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Showing posts from August, 2012

Science Fiction in Estate Planning

Could there ever be a legal expectation of a "use-by date" for humans? We might scoff at such an outlandish notion, and relegate it to science-fiction, but should we be so quick to dismiss it entirely? If Walt Disney wants to spend his own money to cryogenically freeze his body immediately after his death, in the hope that one day medical science will be able to cure him, then most people would probably shrug and say "So what - it doesn't affect me." But what if a person with limited assets wanted to do this, with the effect that their entire deceased estate would be consumed by the expense. Would the law (driven by societal expectation) permit that person's children to over-rule the deceased's wishes, switch-off the freezer and spend the savings? You might argue that the person was already dead, but does this automatically forfeit all human rights, and if so are we truly "dead" while there remains some hope for recovery? Let's