[Archive]

Posted By: peter chao

Ed,

Why would you ask such a perverted question. I forgot which state it was, but supposedly in that state it is not malpractice for an attorney to misapply the Rule Against Perpetuities. I'm not even I spelled it right.

First you need to understand the purpose of the rule. The purpose of the rule is to limit the duration of the enforcement of any contract.

So, I cannot donate a million dollars to Stanford University a thousand years from now. A general statement of the rule is that a contract must be performed or not performed within the lifetime of some being in existence plus 26 years.

So my donation even if it could be executed would be void because of the Rule Against Perpetuities. This reminds me of the good old days as a law student at Boalt Hall (Berkeley's School of Law).

And of course, I've never used the rule in my practice.

Peter