Portability is a vital part of estate administration for estates of all sizes. Even smaller estates should not forgo the opportunity to preserve exemption. This program will review the four options or approaches to securing a deceased spouse’s DSUE or portable exemption. These include: (1) Form 706 (including buying time with an extension); (2) a…
Using an estate planning organizer or questionnaire is ubiquitous in estate planning for all practitioners (CPAs, wealth advisers, attorneys, insurance consultants, etc.). The traditional questionnaire often remains a paper document that clients loathe to fill out and often never fully complete. The more tech advanced substitutions for the old-style questionnaire are often based on the…
Remote work is incredibly common. An ABA survey found that 87% of firms allows lawyers to work remotely. About 30% of lawyers work from home almost all the time. Another 30% work in the office nearly 100% of the time. As remote work continues to grow, more and more estate planners will work more than…
Estate planners need to regularly review new software products and services to determine how to better, more efficiently and more profitably serve their clients. Rules of Professional Conduct, Rule 1.1, requires lawyers have a duty to keep abreast of the benefits and risks associated with technology to provide competent legal representation. This webinar will feature…
Estate planners are always seeking to be more efficient and to provide better service to their clients. If your professional firm uses Outlook for calendaring, email and other applications this practical, non-technical webinar will provide you with useful tips that will help improve how you practice, increase your efficiency, and more. The program will primarily…
While professional advisers are all aware of the importance of cybersecurity and related planning for their practices, many clients are not. This is especially so for older clients who are less tech savvy but the focus of many estate planning practices. Client internet and related security could be as important a part of the estate…
The 59th Annual Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning was held in Orlando, Florida, on January 13-17, 2025. The Institute is the preeminent estate planning conference of the year and always provides a full week of valuable seminars covering a broad range of estate planning issues for all types of practitioners and all types of clients….
Happy holidays from the Fifth Circuit! Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) filings are back on (for now). On December 23, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit granted a stay of the district court’s preliminary injunction enjoining CTA entered in the case of Texas Top Cop Shop, Inc. v. Garland. So, until the…
Despite the election results, estate planning, and in particular non-reciprocal SLAT planning should continue for many clients. The results of future elections cannot be predicted. Upstream basis planning, asset protection, non-grantor trusts and other mechanisms provide benefit apart from estate tax benefits. When crafting SLAT plans the Reciprocal Trust Doctrine is often employed by the…
The Step-Transaction Doctrine is often employed by the IRS to challenge clients’ planning. There is limited time in2024, and soon the compressed planning period of 2025. There are steps that practitioners might recommend to their clients to take now in preparation for future planning, which could potentially mitigate the possibility of the IRS successfully raising…