Article on Federalizing Principles of Donative Intent

Reid Kress Weisbord (Vice Dean, Professor of Law, and Judge Norma L. Shapiro Scholar, Rutgers School of Law Newark) recently published an article entitled, Federalizing Principles of Donative Intent and Unanticipated Circumstances, 67 Vand. L. Rev. 1931-1944 (2014).  Provided below is a portion of the article’s introduction:

This Symposium identifies several areas of state wealth transfer law that intersect or conflict with federal law. These intersections and conflicts represent a new frontier because, historically, the field of wealth transfer law was governed almost entirely by the states, with little to no interference by the federal system. Because the Supremacy Clause mandates that federal law prevail over conflicting state law, the absence of a comprehensive body of federal wealth transfer law creates a complex and unpredictable vacuum in cases implicating preemption. The contributions of this Symposium, therefore, articulate a compelling need for Congress, federal courts, and federal agencies to establish guiding principles for the development and interpretation of federal wealth transfer rules, which in some settings may benefit from the adoption of state law. These guiding principles are necessary to facilitate a just evaluation of the competing interests at stake, particularly when a federal interest requires that state wealth transfer law be displaced. In adopting such principles, federal law need not always defer to state law, but the long history of the states’ experience in this field may provide valuable information from which the federal system may greatly benefit.