Property (Trusts and Estates, Real Estate)

General Advice

Students interested in property can pursue one of three lines of study: estate planning, real estate transactions, real estate planning, or a combination of the three. Students may also wish to pursue the area of intellectual property which is treated as a separate section in this book. While many property lawyers specialize in either estate planning or transactional real estate, lawyers in smaller firms with general practices will do both kinds of work. One of the largest sections of the American Bar Association is the Section of Real Property, Probate and Trust Law, with approximately 35,000 members. It has two divisions, the Real Property Division and the Probate and Trust Division. Practitioners affectionately refer to themselves as "dirt" lawyers or "dead" lawyers.

Real estate lawyers of a generation ago were expected to know little more than how to complete a conveyancing or traditional mortgage financing. Real estate was considered something of a sub-profession, avoided altogether by many of the most prestigious firms. Over the past 30 years, real estate practice has changed radically. Real estate has become an integral part, if not the centerpiece, of many of the most successful firms. The growth of the title insurance industry has relieved much of the drudgery formerly associated with real property transactions. Contemporary real estate practice involves a mix of complex legal issues and practical business considerations.

The second year building block course for estate planning is Trusts and Estates. The building block course for real estate is Real Estate Transactions. The subject matter of each of these courses is tested on the Multi-State Bar Examination. Two sections of both courses are generally offered each year.

Specific Courses/Frequency of Offering

• Trusts and Estates (4 hrs.) (every spring/day; alternating years/evening)
  
• Fiduciary Tax (3 hrs.) (usually every fall/day or evening)
  
• Estate Tax Planning (3 hrs.) (every spring/day or evening)
  
• Land Use Control (3 hrs.) (alternating years/day or evening)
  
• Real Estate Transactions (3 hrs.) (every year/day; alternating years/evening)
  
• Corporate Taxation (3 hrs.) (every year/day or evening; alternating fall semester/evening)
  
• Partnership Taxation (3 hrs.) (every year/day or evening)
  
• Nonprofit Organizations (2-3 hrs.) (usually offered)

Seminars (usually offered in late afternoon)

• Negotiation: Theory and Strategy (2 hrs.) (usually every year)

Sequencing of Courses

Real Estate

Students interested in real estate should consider the related courses of Business Associations (4), Securities Regulation (3), Corporate Taxation (3), Partnership Taxation (3), Environmental Law (3), Land Use Control (3), Housing and Community Development (3), Housing Clinic (1-3), and seminars in housing and real estate. Real estate is a cyclical industry characterized by recurring periods of boom and bust. Because borrowers, buyers and tenants often find themselves in financial distress, an understanding of Bankruptcy Law is highly recommended.

A typical course sequence for a day division student might be Real Estate Transactions in the fall and Land Use Control in the spring of the second year. Advanced courses in Housing Law/Clinic/Symposium and Real Estate Transactions could then be selected in the third year.

Estate Planning

The prerequisites for Fiduciary Estate Planning are Basic Income Tax, Trusts and Estates, and Estate and Gift Tax. Estates is usually offered in the fall and the spring in the day division, and every other spring in the evening division. Estates and Gift Tax, which may be taken concurrently with (but not before) Trusts and Estates, is usually offered in the fall in the day division, and every other fall in the evening division. Estate Planning (Fid.) is usually taught in the spring in the day division, and every other spring in the evening division.

A typical course sequence for a day division student might be: 1) Trusts and Estates in the fall or spring of second year 2) Estate and Gift Tax in the fall of the third year 3) Estate Planning in the spring of the third year. A day division student might also take Trusts and Estates and Estate and Gift Tax together in the fall of the second year, and then be able to take Estate Planning in the spring of either the second or third year.

Though there are no additional prerequisites for the course in Estate Planning, some familiarity with Business Associations, Family Law: Marriage, Divorce, and Child Custody, Corporate Tax, Partnership Tax, and Conflict of Laws will prove helpful both in the course and in actual estate planning practice.

Housing Issues Symposium

The Housing Issues Symposium has been offered several years now as a way for students from Law (SLU), Public Policy (SLU), Social Service (SLU) and Architecture (Washington University) to work in teams to study and address a specific housing issue during the course. With a variety of guest lecturers and presentations by the several participating faculty members, students gain insight into different ways of approaching a problem.

Students collaborate on a project that requires them to pool their information, bring their different backgrounds and experiences to the table, and work out a proposal. They often must struggle to understand their different nomenclature, their different theoretical perspectives, and their different values as they work through the problem. But the work is the richer for the struggle, and the students benefit greatly from their exposure to different aspects of the same problem. The following spring the results of the team efforts are presented at a symposium attended by a variety of interested groups: city workers, non-profit agencies, professionals, consultants, advocates, providers and so forth.

Extracurricular Programs

The Public Interest Law Group is a student organization that offers opportunities for exposure to housing and landlord-tenant issues through volunteer work in the offices of Legal Services of Eastern Missouri.

The McCormack Lectureship brings experts in housing and urban development to the School of Law, often in conjunction with the Housing Law Clinic.