Miss Julie/deathbed gifts of property....

So for the next weeks, we're considering "Miss Julie" by August Strindberg; this, also, is a very good read. The main characters seem to be Miss Julie, Kristine (her cook), and Jean (her valet). The character analysis given Miss Julie is but one layer of a very complex individual (read: looks can be deceiving). She appears manipulative, charming, and vulnerable, all at once. It is Jean who offers the biggest surprise, who shows the audience his true self further into the reading. Or maybe I'm wrong; I've only read the first few acts. Maybe there's more complexity with Jean, as well. Kristine seems taken by Jean, yet doesn't allow herself to be manipulated by him, as she knows he also pines after Miss Julie.

So this week in Finance 410 (Estate Planning), we learned about ownership (the different types of ownership) and transfer of property. So the discussion board question was: if your client decided on his deathbed that he wanted to give his beachfront property to his pretty nurse, was this valid? Could he actually approve such a transaction? The answer, of course, was no; real property could not be disposed of or transferred in such a manner. The individual would have had to make out a will to decide who would get his or her real property, such as homes, businesses, and beachfront properties. The reason for this is because the individual would have had to be in his or her sound mind when making such a decision, so that it would be reasonably clear to all involved that the financial planner and estate executor acted in accord with his or her wishes. So just because someone was kind to you in your final days, it doesn't mean that you can simply allow him or her to have your real property.