Article On Marijuana And Estate Planning

Gerry W. Beyer (Professor of Law, Texas Tech University) & Brooke Dacus (California Lutheran University) recently published an article entitled, Puff, the Magic Dragon and the Estate Planner, Tex. A&M J. Prop. L.. Provided below is an abstract of the article:

With the legalization of medical and recreational marijuana in almost half of the states, practitioners need to be aware of interface between marijuana and estate planning. This article provides a discussion of the major issues that arise. After bringing readers up-to-date with the history of legalized marijuana, the article focuses on how marijuana use may impact a user’s capacity to execute a will and other estate planning documents. The article then examines other estate planning concerns such as will and trust provisions conditioning benefits on the non-use of “illegal drugs” and the impact of marijuana use on life insurance policies. The article wraps up with a discussion of how an estate planner may deal with marijuana-based assets when planning an estate and how to value those assets after the owner has died.