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This year could be considered quiet in both legislative and judicial activity, lacking as it was in any substantial new legislative enactments or major opinions from the Supreme Court of Virginia on core wealth transfer issues.

Nevertheless, a set of modest legislative changes helped bring the rules for revocable trusts in line
with the rules for wills, standardizing estate planning and wealth transfer regulation, while other changes also brought clarity to existing rules by amplifying procedures and providing additional detail for administrative processes.

In the judicial setting, while guidance for this practice area was primarily provided by the Court of
Appeals of Virginia, the cases covered a wide array of topics, like rights to an accounting, the role of the Commissioner, and no contest clauses. A large concentration of the judicial matters also flagged the numerous issues that can arise when leaving property and residence rights to individuals through an estate plan.

Allison A. Tait *

Hunter M. Glenn **

* Professor of Law, University of Richmond School of Law, Richmond, Virginia. J.D., 2011, Yale Law School; Ph.D., Yale University; B.A., Bryn Mawr.

** Associate, McGuireWoods LLP, Charlottesville, Virginia. J.D., 2017, University of Richmond School of Law; B.A., 2013, Furman University.