Estate Elements & Tools

Course Description:

Estate planning doesn't have to be a daunting maze of tax codes and regulations; instead, it can be approached as a practical, real-life strategy to protect and distribute assets. This course focuses on the key elements and tools for a successful estate plan, from basic wills and healthcare directives to more complex trusts and partnerships, it explores comprehensive strategies that serve your unique needs. This approach encompasses a range of tools designed to minimize both income and estate taxes, such as strategic gifting, charitable donations, and vari-
ous types of trusts. Additionally, it examines commonly used devices for transferring and controlling assets, like family limited partnerships, qualified personal residence trusts, and grantor-retained annuity trusts, each offering specific benefits in terms of tax efficiency and asset protection. By understanding these components and how they interact within the broader context of financial and family situations, practitioners can maximize the wealth transferred to beneficiaries, all while navigating the complexities of tax law with greater confidence
and clarity.

Learning Objectives:

Upon successful completion of this course, participants will be able to:

• Identify the elements of estate planning and the imporatance of well-drafted legal documents and cite the key team paricipatns and their roles in estate planning process.
• Recognize the probate process to guide clients through an average
  probate.
• Identify those estate tax-planning elements that remain relatively unaffected by recent legislation and recognize how each could benefit the taxpayer’s estate planning.
• Specify estate planning goals in designing an effective plan and primary plans that allow disposition outside of probate and identify trusts in at least one of two ways.
• Determine the mechanics of a living “A-B” and “A-B-C” (QTIP) trust and their ability to reduce death taxes and identify estate planning facts to develop an information base for an estate plan

• Determine the taxable estate under §2501 and what assets are included in a gross estate using basic categories of property and transfers.
• Identify the components of the gross estate under §2031 including terminating, reversionary, and retained interests, certain gifts, tenancies, powers, and insurance.
• Specify estate deductions allowed under federal estate tax law and their tax advantages and disadvantages.
• Determine the value of a decedent’s assets using permitted elections, recognize special valuations and payment options, and identify
  the basis of property acquired from a decedent.
• Recognize the advantages of gift planning including estate reduction and the impact of the GST, specify the steps to compute gift tax identifying the gift tax exclusion amount, identify gift tax rates and the various gift tax exclusions, and cite the gift tax marital deduction requirements

• Determine the distinctions between property disposition within probate under a will and intestate succession and identify ways to
  make transfers outside the probate system including the use of a trust.
• Specify special exclusions, deductions, and transfers to be used as estate-planning tools permitting clients to pass more wealth to heirs and save death taxes while retaining maximum control where possible.
• Recognize how specialized trusts and entities can reduce estate taxes and define grantor-retained income and personal residence trusts as estate-planning devices specifying their variations and their benefits to the grantor and beneficiaries.