"The Descendants," starring George Clooney, is about a rich trial lawyer who has to deal with multiple crises, including one of estate planning. To start, his wife was injured in a boating accident and is in a coma. Clooney's character also has to figure out what to do with valuable real estate left to him and his cousins in a trust.
One of the legal issues King is dealing with is the unearned wealth from this trust. Neither he nor his cousins did anything to earn it, so King struggles with whether to sell the property to a developer or to keep it. The trust was set up so that it would end at a certain time, his grandfather's death. The director uses an old legal principle in the movie. It's called the "Rule Against Perpetuities." The rule is still good in many states. It keeps a trust from lasting forever by setting a maximum of terms. In years gone by, the rule allowed trusts to last for a person's lifetime plus 21 years. In the Descendants, the rule is written into the trust, which means that the trust ends in about seven years.
King also discusses joint ownership of the land and says it can be a train wreck when the trust ends. When the trust ends, the cousins become co-owners of the land being held in the trust. Because the land ownership is tenancy in common, none of the cousins, including King, can do anything with the property without the rest of the co-owners' permission.
Another estate planning document the movie touches on is the living will. A living will tells family members and doctors a person's wishes should that person become incapacitated and is not expected to recover. In the movie, King must determine whether he should "pull the plug" on his wife or try to keep her alive.
Source: Forbes, "George Clooney Makes Estate Planning Sexy" Deborah Jacobs, Feb. 23, 2012
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