African American Estate Planning: Building Legacy, Wealth and Opportunity Across Generations

Estate planning professionals are increasingly recognizing that technical expertise alone is not enough to help families achieve meaningful legacy objectives. This thought-provoking webinar explores how attorneys, CPAs, fiduciary advisers, and wealth managers can improve planning outcomes by combining sophisticated legal and financial strategies with a deeper understanding of client values, family dynamics, communication styles, trust-building, and intergenerational wealth transfer. The program examines why many families fail to engage in planning despite owning significant assets, how professional jargon and industry assumptions can unintentionally create barriers, and why client-centered planning often requires a different approach to education, relationship building, and implementation. Participants will explore practical techniques for identifying wealth that clients may overlook, designing planning strategies that reflect nontraditional family structures, addressing concerns about legacy, preserving family values alongside financial assets, and incorporating family governance, education, philanthropy, and stewardship into trust planning. The webinar will also examine the concept of the “legacy trust” as a framework for helping families create opportunity across generations, coordinate charitable and community goals, and avoid the common mistakes that undermine otherwise well-drafted plans. Advisers seeking to better serve diverse client populations, expand their planning perspective, and strengthen client relationships will find valuable insights, practical ideas, and immediately applicable strategies in this engaging program.

Speakers: LaTanya Greer, Brian Beamer, Earl Johnson, Martin M. Shenkman.