• Recent Article: Should Trusts Be Legal Persons?

    Many jurisdictions across the world, including the United States, Canada, and Australia, increasingly view trusts as entities rather than under the traditional common law conception of the trust as a fiduciary relationship. As the author puts it, “The US trend described above reflects a casual entification of trusts, a result of many jurists’ familiarity and comfort with entities.” The article is not just descriptive. It asks whether treating trusts as legal persons would actually improve the law in some contexts. The Murdoch family trust, which the New York Times reported as having equity and a board, is one example of how far trust practice can move in that direction. Worth reading.

    Hofri-Winogradow, Adam S., Should Trusts Be Legal Persons? (March 15, 2026). forthcoming in the McGill Law Journal, volume 72 (2027)., Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=6424038

  • Recent Article: Secrecy in Trust Litigation

    From the abstract: “This Article exposes a trend that is quietly undermining the norm of public access to trust proceedings: To attract a lucrative cottage industry of trust businesses, some states have enacted legislation that automatically seals trust cases. This unprecedented level of secrecy poses a threat to court transparency and, more broadly, to the integrity of the wealth transfer process. The Article uses these new laws as a springboard to discuss what the law governing secrecy in trust cases is and should be.”

    Weisbord, Reid K. and Horton, David and Cahn, Naomi R., Secrecy in Trust Litigation (February 12, 2026). GWU Legal Studies Research Paper , Wake Forest Law Review, Rutgers Law School Research Paper Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=6225698 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.6225698

  • George Washington and Fashion

    Interesting piece in the Washington Post, Incredibly, men are still wearing ‘the George Washington’, where Chloe Chapin says that George Washington invented the blue blazer and khakis look. She has a new book coming out in June 2026 published by Oxford University Press, Suitable: The Sartorial Revolution and the Fashioning of Modern Men, which also looks interesting.

  • Recent Case: Testamentary Exception Applies to Trusts

    In a decision of first impression, the North Carolina Court of Appeals held in Steele v. Kenna, No. COA25-530 (N.C. Ct. App. Feb. 18, 2026) that the testamentary exception to the attorney-client privilege applies to trust disputes (not just will contests) so that in a post-death controversy over who takes by succession under a trust, the settlor’s communications with estate planning counsel regarding dispositive intent are discoverable.

  • Washington Post: On Lifelong Learning

    Another incentive to keep learning: the Washington Post discusses a new study finding a five year difference in Alzheimer’s onset between the most and least cognitively enriched groups.

    From the article, “that the texture of daily life – what we practice, whom we see, how we fill an idle hour – may leave a measurable imprint on the aging brain”

    and for those in midlife: “Reading and writing; having household resources like magazine subscriptions, dictionaries and library cards; visiting a museum.”

    And finally, “As long as you are constantly scouring for knowledge and looking to learn, that’s what we see as important here.”

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