Week 1 Estate Law Discussion

1. Who Needs a Will the Most?

There are different reasons people have wills drafted. Here, we look at different scenarios and see how a will would benefit each in these specific situations.

Examine the need for a will in the following scenarios, and then indicate who from this group is most in need of a will.

• Elderly widow living in a nursing home
• Wealthy, married couple with grown children
• Widower in his 30s with two small children
• Couple in their second marriage, each having grown children from his/her prior marriage, and the two having a minor child together
• 24 year old unmarried, childless college student
• Disabled adult

Justify your ideas and responses by using appropriate examples and references from Lexis Advance (including primary sources such as cases, statutes, rules, regulations, etc.), government Web sites, peer-reviewed legal periodicals (not lawyer blogs), which can be supplemented by law dictionaries or the textbook. This means you need to use more than just your text and legal dictionaries.

2. What Constitutes the Unauthorized Practice of Law
There is a line between helping folks in need and practicing law when illegally prohibited from doing so. Where is that line when estate planning is involved? The case below should help you assess this facet.
Read the Fla. Bar v. Miravalle (2000) case. Based on your reading, answer the following and explain your choice:

• What specific actions did the Bar say were UPL? 
• Do you think that non-lawyers should be prohibited from performing the tasks mentioned in the case?  Why or why not?
• What (if anything) could the individual providing legal services have done differently to avoid the charge of UPL?

Justify your ideas and responses by using appropriate examples and references from Lexis Advance (including primary sources such as cases, statutes, rules, regulations, etc.), government Web sites, peer-reviewed legal periodicals (not lawyer blogs), which can be supplemented by law dictionaries or the textbook. This means you need to use more than just your text and legal dictionaries