The International Academy of Estate and Trust Laws (IAETL) meets each May to spend a week of intensive engagement with issues of direct and immediate concern to estate and trusts lawyers. More than merely an assembly of commentators and interpreters, the IAETL is a prestigious body that affects real change in courts, law reform commissions, and governmental agencies. Its membershipincluding solicitors, barristers, notaires, judges, and scholars, all experts in trusts, estates, and inheritance law, and/or tax lawhighlight the contrasts and comparisons between the pertinent laws of civil and...

This volume continues the work of the International Academy of Estate and Trust Law in 2003 and 2004 in examining through the juxtaposition of civil and common law jurisdictions areas of fundamental importance to estate and trust lawyers internationally. Here we focus upon two themes: the definition of family and the impact of the expansion of the concept of family in law; and family fights over wills and estates - what recourse family members may have in challenging an estate.

Each theme also has contained within it the continuing struggle between private and public: what...

The International Academy of Estate and Trust Law is a prestigious body that comprises leading estate and trusts lawyers from civilian and common law jurisdictions around the globe. Its membership - all experts in trusts, estate and inheritance law, and/or tax law - includes solicitors, barristers, notaires, judges, and law professors. The group's proceedings manifest a comparative approach, offering perspectives on issues of direct and immediate concern for both civil and common law jurisdictions. This volume records the May 2000 week-long conference in Berlin, which focused on four...