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  • 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…

  • 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,…

  • 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…

  • WSJ: The $3,400 Billable Hour

    A recent article in the Wall Street Journal talks about rising billable rates for attorneys. “Some senior partners now charge as much as $3,400 an hour at the country’s largest law firms, according to data from Persuit, a software company that in-house lawyers use to analyze their legal bills.”

  • Ancient Mortgages

    In Aristotle’s time, a loan of money or other interest secured by land would be marked by a large stone, called a horos or opoi, displayed prominently on the property. Source: History of Mortgages, Jerry L. Anderson, Probate & Property (Jan/Feb 2026).

  • Recent Article: A New Restatement for Trusts

    In “Time for a New Restatement,” published in Probate & Property (Jan./Feb. 2026), Professor Thomas Gallanis argues that the time has come for a new Restatement of Trusts to replace the Third Restatement. He argues that the Third Restatement does not adequately address more modern features of trust practice, including directed trusts, trust decanting, and…

  • New North Carolina Law for Removing Unauthorized Occupants

    In Session Law 2025-88, effective December 1, 2025,  North Carolina adopted a legal remedy for expedited removal of unauthorized persons from residential property. This new law seems aimed to solve the problem of when an unauthorized person is on the premises but the owner is unable to remove them through the usual Magistrate process because…

  • Saga of Tony Hsieh, again

    Further developments in the Tony Hsieh probate dispute. Fascinating case. Previously discussed the case here. A question that keeps coming to mind is whether this could have been prevented. I don’t think the answer is clear.

  • Book Review: 1929 by Andrew Ross Sorkin

    Excellent overview of the 1929 crash. I do not believe I had heard of Charles Mitchell, or at least realized who he was, until reading this book. Lots of interesting pieces regarding Thomas Lamont of JP Morgan, and it builds on Ron Chernow’s exploration of JP Morgan in House of Morgan. Another reviewer mentioned it…

  • Recent Article: “Health” in HEMS Means Complete Well-Being

    “Health” in HEMS Means Complete Well-Being, by Claudia E. Tordini and Richard S. Franklin, 50 ACTEC 339 (2025). There is little clarity in what “health” means in the typical trust distribution standard of “health, education, maintenance, and support.” Few cases have litigated the definition of what distributions qualify for health. The authors here argue that…

  • Leonard D. Jacoby (RIP)

    An early adopter of legal advertising in the U.S., Leonard D. Jacoby died on January 12. After the U.S. Supreme Court allowed lawyers to advertise in Bates v. State Bar of Arizona, Leonard took advantage. “In Southern California in the late 1970s, the ads were inescapable — the firm was running up to 100 a…

  • Caring for Spouses

    End-of-life care falls on more spouses (Washington Post). This is expected to rise. “Adults 65 and older are projected to account for about 1 in 4 Americans by 2050, up more than 30 percent from 2024. That compares with 1 in 10 in the 1980s.”

  • Recent Case: In re Russo (NC Court of Appeals)

    The North Carolina Court of Appeals, in In re Russo, No. COA25-321 (N.C. Ct. App. Jan. 7, 2026), has now made explicit what many practitioners assumed. A law firm, as a corporate entity, may not serve as trustee or executor unless authorized under N.C.G.S. § 53-303(a). The Court rejected the argument that the § 53-304(2)…

  • Recent Article: Fetal Personhood and Inheritance by Unborn Children

    In Fetal Personhood and Inheritance by Unborn Children, by Alyssa A. DiRusso and Emily Price, 50 ACTEC 279 (2025), Professors Alyssa A. DiRusso and Emily Price argue that given the recent rise in law regarding IVF and personhood, there is a gap in the law concerning what they call “nevernatal” children, which are children who…

  • Best Books of 2025

    I believe I read 20 or so new book releases in 2025. My top three are probably the following: 1. John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs 2. Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future 3. Abundance Although I recently started Sam Tanenhaus’s 1,018 page biography of William F. Buckley, it is doubtful I…

  • Markets in Estates

    As reported in the Wall Street Journal, Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, is paying the IVF costs for women who want to have his biological children. He is said to have more than 100 children currently. He has promised that his estate, currently worth approximately $17 billion, will be divided among his heirs, which…

  • Book Review: Replaceable You

    I have heard of Mary Roach’s books before but never read them until I read Replaceable You. Interesting book; not for the easily squeamish. Two things I didn’t know beforehand: (1) Removing one’s teeth and getting dentures for a time was considered to be a cosmetic procedure, (2) Half of Earth’s pigs are in China.…

  • Recent Case: Timmons v. Herring (NC Court of Appeals)

    The North Carolina Court of Appeals, in an unpublished decision filed December 17, 2025, addresses the concept of standing in power of attorney disputes. Here, mother had three children and named one of her children as her agent under a durable power of attorney. The other children thought that the sibling serving as the agent…

  • Saga of Tony Hsieh

    The Wall Street Journal reports that the family of the late Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh has filed a motion seeking to invalidate a purported Last Will and Testament. According to the filing, forensic experts concluded that the signature is not authentic, and the attorney named in the document allegedly never met Hsieh. A linguistics expert…

  • Recent Article: Reforming Grantor Trusts to Raise Revenue

    In a recent article, “Reform the Grantor Trust Rules” by Jay A. Soled, 50 ACTEC Law Journal 249 (2025), he argues that Congress should reform the Grantor Trust rules to generate more tax revenue. According to him, when Congress set the trust income tax bracket at the highest marginal level in 1986, that largely eliminated…

  • Justice David Souter

    In follow-up to my earlier post on the work habits of Justice David Souter, the Harvard Law Review’s December 2025 issue includes a collection of memorials by former clerks and colleagues. More about his judicial philosophy than on his routines and habits. Worth reading.

  • Recent Article: Obligation and Duty – Two Things or One?

    In Obligation and Duty – Two Things or One?, Lionel Smith examines whether obligations and duties are fully synonymous under Quebec civil law. He argues that they are not, saying that obligations are a subset of duties: every obligation is a duty, but not every duty is an obligation. He suggests this distinction is also…

  • Work Habits of Justice David Souter

    Yale Law Journal recently had several articles as tributes from former law clerks of Justice Souter. Some interesting work habits of Justice Souter:

  • The Story of David and the Godfather

    After rereading the story of David in 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, and the first part of 1 Kings, and reading David Wolpe’s book David: The Divided Heart, it seems that the Godfather films (and presumably the novel, which I have not yet read) mirror the story of David in striking ways. In no particular order:…

  • Benjamin Franklin

    After reading Edmund Morgan’s biography of Franklin, rereading Walter Isaacson’s biography, and going back to Franklin’s own writings, I think Franklin is underrated as a writer, traveler, and diplomat. Most self-help books cannot do much better than Poor Richard’s Almanack. He was perhaps the most well-traveled American of his time. He understood the French much…

  • Why Tape Money to a Trust?

    I have always found it interesting that older North Carolina trusts sometimes have a $1 or $10 bill taped to the last page. Before 2007, former N.C. Gen. Stat. § 31-47 allowed a pour-over will to devise property “to the trustee of any trust … if established in writing prior to the execution of such…

  • The (Partial) Resurrection of Silent Trusts in North Carolina?

    Historically, trust and estate attorneys in North Carolina have practiced under the assumption that Wilson v. Wilson, 203 N.C. App. 45, 690 S.E.2d 710 (2010), stood for the proposition that silent trusts are not a viable option in North Carolina. It now seems that the current North Carolina Court of Appeals is somewhat stepping away…

  • Recent Article: Uncontested Trusts in Court

    Christopher J. Ryan Jr., David Horton, and Reid Kress Weisbord recently published Uncontested Trusts in Court, Indiana Legal Studies Research Paper No. 564, George Mason Law Review (forthcoming 2025). The authors examined 1,431 trust cases filed in San Francisco Superior Court between 2014 and 2020 and found that 971 (68%) involved no dispute. These “uncontested”…

  • Recent Article: What Should You Owe Your Ex?

    By John Morley and Yair Listokin of Yale Law School. From the abstract: “We find that although married people broadly support the law of divorce and child support as applied to their relationships, cohabiting people are more skeptical. Cohabiting people like the idea of having certain rights against third parties while their relationships remain intact,…

  • Family or State?

    The question of whether to turn in one’s family is not new. It goes back at least as far as Sophocles’ Antigone. In the play, Creon, king of Thebes, ordered that Polynices, who had attacked the city, could not be buried. Antigone defied him and buried her brother anyway, saying her duty to her family…

  • Book Review: Breakneck by Dan Wang

    Dan Wang’s excellent new book Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future goes into detail about the rise of China over the past several decades and how China can learn from the United States and the United States can learn from China. Some surprising statistics cited in the book: From 2003 to 2013, Shanghai added…

  • Is there a Duty under North Carolina law to file Child Allowance? Should there be?

    Effective March 1, 2024, there were several updates and amendments to North Carolina law regarding child allowances for decedents who died on or after that date. The amount was increased from $5,000 to $10,000. The age was set at 21, regardless of whether the child was a student. These changes were well advertised and warmly…

  • Book Review: The Pardon by Jeffrey Toobin

    Was Ford correct in pardoning Nixon? At the time, the decision was widely criticized, and many believe it cost him the 1976 election. In Jeffrey Toobin’s recent book The Pardon: The Politics of Presidential Mercy, he argues Ford was wrong, that Nixon was unlikely to be prosecuted, and the pardon carried a heavy political price.…

  • Cousin Marriages in the Bible

    Joseph Henrich in his books The Secret of Our Success and The WEIRDest People in the World, traces how the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages increasingly banned cousin marriages, beginning with Pope Gregory I. Henrich argues that these bans had tremendous effects on western society. By forcing people to marry outside their villages, they…

  • Recent Article: Charities and Racial Discrimination

    Interesting new article by Thomas Gallanis at George Mason entitled “Is Racial Discrimination Ever Charitable?” Here is part of the abstract: Is racial discrimination permissible for a charity? The question is salient and timely. Our nation faces a stark choice between two competing visions of how the law should assess racial discrimination. One view, articulated by…

  • Recent Article: The Nominal Bequest Problem: Why $1 Disinheritance Creates More Problems Than It Solves

    Professor Mark Glover’s upcoming article entitled “Nominal Bequests” in the UC Davis Law Review examines the myth that a parent must “cut off the heir with a dollar” to prove the intent to disinherit. Professor Glover shows that this false belief routinely drags estates into needless expense and delay. The myth traces back to Blackstone’s…

  • Recent Case: U.S. v. Leeds – FBAR Penalties Survive Death

    FBAR penalties have been in the legal news over the past several years. In 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court in Bittner v. U.S. ruled whether non-willful FBAR penalties are applied on a per account or a per report basis (it’s per report). Recently, FBAR penalties came up again in March 2025 in the case of…

  • Why Do Personal Injury Attorneys Love Billboards?

    In 2024, an estimated $2.5 billion was spent on legal services ads in the United States, according to the American Tort Reform Association’s 2025 report. Spending on out-of-home and outdoor ads, such as billboards, increased more than 260% when compared with 2017. In 2024, advertisers spent an estimated $541.6 million on out-of-home ads. Legal services…

  • Recent Article: Taxing Dynasties

    Brian Galle, David Gamage, and Bob Lord, in a new law review article entitled “Taxing Dynasties” (forthcoming, 174 Univ. Penn. Law Review _____ (2025)), estimate that around $4.5 trillion is already inside GST exempt dynasty trusts and will remain beyond the estate and GST tax even if Congress eliminates GRATs, IDGTs, and valuation discounts. The…

  • Recent Article: Will as Thing

    Adam Hirsch’s forthcoming U.C. Davis Law Review article entitled “Will as Thing” argues that courts overemphasize the paper will and should treat it instead as evidence of an underlying bundle of testamentary rights, in the line of Hohfeld. Professor Hirsch favors wider use of harmless‑error rules, similar to those found in the Uniform Probate Code.…

  • Samuel Johnson, Legal Mind

    Lately I’ve been reading more about Samuel Johnson. I just finished John Wain’s biography and am now working through Boswell’s famous 1,402-page biography. A few surprises so far: Johnson dropped out of university for lack of money, taught himself everything, and at one point essentially co-wrote a legal treatise based on his own reading. He…

  • Recent Article: Administrability Over Testamentary Freedom of Disposition

    Kevin Bennardo’s recent article entitled “Administrability Over Testamentary Freedom of Disposition” makes a simple but underemphasized point: the real organizing principle of inheritance law is not freedom of disposition, but administrability. While courts and commentators have historically praised testamentary freedom as sacred and fundamental, the actual practice of probate prizes practicality. Testators do not control…

  • Book Review: Second Act by Henry Oliver

    Finished Second Act by Henry Oliver. A sharp reminder that age isn’t the limitation we think it is. Our limits are usually effort and curiosity. Most people aren’t working as hard as they could on their interests, and most aren’t exploring enough new ones either. The book makes a strong case for doubling down and…

  • Culture Note: Touch of Evil (1958)

    An interesting film from Orson Welles. The film contrasts two approaches to law and order along the U.S.–Mexico border. On one side, the Mexican authorities are represented by Charlton Heston’s character, an idealistic, procedure-bound official committed to doing things by the book. On the other side, the American side is run by Welles himself, playing…

  • Recent Case: IRS Loses Case on Intra-Family Loans vs. Gifts

    The Tax Court’s recent decision in Estate of Galli v. Commissioner, issued March 5, 2025, addresses the treatment of intra-family loans and gift tax. The case involved a $2.3 million transfer from a mother to her son, documented with a promissory note at the applicable federal rate (AFR). The IRS argued that the loan lacked…

  • Book Review: Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari

    Despite hearing about this book for years, I am finally getting around to reading Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari. Sapiens is interesting so far, but it has not yet changed how I previously thought about these topics. That said, I can see why it has been influential—Harari presents a broad,…

  • Book Review: The Hot Hand by Ben Cohen

    Ben Cohen’s book The Hot Hand: The Mystery and Science of Streaks revisits the long debated question of whether momentum exists in performance. Amos Tversky and his coauthors famously argued in the 1980s that the hot hand in basketball is a cognitive illusion. Past success does not influence future outcomes. Yet, more recent studies suggest…

  • Book Review: Mine! by Michael Heller and James Salzman

    Just finished reading Mine! How the Hidden Rules of Ownership Control Our Lives by Michael Heller and James Salzman. The book argues that six core rules shape our subconscious beliefs about ownership—like First Possession (whoever claims something first owns it) and Labor Creates Ownership (if you transform something, you own it). Interesting read, but I’m…

  • Recent Case: In re Estate of Johnathan Matthew Bozeman (No. COA24-322, N.C. Ct. App. 2024)

    Summary An important recent decision from the North Carolina Court of Appeals clarifies spousal abandonment under N.C.G.S. § 31A-1(a)(3). The case involved a dispute between the decedent’s mother and his surviving wife over whether the wife was barred from inheriting due to abandonment. Under North Carolina law, a surviving spouse loses the right to inherit…

  • Conflicting Duties as Guardian ad Litem in North Carolina

    Many attorneys misunderstand the fiduciary duties of a Guardian ad Litem (GAL) in incompetency proceedings in North Carolina, particularly regarding the balance between advocating for the respondent’s express wishes and their best interests. A common misconception is that a GAL’s primary duty is to advocate for what they believe to be the respondent’s best interests,…

  • Electronic Wills in North Carolina

    North Carolina has not yet adopted electronic wills. Senate Bill 307, introduced in March 2023, would have enacted the Uniform Electronic Wills Act in 2025 but died in committee. For now, wills in North Carolina still require physical signatures and witnesses. Some states, like Colorado and North Dakota, have adopted the Uniform Act, while others,…

  • Culture Note: Mickey 17

    Interesting latest movie by Bong Joon Ho. Robert Pattinson plays a clone on a distant planet, raising classic questions about identity, class exploitation, and the ethics of cloning, somewhat in the spirit of Parasite. The identity problem nods to Derek Parfit (and ship of Theseus): what exactly makes Mickey 17 different from Mickey 18? What…

  • Recent Article: Last Will & Testament of King Edward VI

    I did not know this story, but William Kelleher and Christina Smith have a fantastic article in the January/February 2025 issue of Probate & Property titled “My Lady Jane, a King’s Will, and Undue Influence on a Testamentary Instrument” about King Edward VI’s Devise for the Succession, a controversial document signed shortly before his death…

  • January 2025 Digest

    The end of 2024 brought several noteworthy developments in North Carolina’s estate planning and probate law, particularly regarding undue influence and posthumously conceived children. In this digest, I’ll summarize recent North Carolina Court of Appeals cases and share a brief review of two newly published law books. Recent North Carolina Caselaw Recently Published Books

  • The Legal Puzzle of Daniel and the Lion’s Den

    The story of Daniel and the lion’s den often focuses on Daniel’s faith in God. But an interesting and less explored aspect of the story is King Darius’s conception of law. At the heart of the story lies a puzzling question: Why didn’t Darius revoke his decree when he realized it would condemn Daniel? Legal…

  • Work Habits of John Quincy Adams

    John Quincy Adams, the sixth President of the United States, was not only a statesman but also a model of discipline and intellectual rigor. After reading both Harlow Unger’s John Quincy Adams and Randall Woods’s John Quincy Adams: A Man for the Whole People, I’ve compiled some of his work habits:

  • Work Habits of Learned Hand

    After reading Gerald Gunther’s excellent biography of Learned Hand, I’ve compiled some notable work habits and character traits of this influential judge: • Disliked Using the Telephone: Hand preferred written correspondence and was an avid letter-writer.• Daily Walks: He took 4-mile walks through Manhattan to the courthouse every day.• Openness to Different Views: Hand placed…

  • Legal Interpretation: Stephen Breyer vs. Richard Posner

    Stephen Breyer’s latest 2024 book, Reading the Constitution: Why I Chose Pragmatism, Not Textualism, suggests that he has somewhat shifted toward an approach more closely aligned with Richard Posner’s concept of legal pragmatism. In the book, Breyer argues that textualism alone does not produce sound legal decisions. He explains, for example, that not all cases…

  • Work Habits of Richard Posner

    I recently read William Domnarski’s excellent biography of Judge Richard Posner (link here) and below are some work habits of Judge Posner taken from the book, listed in order.

  • Work Habits of William O. Douglas

    I finished reading Bruce Allen Murphey’s excellent biography of Justice William O. Douglas. Link to the book is here. Below are some work habits from William Douglas in order as presented in the book. He served on the Supreme Court for 36 years, wrote 1,164 full opinions, 486 dissents, 32 books, and hundreds of public…

  • Welcome

    Welcome

    Hello and welcome! I’m Tyler Chriscoe. As a trust and estate attorney, my professional life is dedicated to helping clients plan their estates and navigate the complexities of wills, trusts, and probate. But I also enjoy reading history, biography, psychology, general nonfiction, etc. This website is a reflection of my dual interests. Here, you’ll find…

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