate is

A nuncupative will is an oral will.

To execute a valid will, a testator must remember the "natural objects of his or her bounty."

A divorce occurring after the execution of a will revokes dispositions of property to the former spouse.

If property escheats, its title is transferred to a person's nearest blood relative.

Dyan executes her will to give "to my nephew Esau my stock in Fargo, Inc." Later, Dyan writes separately, with the same formalities required for a will, to leave the stock to her niece Ginny and cash to Esau. This writing

Keri's will states, "I give to my sister Liz my condominium in Malibu, California." This is

A trust that a grantor executes orally in contemplation of imme?diate death is a testamentary trust.

Undue influence can occur when a named beneficiary is in a position to influence the making of a will.

Juli types onto a computer what she intends to be "My Will" and prints it out. Juli has capacity. "My Will" is

Deborah dies without a will. State laws that determine how a decedent's es?tate will be distributed in such circumstances are known as