Notre Dame Law School NDLScholarship Journal Articles Publications 2013 Restricting Testamentary Freedom: Ex Ante Versus Ex Post Justifications Daniel B. Kelly Notre Dame Law School,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/law_faculty_scholarship Part of the Estates and Trusts Commons Recommended Citation Daniel B. Kelly, Restricting Testamentary Freedom: Ex Ante Versus Ex Post Justifications, 82 Fordham L. Rev. 1125 (2013). Available at: https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/law_faculty_scholarship/950 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Publications at NDLScholarship. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal Articles by an authorized administrator of NDLScholarship. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. ARTICLES RESTRICTING TESTAMENTARY FREEDOM: EX ANTE VERSUS EX POST JUSTIFICATIONS Daniel B. Kelly* The organizing principle of American succession law-testamentary freedom-gives.decedents a nearly unrestrictedright to dispose ofproperty. After surveying the justificationsfor testamentaryfreedom, I examine the circumstances in which it may be socially beneficial for courts to alter wills, trusts, and other gratuitous transfers at death: imperfect information, negative externalities, and intergenerationalequity. These justifications correspondwith many existing limitations on the freedom of testation. Yet, disregarding donor intent to maximize the donees' ex post interests, an increasingly common justificationfor intervention, is socially undesirable. Doing so ignores important ex ante considerations, including a donor's happiness, a donor's incentive to work, save, and invest, and the structure and timing of a donor's gifts. If donors believe courts may not facilitate their intent, donors may be less happy, accumulate less property, and alter gifts during life.