Customer Reviews

Wills, Trusts, and Estates, Eighth Edition

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is a good book, but the update is not needed. My friend next to me in class has the seventh edition of this text and comparing the eighth edition to the previous it is obvious that the publisher is just going after more money. So few pages have been updated, so few cases have been added, they could have easily issued a paperback supplement to the seventh edition and saved students money. Putting my objections to how the textbook industry operates aside, this book is a decent read. The authors do a good job of explaining the law and the cases are edited fairly well. I'm in my third year of law school and have had several different texts by now. I would place this one on the better end. The text itself - 7 of 10. Was it a necessary update - 0 of 10.

This is a great textbook. It nicely balances foundational materials with the cases. The layout of the book makes for an easy outline. The rules are clear and thoroughly laid out in each section - I barely needed the supplements I bought.

I looked at someone's outline based on the last version of the text and there were a lot of cases that were missing and UPC sections that were incorrect. I did not compare books side by side but my prof. focused a lot on the things that have recently changed so the old version of the text would not have been that helpful for our class.

This was a pretty good trusts and estates book. As this subject matter can get bit morbid, I really do think the editors did a good job of picking some entertaining cases (ie. the woman who left her estate to a feminist group whose will was held invalid b/ she harbored scary crazy hatred towards men or the rich dude who left his estate to his dog). The nuances of estate planning are explained very well and I feel as though I don't need a horn book explaining the actual law for the final. I would suggest purchasing the companion case brief hornbook entitled "Casenote Legal Briefs Wills, Trusts and Estates: Keyed to Dukeminier, Sitkoff and Lindgren, 8e" because I found it really helped with my outlining and having their case briefs on hand while on call made me feel more comfortable. That said, most of the cases in the book (at least the ones that my prof assigned) were pretty short and all stood for a pretty clear rule.

Just beware of those who tell you that you do not need to buy this edition and that the 7th edition is sufficient. I checked with my professor before I purchased the 7th edition and he said it should be fine as to the law but there were a lot of differences that were not limited to pagination. Certain cases that my professor assigned were not in the 7th edition and some explantations of the law were longer in the newer book. I would sincerely tell you if I thought I could pass by with the old edition b/ I like saving money just like everyone else. This is not the book for that. I had to get this edition in the end.

Pros:
- Solid, straight-forward explanation of the black-letter stuff, paired with insightful material on the history behind the common law, and the rationales and theory behind the modern law.
- Strikes that perfect balance between being easy to absorb, but still very thorough.
- A textbook with a great sense of humor. Filled with fascinating and funny anecdotes, eg. stories about people writing their wills on egg shells, nurse's aprons, or one guy who carved his into the fender of a tractor that the he was trapped under - or the story of a man who hated his son, so he willed him "$0.50, so as to buy a good stout rope to hang himself." Memorable stuff like that makes it easier to learn and remember.

Cons:
- The book relies on a recurring example - the hypothetical will of Howard and Wendy Brown - that isn't very helpful. You spend more time trying to remember all the things the Browns owned rather than learning from it.
- As with most textbooks, it focuses too much on doctrine and not enough on practice. If the book isn't supplemented with good instruction, you might come out of Wills class with no real idea of how to draft a will.

This casebook is filled with good notes by the author. The cases are among the most interesting cases you'll read in law school. I think that the notes before and after the cases are very good. You could make a good outline or flash-card stack based on these note sections, but a good bar outline is always a good companion. The last section covers estate and gift tax law, which is good to know as a practitioner even though it is not on the California bar exam.... California students MUST be sure to have some additional material to compare because California law does differ from the law in this book on certain points.

I give this book four stars because the order of issues is a bit strange. Also, some of the cases are too long and could have been summed up in a quick notes point. However, as far as casebooks go, this is a good one.

Had this book for trusts and estates. The concepts are confusing, but the book sets them out as clearly as it can. What can anybody say? If you are going to take trusts and estates in law school you will, most likely, be reading this case book. There are no shortcuts.

It's a law book. What can possibly be said? It was a pretty good text book. I have seen worse.

Dukeminier's text is among the better I've bought for class; the cases are interesting, the commentary & after-case notes are clear and often illustrate interesting departures from the majority rule. This is one of the few I won't resell.