Article on Bringing Emotion and Relevance to the Contemporary Trusts and Estates Course

Wayne M. Gazur (Colorado), recently published an article entitled, The White Whale: Bringing Emotion and Relevance to the Contemporary Trusts and Estates Course, 58 St. Louis U. L.J. 785 (2014). Provided below is the introduction of the article:

The title of this Essay is intended to evoke two conflicting interpretations at the outset. According to one plausible perspective, the contemporary Trusts and Estates course remains a highly doctrinal property course, largely devoid of emotional appeal for most students. Further, as discussed below, it is also increasingly less relevant to the planning needs of most potential clients. Consequently, a teacher’s efforts to bring emotion and relevance to the course might seem to be an unsuccessful, frustrating quest much like Ahab’s search for the elusive white whale, Moby Dick.1

I try to develop a different perspective in my teaching of the course, and I establish that tone on the first day of class with Ishmael’s moving account of his will execution ceremony.2 This human, client-centered view of trusts and estates is increasingly a part of my course, enriching the doctrinal material. In terms of relevance, I believe that the Trusts and Estates course can still remain so, even amidst the profound changes to the manner in which many Americans transfer their wealth up on death and the increasing irrelevance of federal wealth transfer taxation.