February 2008

 

Estate Planning Basic Skills

 

 

 

 

If you are a new attorney interested in developing an estate planning practice, a legal assistant currently in the estate planning area, or you would like to improve your skills in this area, you won't want to miss this valuable program. Respected estate planning attorneys will show you the best tools to employ in common situations you will face. A variety of timely topics to be covered include ethical concerns, transfer tax issues, planning for disability, life insurance issues, and the planning and drafting process. A probate judges' roundtable will discuss malpractice traps and how to avoid them.

 

 

Topics

 

Information Gathering and the Initial Client Interview

- Using questionnaires to obtain essential personal and financial information

- Educating your client regarding the estate planning process and proposed instruments

- Exploring sensitive matters such as blended families and problem children

- Counseling clients who need what they don't want or want what they don't need

Presented by Frank T. Hill & Constance B. Wood

 

Introduction to Transfer Taxes

- Elements of the gross estate

- Transfer tax savings through wise use of deductions and credits

- Overview of gift taxation

- Selected income and generation-skipping tax issues

Presented by Mark D. Masters

 

The Planning Process; The Drafting Process

- Designing a practical plan to carry out the client's wishes, while minimizing taxes and administrative costs

- Nuts and Bolts I: Statutory requirements and elements of a good dispositive document

- Nuts and Bolts II: Disposing provisions, selecting fiduciaries, etc.

- Coordinating will provisions with other estate planning documents and nonprobate assets

- Common drafting problems and errors

 

Execution of Documents and Follow-up Issues

- Ensuring proper execution

- Asset balancing

- Changing beneficiary designations and retitling assets

Presented by Frank T. Hill & Constance B. Wood

 

Planning for Disability

- Advance Medical Directives: Medical Power of Attorney, Living Will, CPR Directive

- Proxy decision maker

- Financial Powers of Attorney

- Parental delegation of guardianship

Presented by Carl Glatstein

 

Planning for Single Clients and Smaller Estates

- Widows and widowers

- Divorced clients

- Unmarried couples

- Using contingent trusts for children or grandchildren

- Considerations when planning the smaller estate

- Elderly clients

Presented by Patrick M. Plank

 

Introduction to Ethics in Estate Planning

- Representing multiple clients: Navigating through confidentiality and potential conflicts of interest

- Representing clients with disabilities or questionable competency

- Who is my client? Identifying troublesome situations

- Engagement/disengagement letters

Presented by Paul J. Willumstad

 

Planning for Married Clients and Larger Estates

- Yours, mine and ours: Second marriages and blended families

- Using contingent trusts for children or grandchildren

- Planning for problem adult children

- Non-tax considerations

- Which tax apportionment is appropriate

- Married with children

Presented by Laurie A. Hunter

 

Revocable Living Trusts

- Using a funded revocable trust as the dispositive document

- Using an unfunded standby trust

- The need for a pour-over will

 

Introduction to the Marital Deduction; Planning to Minimize Estate Taxes

- Basic formulas of marital deduction planning for taxable estates

- Disclaimer trust planning

- Combined marital trust/bypass trust planning: the Aand B trusts

- Combined marital trust/bypass trust planning

- Using QTIP provisions

- Planning for an uncertain tax future

Presented by Thomas L. Stover

 

Uses of Life Insurance in Estate Planning

- Types of life insurance policies

- Life insurance to provide estate liquidity and pay debts

- Paying estate taxes cheaply - an introduction to the irrevocable life insurance trust

Presented by Kevin D. Millard

 

Traps to Avoid: The 10 Most Common Problems and Pitfalls as Seen Through the Eyes of “The Bench,” Including Malpractice

Presented by Magistrate E. David Griffith (Ret.), Hon. Barbara L. Hughes, Hon. C. Jean Stewart, and Hon. John P. Leopold

 

 

 

Schmidt Horen & Lockwood LLP

Denver, CO