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Researching Estate Planning Law

This Info Series Guide is intended to assist College of Law students as well as the general public.

Primary Sources

Georgia

  • Official Code of Georgia (O.C.G.A.)
    • Title 44 (Property)
    • Title 48 (Revenue and Taxation)
    • Title 53 (Wills, Trusts, and Administration of Estates)
  • The O.C.G.A. is available in Row 1 of the Law Library and online

Federal

  • United States Code:
    • Title 22 (Foreign Relations and Intercourse)
    • Title 26 (Internal Revenue Code)
  • Code of Federal Regulations: Title 26 (Internal Revenue). The C.F.R. is available in Row 9 in the lower level of Law Library and online. The Federal Register, which publishes proposed regulations, is also in Row 9 and is available online.

Other States

The National Conference of State Legislatures has a search function for bills and statutes of all the states.

Uniform Laws

Uniform laws are created by legal professionals and represent what they believe the law should be. State legislatures often adopt uniform laws into their state codes. Relevant uniform laws are:

International

To locate a treaty that may affect an estate-planning issue, a good place to search is Hein Online’s Treaties and Agreements Library. To access this library, select it from the list of Law Library databases (on-campus). COL faculty, students, and staff can access it from off campus.

Cases

COL patrons can search for cases on LexisNexis and Westlaw using individual passwords. Patrons not affiliated with the COL can search for cases on LexisNexis Academic, which is available on GALILEO. To access this database at the Law Library, go to http://law.gsu.edu/library/alcove/ and click on the LexisNexis Academic link under Popular Electronic Resources. Then click on the Legal Research link in the top left corner of the page. To search for federal cases, click on Federal Case Law. To search for state cases, click on State Case Law and then select the state (LexisNexis Academic has no function for searching more than one state’s case law at a time). LexisNexis Academic is a database on GALILEO and so is accessible from any GSU computer.

Secondary Sources

Georgia

Georgia estate sources are located behind the Reference Desk and in the KFG140’s in row 4 in the lower level of the Law Library. Below are some popular Georgia sources:

  • Gerald Blanchard, Georgia Forms: Legal & Business, vol. 4, looseleaf. Call# KFG68 .G46 v. 4, located in Ready Reference.
  • Bertram L. Levy & Benjamin T. White, Georgia Estate Planning, Will Drafting and Estate Administration Forms, 2 vols. (1987, updated annually). Call# KFG140 .A65 L48 1987, located in Ready Reference.
  • Mary F. Radford, Redfearn Wills and Administration in Georgia, 6th ed., 2 vol. (2000). Call# KFG144 .R4 2000, located in Ready Reference.

General

Books on estate planning are generally located in the mid-KF700’s. Books on related topics may be located elsewhere. For example: KF6500’s (tax), KF1380’s (family corporations). Below is a list of books that may be useful:

  • Alexander A. Bove Jr., The Complete Book of Wills, Estates & Trusts, 3rd ed. (2005). Call#KF755 .Z9 B68 2005, located behind the Reference Desk.
  • Denis Clifford, Estate Planning Basics, 3rd ed. (2005). Call# KF750.Z9 C585 2005, located behind the Reference Desk.
  • Jesse Dukeminier et al., Wills, Trusts, and Estates, 7th ed. (2005). Call# KF753.A7 D8 2005, located in Law Reserves.
  • David T. Lewis and Andrea C. Chomakos, The Family Limited Partnership Deskbook: Forming and Funding FLPs and Other Closely Held Business Entities (2004). Call# KF1380 .L49 2004, located in Law General Stacks.
  • Ray D. Madoff et al., Practical Guide to Estate Planning (2006). Call# KF750 .M33 2006, located in Law Reserves.
  • Jerome A. Manning et al., Manning on Estate Planning, 6th ed. (2004-). Call# KF749 .M36 2004, located in Law General Stacks.
  • Jeffrey Pennel & Alan Newman, Estate and Trust Planning (2005). Call# KF750 .E89 2005, located in Law General Stacks.

International

  • Jeffrey A. Schoenblum, A Guide to International Estate Planning: Drafting, Compliance, and Administration Strategies, 2nd ed. (2000). Call# KF750.A2 I575 2000, located in Law General Stacks.

Journal Articles

To search for articles, go to the Law Library database list and click on the Select Subject Area button. Click on Legal Periodicals—Finding Aids. A list of links to searchable databases will come up. These databases can be accessed off-campus. Print periodicals are shelved alphabetically in the lower level of the Law Library. To see whether the Law Library owns a journal in print, check the online catalog.

Electronic Sources

LexisNexis and Westlaw (password required)

LexisNexis and Westlaw both have pages of links organized by area of law. These links are to databases for finding cases, statutes, regulations, journal articles, treatises and other secondary sources, and news. To access LexisNexis’ subject pages, click on Research System tab and then click on Area of Law – By Topic. Topics relevant to this Info Series guide include Elder Law; Estates, Gifts & Trusts; Family Law; International Law; Pension & Benefits; and Taxation. To access Westlaw’s pages, click on the add/remove tabs link at the top any page on Westlaw. Scroll down to the Topical section. In this section are links for Business Practitioner, Estate Planning Practitioner, Family Law, International Law, Pension & Retirement, and Tax, among
others.

Free Websites

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