Advanced Estate Planning Summit (Spring 2025)
This exclusive day of learning is tailored to experienced practitioners and covers advanced planning strategies to help you better serve your clients and expand your professional offerings.
The 2025 Summit features industry experts who address wealth transfers using irrevocable trusts, explore important considerations in estate planning for non-citizens and/or those who have property abroad, discuss the tax aspects of modification, commutation, termination & decanting of trusts, and offer best practices for administering special needs trusts.
If you want to deepen your knowledge and learn from thought leaders—all from the comfort and ease of your office—then don't miss out on this enlightening experience.
Best Practices for Administering Special Needs Trusts
Properly administering a beneficiary’s network of special needs trusts (SNTs) is the cornerstone of an effective special needs plan. This program will address how to identify and correct the mistakes frequently made by a beneficiary’s allied professionals during the creation and funding of SNTs (both before and after the trustee has accepted those SNTs), as well as how to avoid common pitfalls while actively administering SNTs.
Kristen M. Lewis, Partner, Harrison LLP
The Highs and the Lows: A Review of Estate Planning Techniques in High- and Low-Rate Environments
This presentation will cover the mechanics of several different wealth transfer and tax planning strategies involving irrevocable trusts, including grantor retained annuity trusts, qualified personal residence trusts, charitable lead trusts, charitable remainder trusts, irrevocable life insurance trusts, sales to grantor trusts, and intrafamily loans. The presenter will discuss how different applicable federal rates and the 7520 rates impact the effectiveness of these various wealth transfer structures. During the presentation, we will highlight the technical process as to how each estate planning technique is structured and explore the various tax and nontax considerations that drive each technique.
Emily Plocki, JD, LLM
Planning for International People and Property
International people and property frequently pop up in estate planning. Two common scenarios include planning for a noncitizen spouse and planning for property held outside the United States. Each topic is worthy of separate discussion, so this presentation will be split into two segments.
We will start with planning for a noncitizen spouse using outright transfers and qualified domestic trusts (QDOTs). This discussion will span the client relationship, beginning with the initial conference. We will move through lifetime planning and gifting, ending with postmortem planning and QDOT administration.
Next, we will discuss planning for real property held outside the United States. Again, we will follow the arc of the client relationship, starting with identifying a team of advisors. It is impossible to suggest one planning technique for all foreign property because estate planning varies greatly from country to country. Instead, we will cover common scenarios and general drafting tips for coordinating wills in multiple jurisdictions. If time allows, we will discuss postmortem administration issues that frequently arise with foreign real property.
Ruth A. Mattson, Partner
Tax Implications of Irrevocable Trust Modifications and Early Terminations
This session will discuss the transfer tax and unsettled income tax ramifications of early terminations of irrevocable trusts, whether through a nonjudicial settlement agreement, decanting, or court reformation, and when a substantial modification that changes the parties’ beneficial interests implicates the same (or worse) risks. Most importantly, we will discuss how we can get the same result with less risk and avoid being the low-hanging fruit for the Internal Revenue Service auditor.
Ed Morrow, JD, LLM, CFP
CLE: 5.0 General credits
Approved States: CA, GA, IL, NJ, NV, NY, OK, PA, TN, UT, VT
(AK, AZ, CT, ND, MO, NH, & TX are eligible to claim credit.)
We will supply you with the information needed to apply in other states.
Contact shopcle@wealthcounsel.com for CLE assistance.
To Claim CLE Credit: Email the attendance verification codes provided during the recording to shopcle@wealthcounsel.com. There are four codes in all. Include the date you completed the Summit, along with all states you are licensed in, as well as bar numbers for each state.
WealthCounsel members: This CLE eligible program may be complimentary for WealthCounsel members, depending upon their subscription bundle. Please access and view it here via the member website for optimal experience and inclusion in your CLE Profile Account.
