Insurance Continuing Education - History of Estate Planning

Insurance Continuing Education - History of Estate Planning

There have been many books, articles, etc. written on this important topic and this text will cover such tropics as the estate planning process; forms of property ownership, transfer during life time and at death, Wills, trusts, federal gift taxes and state death taxes, federal estate taxation and estate planning techniques. There are two objectives: (1) to attempt to provide you with a basic knowledge of the estate planning process; (2) to keep a rather complex body of knowledge as understandable and precise as possible. It is not within the scope of this book to go beyond the basics. Once the basics are learned, applying advanced strategies to a given situation should be explored with the advice of specialists in the estate planning field.

The origin and development of estate planning is important in order to understand the true nature of this process. Estate planning is by no means an American development. Primitive people did not recognize that land could be owned, as the land belonged to all people. Only personal property was possessed and owned by primitive people, and at death, our early ancestors either destroyed or buried such property with its owner. When people began to realize the value in their possession, they became concerned with passing those possessions upon death. Perhaps the earliest written evidence of the passing of property can be found in the hieroglyphics of the early Egyptians. Although our knowledge of the early Wills is limited, we do know they passed property to select heirs.

In Babylonia, as a result of the Code of Hamurabi, property (with only a few exceptions) had to pass to heirs on death. This was also true under the law of Solon in Greece. Roman Law, especially under Caesar Augustus, followed this practice as well. In fact, it appears that Augustus was the inventor of the estate tax because he levied a tax of 5 percent on the value of all estates to help support his army. Emperor Justin of the Byzantine Empire created the Justinian Code and the Code recommended the first formal requirements of Wills. This code also allowed a certain form of contract that is remarkably similar to modern day trusts.

Many of our current Will and Estate Law can be traced to both Rome and the Justinian Code. Rome extended its rule to most of the known world and its rule included creating a system of law for each territory it conquered, and Great Britain was no exception. Even though the Romans were pushed out of Great Britain by the Anglo Saxons, much Roman Law remained. Up until the Norman conquest in A.D. 1066, the Anglo Saxon Law allowed people to pass title to most of their property through the use of a Will at their death. All of this changed after the Norman invasion in England and the advent of feudalism.

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