Wills, Trusts, And Estates CLE

Attorneys can play a vital role in discussing advance care planning options with their clients prior to, during, and even after initial estate planning conversations. The Patient Self Determination Act and state laws govern the utilization of advance directives, the primary set of documents that explain a client’s advance care wishes. Advance directives typically consist of a living will or health care directive, which determines what types life-sustaining treatments the client may elect to receive, and a durable power of attorney for healthcare that affords them the ability to select a healthcare agent to make decisions should they lack decision-making capacity. This course will provide examples of a conservative approach to advance care planning using the state of Ohio as an example and contrast with the state of Washington’s approach in allowing natural death planning per its Natural Death Act.

Estate planning is a common and needed area of legal services. The need is only growing. So are low cost and no cost non-attorney alternatives. Learn what a comprehensive estate plan is and the strategies only attorneys can provide, so that you can provide value to your clients and they ultimately leave your office with a manageable to-do list.

Probate law is the body of law that deals with legal incapacity and the issues that come up after death. The vast majority of probate issues involve the administration of the estates of deceased people. In this course, you will learn how to effectively and efficiently guide fiduciaries through the probate administrative process.

One reason clients request estate planning services is to create legacies, to provide generational wealth, regardless of their particular family dynamics. When first considering this objective, estate planning attorneys look to the alphabet soup – GRATs, INGs, IDGTs, CRTs, and more. However, one often over-looked planning mechanism may work just as well – properly drafted powers of appointment. So, this program covers applicable laws, rules, and regulations for preparing steadfast powers. We will also review hypotheticals to provide hands-on examples of legacy creation despite interesting family dynamics.

In this program, Patrick Lannon and Dolly Hernandez will discuss how trust assets can be vulnerable upon the divorce of a beneficiary. You will learn planning steps that can be implemented to reduce the divorcing spouse’s access to trust assets.

Long term care expenses can deplete savings or impoverish many people very quickly, and most do not insure for such expenses. This CLE course will provide elder law attorneys with a method for Medicaid and Veterans’ Aid & Attendance planning and funding long-term care. We will discuss the purpose and function of asset protection trusts and review tips for preparing them for clients.

Selling or transferring a company can be a once in a lifetime event and understanding the value of the company when transferring it can be a difficult challenge. This course will focus on how to value a company and how to successfully transfer the company and capture its value while minimizing the tax liability and the estate planning that follows. Roman Basi will teach participants the methods used in valuations, succession planning, estate planning, and much more.

Many estate planners consider the passage of the SECURE Act in 2019 to be the most significant retirement legislation of the past 15 years. However, Congress isn’t done, and the EARN Act, which further builds on the SECURE Act, and proposed treasury regulations are in the pipeline to further change laws surrounding retirement. How do these changes affect estate planning and how can individuals and families plan to optimize their IRA planning in light of these new laws?

Families are unique social constructs with unique challenges. Accordingly, estate planning attorneys must anticipate and draft for these challenges if they do not want clients (and the estate plans) to be subject to probate or estate administration court battles. This program covers applicable laws, rules, and regulations for drafting trusts that address three of the most common, yet challenging, family dynamics: hostile family members, spendthrift beneficiaries, and family factions. We will also review hypotheticals to provide hands-on examples of provisions that can be helpful in keeping the peace or at least keeping clients from nasty court battles.

One of the challenges faced when attempting to treat or assist an individual suffering from a mental illness is a lack of insight into having such an illness. The individual may deny suffering from a mental illness and therefore refuse treatment or the assistance of a family member or loved one, insisting that he/she can function independently, despite evidence to the contrary. The individual may prevent others from accessing medical and financial information, thereby making it impossible to speak to care providers and financial institutions to protect, advocate and plan for the future. Even if the individual has the capacity to sign advance directives such as a Power of Attorney or Health Care Proxy, he/she can either refuse to do so or revoke those documents after execution. The circumstances might require a more restrictive type of intervention.

This CLE will provide estate planners with an overview of irrevocable trusts and key considerations and challenges with these instruments. Estate planners use irrevocable trusts to protect assets and provide flexibility to adapt to changes in tax law, fluctuating asset values and other changing circumstances. When considering these types of trusts as part of an estate plan, counsel must grasp income and transfer tax rules, which assets can go into the trust, trustee restrictions, prohibitions on trustee powers, how to make distributions, and many other considerations. Planners can structure trusts to allow clients affected by estate or gift taxes to retain varying levels of control depending on that client’s situation and the applicable laws and regulations.

Unfortunately, when family, death, and money converge court battles are inevitable. The disputes often arise when no estate planning is involved or the planning goes awry, requiring heated, dramatic, and sometimes heart-wrenching probate (also referred to as estate administration) proceedings. This program covers model codes, statutory laws, and common law with respect to intestate matters. We will consider the changing legal definitions of family, the issues involved in administering estates when wrongdoing is suspected, and the rights, duties, and powers of personal representatives. We will also review hands-on examples of provisions that can be helpful in keeping at least us and our clients safe from probate landmines.

A personal injury case often needs an estate lawyer - and an estate lawyer often needs a personal injury lawyer's perspective. Alex Weatherby will start with a discussion on wrongful death and related claims, as there are unique issues in the state of Georgia that can make prosecuting a wrongful death claim tricky. He'll also cover claims involving a minor, because probate courts play a significant role in these claims as well. There is, obviously, much more to litigating both wrongful death and minor injury claims than can be covered in one hour. This course serves as an overview of the types of personal injury cases that will primarily intersect with probate and estate law.

This program will review the process of settling a final account and discharging a guardian in a Mental Hygiene Law Article 81 proceeding in New York– i.e., ending the guardianship completely or facilitating the appointment of a successor guardian. The course will give a practical overview of how to prepare a motion to settle a final account a/k/a discharge application, governing law, step-by-step procedure, procedural intricacies, how the process differs from county to county (and sometimes from judge to judge), and other court customs. The course will review the many reasons a guardian (or their ward) may seek discharge of the guardian, including regaining mental capacity, death of the incapacitated person, the transfer of a ward to a nursing home when the guardian is a community guardian program, discharge for wrongdoing, and other purposes.

This program will provide a detailed overview of kinship proceedings in the New York Surrogate's Court from commencement to conclusion. When a person dies without a will, and the closest living relatives are distant (like cousins) a kinship proceeding is often necessary to determine who is entitled to inherit from the decedent's estate. This course will define what a kinship proceeding is, the various parties to a kinship proceeding, the substantive and procedural laws that govern kinship proceedings, and the tools and strategies necessary for success. Kinship proceedings are governed by an amalgamation of laws and regulations. This course provides an easy-to-use, organized guide to kinship proceedings.

Estate planning and administration can be full of twists and turns.  Circumstances are further complicated by the emotions and grief over the loss of a loved one that family members and fiduciaries simultaneously experience. This course will help attorneys learn the key rules they need to know to ethically navigate the estate planning and administration process. After watching this course, attorneys will be able to competently assist their clients, protect themselves and minimize their chances of a malpractice claim, and navigate the complexities of estate planning and administration to ensure they ethically represent clients in this area of the law.

Drafting a trust can seem overwhelming. This course will help you navigate what kind of trust you will need as part of a Will or Revocable Trust and discuss key provisions that can be included. We will focus on practical drafting advice in order to ensure that attorneys have the tools necessary for success.

In this program, attorney Sara Bragdon will discuss various ethical obstacles that can affect estate planning attorneys in their day to day practice and review strategies on how to traverse them. This course will cover conflicts of interest in representation, client capacity considerations, client communication best practices, and handling attorney fees.