Attack Outlines — One-Line Rule Skeleton

Under 28 U.S.C.

The plaintiff's good-faith claim controls the amount in controversy unless it appears to a legal certainty that recovery cannot exceed $75,000.

Under 28 U.S.C.

A defendant may remove a case from state to federal court only if the federal court would have had original jurisdiction, and each defendant generally must do so within 30 days of receiving the initial pleading, with all defendants consenting.

A court has personal jurisdiction over a defendant who is domiciled in the forum, is served while physically present in the forum (transient or tag jurisdiction), or consents.

Due process permits jurisdiction over a nonresident only where the defendant has minimum contacts with the forum such that suit does not offend traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice.

Specific jurisdiction exists when the claim arises out of or relates to the defendant's contacts with the forum.

Under the Erie doctrine, a federal court sitting in diversity applies state substantive law and federal procedural law.

Under Hanna v.

Under Rule 8(a), a complaint must contain a short and plain statement showing entitlement to relief.

By signing a pleading or motion, an attorney certifies under Rule 11 that, to the best of their knowledge after a reasonable inquiry, it is not presented for an improper purpose, the legal contentions are warranted, and the factual contentions have evidentiary support.

A party may amend a pleading once as a matter of course within 21 days;

Under Rule 20, plaintiffs or defendants may be joined when claims arise from the same transaction or occurrence and share a common question of law or fact.

A Rule 23 class action requires numerosity, commonality, typicality, and adequacy of representation, plus one of the three types under 23(b), with the common (b)(3) damages class also requiring predominance and superiority and notice with opt-out rights.

The work product doctrine protects materials prepared in anticipation of litigation from discovery, though ordinary work product may be obtained on a showing of substantial need and inability to obtain the equivalent without undue hardship.

Under Rule 12(b), certain defenses may be raised by pre-answer motion.

Under Rule 56, a court grants summary judgment when there is no genuine dispute of material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.

The Seventh Amendment preserves the right to a jury trial in civil actions at law but not in suits in equity.

Under Rule 50(a), a court may grant judgment as a matter of law after a party has been fully heard if no reasonable jury could find for that party.

Claim preclusion (res judicata) bars relitigation of a claim where there was a final judgment on the merits, the same claim arising from the same transaction, and the same parties or their privies.

Issue preclusion (collateral estoppel) bars relitigation of an issue of fact or law that was actually litigated, determined by a valid final judgment, and essential to that judgment.

To have standing, a plaintiff must show an injury in fact that is concrete and particularized, causation traceable to the defendant's conduct, and redressability by a favorable decision.

Under the Commerce Clause, Congress may regulate the channels and instrumentalities of interstate commerce, and activities that substantially affect interstate commerce.

The President appoints principal officers with Senate confirmation, while Congress may vest appointment of inferior officers in the President, courts, or department heads.

Under the Supremacy Clause, valid federal law preempts conflicting state law.

The Tenth Amendment reserves to the states powers not delegated to the federal government.

The Dormant Commerce Clause bars states from unduly burdening interstate commerce.

Procedural due process requires fair process before the government deprives a person of life, liberty, or property.

Substantive due process protects certain fundamental rights, including marriage, procreation, contraception, child rearing, and travel, against government infringement under strict scrutiny.

Under equal protection, most classifications receive rational basis review and are upheld if rationally related to a legitimate interest.

Suspect classifications triggering strict scrutiny include race, national origin, and alienage (with exceptions for federal classifications and political-function jobs).

The Takings Clause requires just compensation when the government takes private property for public use.

Content-based restrictions on speech, which target the subject matter or viewpoint, are presumptively invalid and subject to strict scrutiny.

In traditional and designated public forums, the government may impose only content-neutral time, place, and manner restrictions, with content-based limits subject to strict scrutiny.

Commercial speech that is truthful and concerns lawful activity may be regulated only if the government asserts a substantial interest, the regulation directly advances it, and it is not more extensive than necessary (Central Hudson).

The Establishment Clause bars the government from establishing or endorsing religion.

The Free Exercise Clause protects religious belief absolutely, but a neutral law of general applicability that incidentally burdens religious conduct is valid under rational basis review (Employment Division v.

UCC Article 2 governs contracts for the sale of goods (movable, tangible things), while the common law governs contracts for services, real estate, and intangibles.

An offer is a manifestation of present willingness to enter a bargain, made so as to justify another person in understanding that assent will conclude the deal.

An offer terminates by lapse when its stated time expires or, absent a time, after a reasonable time.

Under UCC 2-205, a firm offer by a merchant to buy or sell goods, made in a signed writing that gives assurance it will be held open, is irrevocable for the stated time, or a reasonable time if none is stated, but in no event longer than three months, even without consideration.

An acceptance is a manifestation of assent to the offer's terms, made by the offeree in the manner invited.

Under UCC 2-207, a definite expression of acceptance forms a contract even if it states additional or different terms, unless acceptance is expressly conditioned on assent to the new terms.

Under the mailbox rule, an acceptance is effective upon dispatch if sent by a reasonable means, so a contract forms even if the acceptance is lost in transit.

Consideration requires a bargained-for exchange of legal value, meaning each party incurs a legal detriment or the promise induces and is induced by the return promise or performance.

Promissory estoppel serves as a substitute for consideration where a promisor makes a promise that he should reasonably expect to induce action or forbearance, the promisee actually and reasonably relies to his detriment, and injustice can be avoided only by enforcement.

A contract is voidable by a party who justifiably relies on a material or fraudulent misrepresentation of fact.

The Statute of Frauds requires a signed writing for contracts within the MY LEGS categories: Marriage, those not performable within one Year, Land interests, contracts by an executor to pay estate debts personally, Goods of $500 or more, and suretyship (promises to answer for another's debt).

The parol evidence rule bars admission of prior or contemporaneous agreements that contradict a writing the parties intended as a final expression of their agreement.

An express warranty arises from any affirmation of fact, promise, description, or sample that becomes part of the basis of the bargain;

A condition is an event that must occur before a performance becomes due (condition precedent) or that discharges a duty (condition subsequent).

Under the perfect tender rule, if goods or their tender fail in any respect to conform to the contract, the buyer may reject the whole, accept the whole, or accept any commercial units and reject the rest.

A material breach deprives the non-breaching party of the substantial benefit of the bargain, excusing that party's remaining performance and permitting suit for total breach.

An anticipatory repudiation is an unequivocal statement or voluntary act, before performance is due, indicating that a party will not perform.

Performance is excused by impossibility where, after formation, performance becomes objectively impossible due to a supervening event whose non-occurrence was a basic assumption, such as death of a person essential to performance, destruction of the contract's subject matter, or supervening illegality.

Expectation damages aim to place the non-breaching party in the position it would have occupied had the contract been fully performed, measured by the loss in value plus incidental and consequential losses, minus costs avoided.

On the seller's breach, a buyer may cover by purchasing substitute goods in good faith and recover the cover price minus contract price, plus incidental and consequential damages;

A third-party beneficiary may enforce a contract only if intended, meaning the parties intended to benefit the third party and that benefit was a purpose of the contract;

A specific intent crime requires proof that the defendant intended a particular further result beyond the act itself (e.g., burglary, larceny, robbery, forgery, false pretenses, attempt, conspiracy, solicitation), and uniquely permits defenses of voluntary intoxication and unreasonable mistake of fact.

The Model Penal Code recognizes four culpability levels: purposely (conscious object to cause the result), knowingly (practical certainty the result will occur), recklessly (conscious disregard of a substantial and unjustifiable risk), and negligently (failure to perceive such a risk, a gross deviation from the reasonable-person standard).

The prosecution must prove both actual cause (cause-in-fact), satisfied if the result would not have occurred but for the defendant's conduct, and proximate cause (legal cause), satisfied if the result is a natural and probable consequence that was foreseeable.

Common-law murder is the unlawful killing of another with malice aforethought, which exists in four forms: intent to kill, intent to inflict serious bodily harm, a depraved heart (reckless indifference to an unjustifiably high risk to human life), and felony murder.

Felony murder is a killing, even accidental, committed during the commission or attempted commission of an inherently dangerous felony (commonly BARRK: burglary, arson, robbery, rape, kidnapping).

Voluntary manslaughter is an intentional killing committed in the heat of passion arising from adequate provocation that would cause a reasonable person to lose self-control, where the defendant actually was provoked and there was no reasonable cooling-off period.

Larceny is the trespassory taking and carrying away (asportation) of the personal property of another with the intent to permanently deprive at the time of the taking.

Embezzlement is the fraudulent conversion of property of another by one already in lawful possession of it, distinguished from larceny because possession was rightfully obtained.

Common-law burglary is the breaking and entering of the dwelling of another at nighttime with the intent to commit a felony therein.

Conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to commit an unlawful act, with the intent to agree and the intent to achieve the unlawful objective;

Attempt requires the specific intent to commit a crime plus a substantial step (MPC) or, at common law, an act dangerously close to completion (proximity test) beyond mere preparation.

An accomplice is one who, with the intent to assist the principal and the intent that the crime be committed, aids, counsels, or encourages its commission;

A person may use reasonable, non-deadly force to repel an imminent unlawful threat.

A valid search warrant must be issued by a neutral and detached magistrate, be supported by probable cause (which may rest on an informant's tip evaluated under the totality of the circumstances), and particularly describe the place to be searched and items to be seized.

Incident to a lawful arrest, police may search the arrestee's person and the area within his immediate control (wingspan) without a warrant, to protect officers and preserve evidence.

Under the automobile exception, police with probable cause to believe a vehicle contains contraband or evidence may search it without a warrant, including any container, compartment, or area where the object of the search might be found.

Under the plain view doctrine, police may seize evidence without a warrant if they are lawfully present, the item is in plain view, and its incriminating nature is immediately apparent.

Under Terry v.

The exclusionary rule bars admission of evidence obtained in violation of the Fourth, Fifth, or Sixth Amendments in the prosecution's case-in-chief, and the fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine extends exclusion to evidence derivatively obtained.

Under Miranda, statements from custodial interrogation are inadmissible in the prosecution's case-in-chief unless the suspect was warned of the right to remain silent, that statements may be used against him, and the right to counsel (appointed if indigent).

A suspect may waive Miranda rights if the waiver is knowing, voluntary, and intelligent;

The Double Jeopardy Clause bars a second prosecution for the same offense after acquittal or conviction, and bars multiple punishments for it.

The Sixth Amendment right to counsel attaches at the start of adversary judicial proceedings (formal charge, indictment, arraignment) and is offense-specific, applying only to the charged offense, unlike the broader Fifth Amendment Miranda right.

A court may exclude relevant evidence if its probative value is substantially outweighed by a danger of unfair prejudice, confusing the issues, misleading the jury, undue delay, wasting time, or needlessly presenting cumulative evidence.

Evidence of a person's character or character trait is generally inadmissible to prove that the person acted in accordance with that character on a particular occasion (the propensity inference).

A criminal defendant may open the door by offering evidence of a pertinent good character trait, after which the prosecution may rebut.

Evidence of other crimes, wrongs, or acts is inadmissible to prove propensity but is admissible for non-character purposes such as Motive, Intent, absence of Mistake, Identity, or Common plan (MIMIC), plus opportunity, knowledge, and preparation.

A witness may be impeached with a prior statement inconsistent with present testimony to show the witness is unreliable.

For any witness, a conviction involving a dishonest act or false statement (crimen falsi) must be admitted with no balancing.

On cross-examination, a witness may be questioned about specific instances of conduct that are probative of truthfulness or untruthfulness (e.g., lying on a job application).

A qualified expert may testify if (1) specialized knowledge will help the trier of fact, (2) the testimony rests on sufficient facts or data, (3) it is the product of reliable principles and methods, and (4) the expert reliably applied them.

Hearsay is an out-of-court statement (an oral/written assertion or assertive conduct) offered to prove the truth of the matter asserted.

A declarant-witness's prior statement is not hearsay (treated as exclusion) if the witness testifies and is subject to cross, and the statement is: a prior inconsistent statement made under oath at a proceeding;

A statement offered against a party is not hearsay if it is the party's own statement, one the party adopted or believed true (adoptive admission, including silence where a reasonable person would object), one by an authorized spokesperson, one by an agent/employee on a matter within scope made during employment (vicarious), or one by a co-conspirator during and in furtherance of the conspiracy.

A statement describing or explaining an event or condition, made while or immediately after the declarant perceived it, is admissible regardless of the declarant's availability.

A statement relating to a startling event or condition, made while the declarant was under the stress of excitement the event caused, is admissible regardless of availability.

A statement of the declarant's then-existing state of mind, emotion, sensation, or physical condition (e.g., intent, plan, motive, pain) is admissible.

A record of an act, event, condition, opinion, or diagnosis is admissible if (1) made at or near the time by someone with knowledge, (2) kept in the regular course of a regularly conducted activity, (3) making the record was a regular practice, shown by a custodian or certification.

Testimony given as a witness at a prior trial, hearing, or deposition is admissible against a party who had an opportunity and similar motive to develop it by direct, cross, or redirect.

A statement made by a declarant while believing death was imminent, concerning the cause or circumstances of the impending death, is admissible.

A statement that, when made, was so contrary to the declarant's proprietary, pecuniary, or penal interest that a reasonable person would not have made it unless true, is admissible.

The Confrontation Clause bars admission of a testimonial hearsay statement against a criminal defendant unless the declarant is unavailable and the defendant had a prior opportunity to cross-examine.

A confidential communication between a client and attorney (or their representatives) made to facilitate legal services is privileged and protected from disclosure.

To prove the content of a writing, recording, or photograph, the party must produce the original (or a duplicate, which is admissible unless authenticity is genuinely disputed or it would be unfair).

A fee simple absolute is the largest possible estate, of potentially infinite duration, with no accompanying future interest.

A fee simple determinable is created by durational language (so long as, while, during, until) and automatically terminates upon the stated event, with the estate reverting to the grantor.

A fee simple subject to condition subsequent is created by conditional language (provided that, but if, on condition that) coupled with an express right to re-enter.

A remainder is a future interest in a third party that becomes possessory naturally upon the expiration of a prior estate (usually a life estate).

Under RAP, a contingent remainder, executory interest, or vested remainder subject to open is void if it might not vest or fail within 21 years after a life in being at the interest's creation.

A joint tenancy features the right of survivorship: on a joint tenant's death the share passes automatically to survivors, bypassing probate.

A joint tenancy is severed—destroying survivorship and creating a tenancy in common as to that share—by an inter vivos conveyance of a joint tenant's interest.

An assignment transfers the tenant's entire remaining interest;

In residential leases, the landlord impliedly warrants the premises are fit for human habitation (meeting housing-code and bare-living standards);

A real covenant is a written promise about land use that, to run with the land at law for damages, requires WITHN: a Writing, Intent to bind successors, the covenant to Touch & concern the land, Horizontal & vertical privity (for the burden), and Notice to the burdened successor.

Under equitable conversion, once a contract is signed the buyer is treated as the equitable owner and bears the risk of loss if the property is damaged or destroyed without fault before closing (majority rule).

A race statute protects whoever records first, regardless of notice.

Title may be acquired by adverse possession when possession is Continuous, Open & notorious, Actual & exclusive, and Hostile (without permission) for the statutory period (COAH).

Intent is satisfied when the defendant acts with the purpose of causing the tortious result or knows that the result is substantially certain to follow.

Battery is an intentional harmful or offensive contact with the plaintiff's person.

Assault is an intentional act causing the plaintiff to suffer a reasonable apprehension of an imminent harmful or offensive contact.

False imprisonment is an intentional act that confines or restrains the plaintiff to a bounded area against the plaintiff's will.

IIED requires extreme & outrageous conduct that intentionally or recklessly causes the plaintiff severe emotional distress.

Public necessity is an absolute defense permitting the defendant to injure or destroy property to protect the community from imminent disaster, with no liability for the damage caused.

A defendant owes a duty of reasonable care to all foreseeable plaintiffs who may be injured by the defendant's failure to act with due care.

The default standard is that of a reasonably prudent person under like circumstances, an objective measure that ignores the defendant's individual shortcomings such as low intelligence or carelessness.

Breach occurs when the defendant's conduct falls below the applicable standard of care.

Actual (factual) cause is normally shown by the but-for test: the harm would not have occurred but for the defendant's conduct.

Proximate cause limits liability to harms that are a foreseeable result of the defendant's negligence, cutting off liability for freakish or remote consequences.

An intervening cause is a force arising after the defendant's negligence that contributes to the plaintiff's harm.

Negligence per se permits a criminal or regulatory statute to set the standard of care when the plaintiff is within the class of persons the statute protects and the harm is of the type the statute was designed to prevent.

Res ipsa loquitur lets the plaintiff establish a circumstantial inference of breach where the accident is of a type that ordinarily does not occur absent negligence and the instrumentality was within the defendant's exclusive control.

Under the traditional approach, a land possessor owes no duty to undiscovered trespassers, but must warn discovered or anticipated trespassers of known, hidden, artificial dangers.

There is generally no duty to act affirmatively to aid or rescue another.

Under traditional contributory negligence, any negligence by the plaintiff is a complete bar to recovery, now retained in only a few jurisdictions.

A defendant is strictly liable for harm caused by an abnormally dangerous activity, defined by whether the activity creates a foreseeable and highly significant risk that cannot be eliminated by reasonable care and is not a matter of common usage.

A products-liability claim may proceed under strict liability, negligence, or warranty theories.

Strict products liability requires a commercial seller in the business of selling the product, a defect existing when the product left the defendant's control, and that the defect caused harm while the product was used in a foreseeable manner;

Defamation requires a defamatory statement of or concerning the plaintiff, publication to a third party, fault, and damage to reputation.

Slander per se dispenses with proof of special damages where the statement imputes a serious crime, a loathsome disease, conduct incompatible with the plaintiff's business or profession, or serious sexual misconduct.

Under respondeat superior, an employer is vicariously liable for torts an employee commits within the scope of employment, including minor deviations (detours) but not substantial departures (frolics).

Apparent authority exists when the principal's manifestations to a third party cause that party to reasonably believe the agent is authorized to act.

A principal is vicariously liable for an agent's torts under respondeat superior when the agent is an employee acting within the scope of employment, the test for which turns on the principal's right to control the manner of work.

A general partnership is the association of two or more persons to carry on as co-owners a business for profit, and it may arise by conduct without any formal agreement or filing.

Each partner is an agent of the partnership for the purpose of its business, and an act for apparently carrying on in the ordinary course of partnership business binds the partnership unless the partner lacked authority and the third party knew of the limitation.

Partners are jointly & severally liable for all obligations of the partnership, whether arising in contract or tort.

Partners owe the partnership and one another fiduciary duties of loyalty & care.

Absent agreement, partners share profits equally regardless of capital contribution, and losses follow profits.

Dissociation is a partner's withdrawal from the partnership, which under RUPA does not necessarily cause dissolution;

The board acts as a collective body at a duly called meeting with a quorum (a majority of directors unless otherwise specified) or by unanimous written consent;

A director owes a duty of care to act in good faith with the care an ordinarily prudent person would exercise in a like position and similar circumstances.

The duty of loyalty prohibits directors from advancing personal interests at the corporation's expense.

Under the corporate opportunity doctrine, a director or officer may not divert to personal use a business opportunity in which the corporation has an interest or expectancy or that is closely related to its business, without first offering it to the corporation.

A derivative suit enforces the corporation's own right against wrongdoers, with any recovery going to the corporation, whereas a direct suit vindicates the shareholder's personal rights.

Courts disregard the corporate entity to hold shareholders personally liable where the corporate form is abused to work an injustice or fraud.

Fundamental changes such as mergers, sales of substantially all assets outside the ordinary course, and dissolution require board approval followed by shareholder approval (a majority of outstanding shares under the MBCA).

Rule 10b-5 prohibits fraud or material misrepresentations and omissions in connection with the purchase or sale of any security.

Article 9 governs any transaction, regardless of its form, that creates a security interest in personal property or fixtures by contract.

A security interest is an interest in personal property or fixtures that secures payment or performance of an obligation.

Goods are classified by the debtor's primary use at the time the security interest attaches.

A security interest attaches, becoming enforceable against the debtor, only when three things coexist: value has been given by the secured party, the debtor has rights in the collateral or power to transfer rights, and the debtor has authenticated a security agreement describing the collateral, or the secured party has possession or control under the agreement.

An authenticated security agreement must reasonably describe the collateral so it is objectively identifiable;

A security interest may reach collateral the debtor acquires later only if the security agreement contains an after-acquired property clause.

Perfection requires that the security interest first attach and that the secured party take an appropriate perfecting step, most commonly filing a financing statement, taking possession, taking control, or relying on automatic perfection.

A valid financing statement must provide the debtor's name, the secured party's name, and an indication of the collateral;

A security interest in money can be perfected only by possession, and possession also perfects interests in goods, instruments, negotiable documents, and tangible chattel paper.

A purchase-money security interest in consumer goods is perfected automatically upon attachment, with no filing or possession required.

Between two perfected security interests in the same collateral, priority goes to the first to file or perfect, whichever occurs earlier, measured continuously without a gap.

A PMSI in goods other than inventory or livestock takes priority over conflicting earlier-filed security interests, including after-acquired property interests, if it is perfected within twenty days after the debtor receives possession of the collateral.

A PMSI in inventory achieves superpriority only if the secured party perfects before the debtor receives the inventory and sends an authenticated notice to earlier conflicting secured parties of record, who must receive it within five years before the debtor takes possession.

A buyer in ordinary course of business takes free of a security interest created by the buyer's seller, even if perfected and even if the buyer knows it exists, so long as the buyer does not know the sale violates the secured party's rights.

On default, a secured party may take possession of the collateral, by self-help without judicial process if it can be done without a breach of the peace, or otherwise through a judicial action like replevin.

After repossession the secured party may sell, lease, or otherwise dispose of the collateral, but every aspect of the disposition, including method, manner, time, place, and terms, must be commercially reasonable.

A person acquires a domicile of choice by being physically present in a place coupled with the intent to remain there indefinitely, with no present intention of leaving.

The traditional vested rights approach of the First Restatement applies the law of the place where the last event creating the legal right occurred.

The Second Restatement, the modern majority approach, applies the law of the state with the most significant relationship to the issue, evaluated through general policy factors and issue-specific connecting factors.

Traditionally, tort claims were governed by lex loci delicti, the place of the injury.

Parties generally enjoy party autonomy to choose the governing law in a valid choice-of-law clause, which courts honor if the chosen state has a substantial relationship to the deal or another reasonable basis exists, and applying it would not violate a fundamental policy of a more interested state.

The forum always applies its own procedural law while applying the chosen state's substantive law to the merits.

Traditionally a statute of limitations was treated as procedural, so the forum applied its own limitations period regardless of which state's substantive law governed.

For a state's law to be constitutionally applied consistent with Due Process and Full Faith and Credit, that state must have a significant contact or aggregation of contacts creating state interests, so that applying its law is neither arbitrary nor fundamentally unfair.

Under Full Faith and Credit, a final, valid judgment on the merits rendered by a sister-state court must be recognized and enforced by other states.

A sister-state judgment may be denied recognition only on narrow grounds, principally a lack of jurisdiction in the rendering court or that the judgment was obtained by extrinsic fraud.

Under the Erie doctrine, a federal court sitting in diversity applies federal procedural law but the substantive law of the state in which it sits, including that state's common law.

A valid ceremonial marriage requires legal capacity (both parties unmarried, of sufficient age, not within prohibited degrees of kinship, and mentally competent to consent), mutual present consent to marry, and compliance with state license & ceremony formalities.

In the minority of states that still recognize it, a common-law marriage is formed when capable parties (1) presently agree to be married, (2) cohabit, and (3) hold themselves out publicly as spouses.

A void marriage is invalid from inception and may be challenged by anyone at any time, even after death;

Under the Uniform Premarital Agreement Act, a premarital agreement must be in a signed writing and is enforceable without consideration.

Marital property generally includes all assets acquired by either spouse during the marriage regardless of title, while separate property includes assets owned before marriage and those received during marriage by gift, bequest, devise, or inheritance.

In equitable-distribution states, a court divides marital property in a manner that is fair but not necessarily equal, considering factors such as the length of the marriage, each spouse's contributions (including homemaking), age, health, earning capacity, and economic circumstances.

Custody is determined by the best interests of the child standard, under which the court weighs factors such as the child's relationship with each parent, the parents' ability to provide a stable home, the child's wishes (if of sufficient maturity), each parent's mental and physical health, and the desire to maintain continuity.

Under the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction & Enforcement Act, initial custody jurisdiction lies in the child's home state, defined as where the child lived with a parent for the six consecutive months before the proceeding.

A court has subject-matter jurisdiction to grant a divorce based on at least one spouse's domicile in the state, satisfying any durational residency requirement.

When a decedent dies intestate, the surviving spouse takes a share that varies by jurisdiction;

Under strict per stirpes, the estate is divided into equal shares at the first generation even if no one at that level survives.

Under the slayer rule, a person who feloniously & intentionally kills the decedent is barred from inheriting from the victim by will, intestacy, or beneficiary designation, and is treated as having predeceased the victim.

A testator must be of legal age and possess testamentary capacity, meaning the ability to understand the nature & extent of his property, the natural objects of his bounty, the nature of making a will, and how these relate in an orderly plan.

A valid attested will generally must be (1) in writing, (2) signed by the testator or by another at the testator's direction and in his presence, and (3) signed by at least two witnesses.

A testator may revoke a will by a physical act such as burning, tearing, canceling, or obliterating it, performed with the simultaneous intent to revoke.

Under dependent relative revocation (DRR), a revocation that was premised on a mistaken belief of law or fact will be disregarded if the testator would not have revoked but for that mistake.

A divorce or annulment after a will's execution revokes all provisions in favor of the former spouse (and, under the UPC, the former spouse's relatives), treating the ex-spouse as having predeceased the testator.

A gift lapses if the beneficiary predeceases the testator, ordinarily causing it to fall into the residue or pass by intestacy.

Ademption by extinction occurs when specifically devised property is not in the testator's estate at death, causing the gift to fail under the traditional identity theory (the UPC favors an intent-based approach with exceptions).

A will procured by undue influence is invalid where another's influence overpowered the testator's free will and caused a disposition the testator would not otherwise have made.

A surviving spouse may renounce the will and instead take a statutory elective (forced) share, commonly one-third or one-half of the estate, to prevent disinheritance.

An omitted (pretermitted) spouse whom the testator married after executing the will generally receives an intestate share unless the omission appears intentional or was provided for outside the will.

A valid trust requires a settlor with capacity who manifests a present intent to create a trust, identifiable trust property (res), and a lawful purpose.

A private trust must have one or more ascertainable beneficiaries capable of enforcing it, although a charitable trust may have indefinite beneficiaries.

A charitable trust must have a recognized charitable purpose (such as relief of poverty, advancement of education, or other community benefit), may last indefinitely free of the Rule Against Perpetuities, and is enforced by the state attorney general.

A spendthrift trust bars the beneficiary from voluntarily or involuntarily transferring his interest, so creditors generally cannot reach the interest until distributions are made.

A resulting trust arises by operation of law to return property to the settlor or his estate when an express trust fails or does not exhaust the trust property.

A trustee owes an undivided duty of loyalty to administer the trust solely in the interest of the beneficiaries.

Under the Uniform Prudent Investor Act, a trustee must invest as a prudent investor would, evaluating investments as part of an overall portfolio strategy with reasonable risk and return objectives and a duty to diversify.

Under the Claflin doctrine, beneficiaries may compel modification or termination only if all beneficiaries consent and doing so would not frustrate a material purpose of the trust.

The Rule Against Perpetuities requires that a contingent future interest must vest, if at all, within 21 years after a life in being at the interest's creation, or it is void.