Class Gifts Under the Restatement (Third) of Property

Abstract

This article updates and expands on an article originally published under the same title in the Ohio Northern University Law Review, Vol. 33, p. 993, 2007. The original article was published as part of a symposium issue on Frontiers of Estate Planning: Changing Laws for Changing Times. The symposium was held in March 2007 at Ohio Northern University Claude W. Pettit College of Law.

The article deals with the treatment of class gifts in the new Restatement (Third) of Property: Wills and Other Donative Transfers. The original article was based on a 2004 Tentative Draft of the Restatement that was not final. The update reports on the final version as it appears in the hard cover volume that was published in late 2011. The final version differs somewhat from the Tentative Draft version.

The Restatement deals comprehensively with class gifts — general characteristics of a class gift, presumptive meaning of class-gift terms, questions of status, increase and decrease in class membership, and class gifts to heirs.

Keywords: Class gifts, Restatement (Third) of Property, Wills, Donative Transfers

JEL Classification: K20