Jeff Pennell presents Hot Topics in Estate Planning
November 2006
Jeff Pennell presents Hot Topics in Estate Planning
Program Agenda:
Marital Deduction Planning in Times of Uncertainty
The applicable exclusion amount is $2.0 million, with a flat tax as to which several old estate planning notions are bankrupt (e.g., estate freezing is yesterday's game). The §2058 deduction for the state death tax needs to be addressed in formula marital deduction provisions. Will carryover basis become a reality? Planning for some provisions in this political theatre is a fool's errand, yet it may be worth considering in marital deduction planning and drafting today formula marital bequests that send an increasingly large amount to the non-marital trust, deferral of tax using the marital deduction if the surviving spouse is likely to die after 2009, but use of the §2013 previously taxed property credit otherwise, and gifts to a dying spouse to “fill-up” that spouse's estate and avoid waste of both spouses' applicable exclusion amounts.
• Planning for the potential increase in the applicable exclusion amount
• Planning instead for repeal of the estate tax
• Planning to empower a surviving spouse to make gifts
• Planning to shelter a less wealthy spouse's unified credit
Elective Shares of Surviving Spouses
In the vast majority of cases in which a surviving spouse intentionally is cut out or otherwise is restricted the planning often is for “right” reasons (including to qualify the survivor for Medicaid). Nevertheless, the number of surviving spouses who will be dissatisfied with a decedent's estate plan will rise in the future, particularly because of the popularity of the QTIP marital deduction trust, an increase in the unified credit that makes it possible to shelter larger amounts of wealth in a nonmarital trust, and the growing number of blended families and children of a prior marriage. The
number of surviving spouses who will passively accept a trust that denies the spouse significant enjoyment and control will decline and prior forms of accepted planning will become more offensive to more surviving spouses, particularly as more surviving spouses are husbands. The natural upshot may be more surviving spouses asserting their freedom from the tyranny of the dead hand of their deceased spouse, and there may be an explosion in the number of surviving spouses who will make the statutory forced heir share election. This discussion is about what to do in anticipation of that election.
• Planning to minimize the entitlement of a surviving spouse - for meritorious or other purposes
• Particularly including concerns for Medicaid qualification of a surviving spouse
• Non-probate transfers and other mechanisms that may achieve a client's objectives
Recent Wealth Transfer Tax Developments
Professor Pennell will explore with the audience current cases, legislation, regulations, and rulings of significance to estate planners with an eye to their practical significance to everyday planning and drafting. Audience participation will be encouraged and the session will seek to extrapolate from the law as it is developing to situations that have not yet tested the boundaries of the law. • Income, estate, gift, and generation-skipping tax developments (cases, legislation, regulations, and rulings)
• Selected state law developments of interest to estate planners
• Focus on the significance and planning implications of current changes in the law
About our Presenter:
Professor Pennell is the Richard H. Clark Professor of Law at Emory University School of Law in Atlanta, an Advisor for Restatement of the Law (Third) of Property - Wills and Other Donative Transfers, and an Associate Reporter for Restatement of the Law (Third) of Trusts. He is the successor author of Casner & Pennell on
ESTATE PLANNING (6th ed.), and various books, portfolios, monographs, articles, and institute chapters.
Video Replay - December 8, 2006
Denver: 1900 Grant Street, Suite 300
Colorado Springs: 421 South Tejon Street, Suite 100
Video Replay - December 13, 2006
Grand Junction: 1250 East Sherwood Drive
Location Information
CLECI Large Classroom
1900 Grant Street, Suite 300
Denver, CO 80203
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1900 Grant Street, Suite 300
Denver, CO 80203
Registration Fees
| $249.00 | |
| CBA | $199.00 |
| TRUST | $149.00 |
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