ICYMI:
Note: What Ghost Up Must Come Down: The Highs and Lows of Psychic Mediums in Probate Law, 29 Quinn. Prob. Law Jour. 310.
Here is the beginning of this Note.
Beyond broad contemplations of the significance of life and death is a troubling thought: if life does not end at death, what does this mean for the purposes of the law? So much of estate law is centered on the concept that life ceases both literally and legally at death - the law's struggle with the controlling "dead hand" is but one example of this idea. As Thomas Jefferson once stated in a letter to James Madison, "the earth belongs in usufruct to the living; the dead neither have powers nor rights over it. The portion occupied by any individual ceases to be his when he himself ceases to be...." Many probate disputes concern the intent of the deceased regarding the distribution of property. This Note examines the importance of testator intent together with the notion that life can extend beyond death. Notwithstanding traditional notions such as those of Thomas Jefferson, this Note explores nontraditional methods of determining testator intent, particularly the use of psychic mediums to more aptly devise a testator's property.
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