Forty Years of Codification of Estates and Trusts Law: Lessons for the Next Generation

As others in this symposium have stated, Richard V. Wellman devoted his professional life to promoting legislation to make the law of estates and trusts responsive to the needs of a state's citizenry. As he saw it, his goal to make the law of donative transfers simpler, fairer, and less expensive depended upon new legislative proposals accompanied by a range of strategies to educate the bar and policymakers about them. Over the years, Dick's faith in statutory lawmaking only grew, because estate planning experts and legislators lauded the benefits achieved through enactment of the uniform laws he either drafted or supported. Dick's genius was twofold: He never glorified the past and always took the long view of law reform.

He welcomed new ways of thinking about an old doctrine and appreciated that they would meet initial resistance from many estates and trusts experts. He had confidence, however, that over time, if those new approaches made the law simpler, fairer, and more efficient, they would find acceptance. In honor of the work of a man who, more than any other law professor, practicing attorney, or legislator, influenced the modern law of estates and trusts, we want to take this opportunity to explore the reception of uniform law reform in the area of wealth succession over the last forty years.