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Experiencing Trusts and Estates

3rd Edition
Deborah S. Gordon | Karen J. Sneddon | Carla Spivack | Allison Anna Tait
ISBN: 9798892099325
Subject: Trusts And Estates
Format: Print & Electronic - Hardbound
Page Count: 781
Copyright: 2026 | Status: Coming Soon

This title utilizes the CasebookPlus™ platform. Learn more at Faculty-CasebookPlus.com.

This textbook uniquely combines rigorous doctrinal instruction, learner-centered and practice-oriented material, and reminders of the social and political consequences of how we structure inheritance law. The opening chapters introduce students to key concepts in intergenerational wealth transfer and planning for incapacity and death. The remainder of the book highlights inheritance law concepts from both a forward-looking (planning/drafting) and backward-looking (litigation) perspective. It is the only trusts and estates textbook to include the Indian Trust cases in the fiduciary duties section and to place older undue influence cases like Moses and Kaufmann in the context of social norms and biases. The third edition continues to include learning outcomes at the beginning of each chapter to help with ABA compliance and student focus, a broad, varied, and updated array of formative assessments (with new sample answers and rubrics), a glossary of terms (expanded), highlight boxes to draw student attention to practice notes, connection notes, and language notes, and final chapter assessments to link topics together. Some examples of the assessments in the third edition include role playing exercises, drafting client letters and testamentary instruments, writing policy papers, legislation, and judicial opinions, and preparing community and client presentations. Each chapter also features more traditional hypotheticals, fact patterns, and discussion questions. The third edition also provides a bank of assessment questions and answers (multiple choice, short essay, longer essay, drafting, and integrated) designed to prepare students for the NextGen bar exam.

This title utilizes the CasebookPlus™ platform. Anchored by faculty-authored self-assessments, CasebookPlus allows students to test their understanding of core concepts as they are learning them in class with quizzes keyed to each chapter, subject area review quizzes, and helpful explanations. Learn more at Faculty-CasebookPlus.com.


Imprint: West Academic Publishing
Series: Experiencing Law Series
Publication Date: 07/23/2026

Deborah S. Gordon, Drexel University School of Law

Karen J. Sneddon, Mercer University School of Law

Carla Spivack, Albany Law School

Allison Anna Tait, University of Richmond School of Law

CasebookPlus™

This title is available in our CasebookPlus format. CasebookPlus provides support beyond your classroom lectures and materials by offering additional digital resources to you and your students. Anchored by faculty-authored formative self-assessments keyed to our most popular casebooks, CasebookPlus allows students to test their understanding of core concepts as they are learning them in class — on their own, outside of the classroom, with no extra work on your part. CasebookPlus combines three important elements:

  • A new print or digital casebook
  • Access to a downloadable eBook with the ability to highlight and add notes
  • 12-month access to a digital Learning Library complete with:
Multiple-choice self-assessment questions, including:
  • Chapter questions keyed to the casebook
  • Black Letter Law questions (available in select subjects)
  • Subject area review questions for end of semester use
Essay and short answer questions with sample answers and expert commentary, in 1L and select upper-level subjects

Leading digital study aids, an outline starter, and audio lectures in select subjects

Students can still utilize CasebookPlus digital resources if they've purchased a used book or are renting their text by purchasing the Learning Library at westacademic.com.

With CasebookPlus, you can customize your students' learning experience and monitor their performance. The quiz editor allows you to create your own custom quiz set, suppress specific quiz questions or quiz sets, and time-release quiz questions. Additionally, the flexible, customized reporting capability helps you evaluate your students' understanding of the material and can also help your school demonstrate compliance with the new ABA Assessment and Learning Outcomes standards.

A list of changes and updates in the Third Edition:

  • Streamlined cases (and several recent new cases)
  • Enhanced glossary
  • Expanded Teacher’s Manual including:
    • Teaching tips and suggestions for planning each lesson/topic
    • Rubrics and model answers for all assessments
    • Enhanced talking points to accompany all notes
    • Additional multiple-choice questions (and answers) for professors to use in class or quizzes (to supplement the online questions that students can access)
    • A discussion of the online questions that West offers students (including how to use them in class)
  • Three NextGen Bar exam integrated question sets

Learn more about this series.