The Heiligenstadt Testament: Beethoven's Therapeutic Estate Planning Experience
4 Pages Posted: 15 Sep 2014 Last revised: 16 Sep 2014
Date Written: April 30, 2012
Abstract
Therapeutic jurisprudence is concerned with the psychological and emotional consequences of the law. Specifically, it suggests that these consequences should be weighed alongside other policy considerations when lawmakers implement reform and that, all else being equal, the law should be shaped to maximize its therapeutic potential.
This essay uses the estate planning experience of Ludwig van Beethoven to illustrate the ripe opportunity for therapeutic jurisprudential analysis of the law of succession. Indeed, therapeutic jurisprudence can be used to analyze a number of areas of the estate planning process, including not only the psychological effects of the law on the individual testator but also therapeutic issues related to those who stand to benefit from the testator’s estate plan, such as his friends and family.
Keywords: Trusts & Estates, Estate Planning, Therapeutic Jurisprudence
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