Puff, The Magic Dragon, and the Estate Planner

With the legalization of medical and recreational marijuana in almost half of the states, practitioners need to be aware of the interface between marijuana and estate planning. This Article provides a discussion of the major issues that arise in this context. After bringing readers current 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.