LAW 615LEC - Future Interests

Development of the law of property from the earliest land-based economy in England to our modern treatment in New York; the concept of the division of interests, present and future, legal and beneficial; classification of interests created and retained: the concept of vestedness, understanding conditions and covenants as affecting vesting, importance of classification of interests when determining rights and remedies, includes analysis under New York’s Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law (RPAPL). Development of the laws of intestate descent and distribution and the laws of Wills and Trusts with New York application. Understanding the process of judicial construction, practical analysis of the axioms of construction when drafting, distilling and defending an interest; anatomy of class gifts; powers of appointment: concept of a power as an authority over property as distinguished from an interest in property, detailed study of powers of appointment, utility of powers as a modern estate planning tool. Taking up the Rule Against Perpetuities (RAP), future interests as the object of RAP, development and application: NY’s perspective on perpetuities as “one rule with two parts”; reviewing the classic common law “vesting rule”, and focusing on New York’s “suspension of alienability” rule, especially in the context of spendthrift trusts and class gifts; application of RAP to charitable gifts (yes, contrary to popular belief, the Rule has threshold application!); mitigating the harshness of the rule in NY; we will also examine the expansion of RAP in the context of modern commercial transactions. Introduction to estate planning. The course stresses a conceptual approach to the law and an in-depth analysis under New York’s Estates, Powers and Trusts Law (EPTL), using study problems designed to integrate materials and provide students an opportunity for practical application.

Credits: 3