Estate Planning Basic Skills
January 2020
Estate Planning Basic Skills
Co-sponsored by the Colorado Bar Association Trust and Estate Law Section
Program Highlights:
- Information Gathering and the Initial Client Interview
- The Planning Process; The Drafting Process
- Execution of Documents and Follow-up Issues
- Introduction to Transfer Taxes
- Planning for Disability
- Planning for Single Clients and Smaller Estates
- Planning for Married Clients and Larger Estates
- Revocable Living Trusts
- The Colorado Uniform Trust Code, and Planning and Drafting Under the CUTC
- Introduction to the Marital Deduction
- Uses of Life Insurance in Estate Planning
- Introduction to Ethics in Estate Planning
- Traps to Avoid: The 10 Most Common Problems and Pitfalls as Seen Through the Eyes of the Bench, Including Malpractice
- Presentation and Discussion of Hypothetical Fact Patterns
Program Description:
Experienced estate planning attorneys will show you the best tools to employ in common situations. Timely topics include ethical concerns, transfer tax issues, planning for smaller estates, estate planning with life insurance, the planning and drafting process, planning and drafting under the UTC, and more. The latter part of the program also includes sessions that apply the concepts just taught to typical client fact patterns. Finally, a judicial panel will discuss important problems and pitfalls that estate planning attorneys face. The Colorado Estate Planning Forms (Orange Book) will be a valuable tool during the program and is available for purchase when you register.
If you are an attorney who wants to develop an estate planning practice, a legal assistant working in the arena, or a practitioner looking to improve your skills in this important area of law, you don’t want to miss this program.
Agenda:
DAY 1—Thursday, January 30, 2020
8:15 am
Registration and Continental Breakfast
8:45 am
Welcome and Introduction
Extended by Mark D. Masters, Esq., Program Chair
8:50 – 9:20 am
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, Esq., and Kerri Klein, Esq.
9:20 – 10:15 am
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
non-probate assets
- Common drafting problems and errors
Presented by Frank T. Hill, Esq., and Kerri Klein, Esq.
10:15 – 10:25 am
Networking Break
10:25 – 10:50 am
Execution of Documents and Follow-up Issues
- Ensuring proper execution
- Asset balancing
- Changing beneficiary designations and retitling assets
Presented by Frank T. Hill, Esq., and Kerri Klein, Esq.
10:50 – 11:50 am
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, Esq.
11:50 am -12:20 pm
Moderated Discussion of Morning’s Topics and Panel
Presentation by Morning Faculty
Panel Moderator: Mark D. Masters, Esq.
12:20 pm
Lunch (On Your Own)
1:30 – 2:10 pm
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
- Medical Orders for Scope of Treatment (MOST)
Presented by M. Carl Glatstein, Esq.
2:10 – 2:50 pm
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 Erica Johnson, Esq.
2:50 – 3:00 pm
Networking Break
3:00 – 3:45 pm
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 when planning the larger estate, such as distributions of business interests, etc.
- Which tax apportionment clause is appropriate
- Married with children
Presented by Mallory Hasbrook, Esq., and Nancy Peterson, Esq.
3:45 – 4:15 pm
Moderated Discussion of Afternoon’s Topics and Panel
Presentation by Afternoon Faculty
Panel Moderator: Mark D. Masters, Esq.
4:15 pm
Adjourn
Day 2 – Friday, January 31, 2020
8:00 am
Continental Breakfast
8:45 – 9:15 am
Revocable Living Trusts
- Using a funded revocable trust as the disposing document
- Using an unfunded standby trust
- The need for a pour-over will
Presented by Julia G. McVey, Esq.
9:15 – 10:05 am
The Colorado Uniform Trust Code, and Planning and Drafting Under the CUTC
- Mandatory and default tryst terms under the CUTC
- Understanding the difference between types of beneficiaries and their rights
- Navigating notice and accounting obligations of the trustee
Presented by Constance Eyster, Esq., and Stephen M. Brainerd, Esq.
10:05 – 10:20 am
Networking Break
10:20 – 11:20 am
Introduction to the Marital Deduction
- Why the marital deduction is important with or without a taxable estate
- How the marital deduction is relevant to step-up in basis
- Requirements to qualify for the marital deduction
- Types of marital trusts, including QTIP trusts
- Marital deduction plans, including disclaimer plans and formula plans (the A/B trust plan)
- Portability
Presented by Jennifer Spitz, Esq.
11:20 am – 12:10 pm
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 Marianne Luu-Chen, Esq.
12:10 pm - 12:30 pm
Pick up Box Lunches (Included in Your Tuition)
12:30 pm – 1:10 pm
Moderated Discussion of Morning’s Topics and Panel
Presentation by Morning Faculty
Panel Moderator: Mark D. Masters, Esq.
1:10 – 1:20 pm
Post Lunch Break
1:20 – 2:10 pm
Introduction to Ethics in Estate Planning
1 Ethics Credit
- Representing multiple clients: Navigating through confidentiality and potential conflicts of interest
- Representing clients with disabilities or questionable capacity
- Who is my client? Identifying troublesome situations
- Engagement/disengagement letters
Presented by David Kirch, Esq., and Charles E. Rounds, Esq.
2:10 – 3:00 pm
Traps to Avoid: The 10 Most Common Problems and Pitfalls as Seen Through the Eyes of the Bench, Including Malpractice
Presented by the Honorable Susan Blanco, Honorable Vincent Rahaman, and Honorable Elizabeth D. Leith
3:00 – 3:10 pm
Networking Break
3:10 – 4:30 pm
Moderated Discussion of Hypothetical Fact Patterns in Estate Planning Basics
Moderated by Mark D. Masters, Esq.
4:30 pm
Adjourn
Registration Fees
| Non Member | $489.00 |
| CBA Member | $389.00 |
| CBA Trust and Estate Law Section Member | $329.00 |
| CBA Elder Law Section Member | $329.00 |
| Paralegal/Legal Support Staff | $299.00 |
| CLEACCESSPASS---ELITE Pass Holder | $0.00 |
| New Lawyer Edge Partner | $0.00 |
- General Credits: 15.00
- Ethics Credits: 1.00
- EDI Credits:
To join the CBA or add a Section to your membership click