EstatesFall 2008Page 1

WesternStateUniversityCollege of Law

Estates §497 A & B

Fall 2010

Syllabus & Policies

Professor Cheyañna L. Jaffke

Office Location:Third floor faculty suitesRoom 302D

E-mail:

Phone Number:(714) 459-1138

Secretary:Bonnie Manning

(714) 459-1128

Office Hours:Appointments can be made via the appointment book.

I will have NO appointments after November 30, 2010.

Course Objectives:

  1. To introduce students to the substantive area of donative transfers of property through the creation of trusts, wills and other estate planning devices.
  1. To expose students to the formalities of will and trust drafting.
  2. To prepare the student to be able to analyze the powers and fiduciary duties of the trustee and executor.
  1. To study court enforcement and interpretation of estate planning documents.

Methodology:

This course will use two methods of learning:

  1. The problem method. Your textbook contains problems throughout the chapters. Unless otherwise indicated, all problems are assigned, but may not be discussed in class. All students are required to prepare written answers to the problems.
  2. The case method. Your textbook also contains cases, notes and questions. You are responsible for reading and briefing all assigned material.

Required Texts:

Casebook: Ritchie, Alford and Effland’s Estates and Trusts, (3rd edition) By Dobris, Sterk, and Leslie University Casebook Series

Statutes: California Probate Code (2010, earlier edition are not acceptable)

Recommended Texts:

Understanding Trusts and Estates, (3rd edition), by Roger W. Andersen. Matthew Bender Publishing.

Wills, Trusts and Future Interests, by Lawrence H. Averill, Jr. Black Letter Series. West Group Publishing.

Attendance

Attendance is required for all classes. Any day class student with more than three (3) absences will be academically disenrolled from the course and will receive a grade of “W” or “F” on their transcript as provided under the applicable attendance policies in your Student Handbook. Any night class student with more than two (2) absences will be academically disenrolled from the course and will receive a grade of “W” or “F” on their transcript as provided under the applicable attendance policies in your Student Handbook. It is your responsibility to keep track of the number of your absences, so don’t ask my secretary, the Records Office or me how many absences you have. Because this course is bar-tested, I will not waive or excuse any absences.

The courts, employers, clients and I expect punctuality. Students who arrive after class has begun will be the first students called on for that day.

Students may NOT attend a class in the section in which they are not enrolled to make up an absence. Day students may not attend the night class and night students may not attend the day class.

Laptops are BANNED

Students are not permitted to bring or use laptops, desktops, I-pods, I-touches, I-pads or other computers in class. Students may use computers during their preparation for class, but must have printouts of their answers, briefs and other documents.

Students who wish to tape the lectures must complete and submit the request to tape document located on the course web page.

DSS students, who were registered as such in the spring 2010 semester, may submit to Professor Jaffke a note from the student’s doctor explaining why the use of the laptop is medically necessary and why taping the class is not a reasonable accommodation. Requests must be submitted to Professor Jaffke by Monday, August 23, 2010 at 5:00 p.m. Professor Jaffke will then meet with the student to discuss the accommodation.

Class Participation:

Class participation is required of all students. Class participation consists of being prepared when called upon, having written answers to the assigned problems and written case briefs (not book briefs), and bringing the casebook and probate code to class. You are expected to know the definition of all words used in the reading. I may ask you what a particular word means. You must have a definition handy without referring to a dictionary when I ask you. Students who answer a problem incorrectly will NOT be penalized. Students who do not attempt to answer a problem will be penalized. You will receive points over the course of the semester for your class participation. It is possible to have NEGATIVE points for class participation.

I will call on students randomly by pulling the name on a card out of a box. A student who is called upon may receive 1 point (+1) for adequately briefing the case or answering the problems. To be adequate, the student must be able to answer all questions without prompting or assistance from either me or co-counsel (your classmates). A student who requires minimal prompting or assistance will get 0 points. A student who requires more than minimal prompting or assistance will lose 1 point (-1). Also a student who is unable to define a term in the case or fails to pull and brief the case(s) attached to the problem will also lose 1 (-1) point. If after briefing a case or answering a problem, you would like to know what you received, you may ask immediately after class or send me an e-mail within 24 hours of the class.

Students who are unprepared when called upon will lose 10 points (-10) in class participation for the first instance during the semester. A student who is called on and is unprepared more than once in a semester will receive an absence for each time the student is not prepared after the first time in addition to the loss of 10 (-10) points each time. This absence counts towards your total number of absences and may result in your academic dismissal from the course.

You may also receive one point (+1) for participating in classroom discussion by regularly answering questions that are open for the entire class. You may also lose one point (-1) if your participation is disruptive and not helpful, such as wisecracking.

The rule of 3: I will pull a name out of the box to call on someone. If that person is absent or unprepared, then I will pull another name out of the box. After pulling 3 cards, I will allow someone in class to volunteer to either brief the case or answer the problem. If someone volunteers and does an adequate job, that student will receive 2 points (+2 points). If no one volunteers, then I will do the case or problem myself, but I will not answer questions related to the case or the problem nor will I repeat myself.

Do not assume that problems, questions and/or cases will be covered in the order in your casebook or syllabus. If there is a case or other reference cited in your problem or question, you are responsible for reading it prior to class and telling the class the impact it has on your problem or question. If you fail to pull and read the reference attached to your problem / question, you will lose one point (-1). Additionally, you must prepare a written brieffor your classmatesthat explains the impact of the material on the answer you gave and submit it via the online classroom within 24 hours of the class ending. If you fail to do so within the 24 hour grace period, then you will lose 2 points (-2).

Examinations and Grading:

All students will receive a numeric grade for the course. You will have the rare opportunity to experience democracy in the dictatorship of Estates. You will choose how you want to be graded. You will vote in class on Thursday, August 26,2010. The majority of both the day and the night classes decides. The options are:

  • Final exam and class participation only
  • Final exam (50%), midterm (50%) & class participation
  • Final exam (50%), midterm (40%), other assignments (10%) & class participation.

The final exam will be a three-hour examination. The exam will be a closed book exam, which means that you will not be able to bring anything into the exam except a pen or your laptop. The exam is intended to mock a bar exam question or questions. To prepare for your exam, you should review sample wills and trust questions that have been on the California Bar. Copies are available on reserve at the library. The exam may consist of multiple choice and / or essay questions. I will provide more information about the final exam by November 6, 2010.

Blackboard:

DEADLINE to sign up is Sept 1st.

I have created a web course stocked full of information just for you. This web course contains sample exams, exam tips, previous exams, additional hypotheticals, etc. Blackboard will be where I will post changes in the reading assignments, including which problems we will not be discussing in class. Blackboard is the appropriate forum for questions regarding the final exam. Information provided on Blackboard may not be provided in class. Everyone in the class will be expected to use the web course, and everyone is assumed to have the information it contains.

Yahoo Messenger

If you have and use Yahoo Messenger, you may add me to your buddy list. This is a forum through which you can ask questions to me in real time. My username is taxprof920. In your request to be added to my buddy list, you must include that you are in the Estates class and your full name.

Reading Assignments:

These reading assignments do NOT correspond to a class session. You should always be at least 60 pages ahead of where we ended the last class. For example, if we end class around page 90, you should be prepared (AT A MINIMUM) through page 150. This will allow the class to either speed up or slow down depending upon its understanding of the material.

Students should be prepared to discuss all cases, problems and questions. I expect you to have written answers for the problems and questions listed. *When answering questions / problems, if it refers you to a particular case or law review article, you are expected to know how that reference impacts the answer to the question / problem.

We will be covering the following chapters in the order in which they appear: 1, 2, 7, 4, 5, 13 and 3.

MAKE SURE TO APPLY RELEVANT CALIFORNIA LAW TO ALL PROBLEMS

Generally, we will only learn the Uniform Probate Code and the California Probate code.

Reading Assignment / Problems & Questions
Casebook: Chapter 1
California Probate Code:
§§ 250 & 254 / Page 7 #1
Page 8 # 3
Page 24 #6 & 7
Page 28 # 2
Page 28 problem 1*
Page 33 #4
Page35 problems 2* & 3*
Casebook: Chapter 2
Except Pages125 (at New York Law) though 146 (start at section VI)
California Probate Code:
§§ 6401, 6402, 6403, 6404, 6406, 6409, 6450, 6451, 6452, 6453, 6454, 6455
Estate of Joseph,
949 P2d 472
Ignore MA law / Problems on page 75
Problem on page 87-88
Problem on page 89
Problems 1 –5 on page 94
Questions 1 & 2 on page 101
Question 2 on page 102
Questions 1 & 2 on pages149-150
Question 1 on page 151
Problem on page 152*
Problem 1 on page 162*
Problem on page 165 (check your answer with the answer on the course web page)
Casebook: Chapter 7
Pages 500-529
Pages 657-682
California Probate Code:
§§ 15200 – 15205, 15402-15404 / Question 1 on page 520
Problems 1 – 4 on page 520-521*
Problems 1, 2 on pages 669-670
Problems 1 & 2 on pages 681-682
Casebook: Chapter 4
California Probate Code:
§§ 6110-6112, 6120-6124, 6130, 6131, 21109 – 21111, 21132, 21400-21402,
Skip UPC 2-603(b)(5) & (c) / Problem on page 234* Use NY law
Problems on page 236Use NY & CA law
Problem on page 263-264*
Problems 1 & 2 on pages 270 – 271*
Problems 1 – 5 on pages 272*
# 1 & 4 page 282*
Problem 1 on page 284
Problems 1 – 3 on pages 297 – 298*
Problems 1 – 3 on pages 298 – 299*
Problem on page 303 (As to UPC & CPC)
Problem on page 305
Problems 1 & 2 on page 316*
Problem on page324*
Problems on page 338*
Problems 1 –3 on page 359*
Problems 1 & 2 on page 368
Problems 1 –3 pages 373 – 374
Problem 1 on page 382*
Casebook: Chapter 5
CPC §§ 6100.5, 21303 – 21306, 21700
Skip Will of Kaufman and read instead
Estate of Sarabia, 270 Cal Rptr 560 (1990) / #3 on pages418-419*
Problems 1 & 2 on page 424
#1 & 3 on pages 437 - 438*
Problem 1 & 2 on page 451*
Problem on pages 468-469*
Casebook: chapter 13
Pages 1078 – 1156
CPC §§ 16000-16015, 16040, 16405-16048, 16052 / Problems1 & 2 on page 1088*
Problem on page 1106
Problem on page 1129-1130
Problems pages 1143 – 1144 (check your answers with the answers posted on the course web page)
Casebook: Chapter 3
Pages 209 -223
CPC §§21610 -21612, 21620 - 21623 / Focus ONLY on California law
Problems on page 217

If you find that the problems or questions do not match the page given, post something on the course webpage to alert me and your classmates.