Fellow fans of country music know that many songs are detailed stories about life – and that’s true for other types of music as well. A new country song called “Next Thing You Know” reminds me of one from a few years back called “Don’t Blink” – both describe how life can speed by before you know it. I’d encourage you to listen to both of them, if you are so inclined.
These songs are on my mind because I’m now in my sixteenth year at InterActive Legal, and before that, I practiced estate planning law for sixteen years. Those 32 years have sped by, and now that I’ve had equal portions of my legal career first in actual law practice and later in helping others who are in actual law practice, I find myself comparing the two, how things started, and how they are going.
My desire to work with clients on issues that are personal to them, with the added challenge of the transfer tax system for clients to which it applies, are what originally led me to estate planning. However, I found that I enjoyed estate planning for two additional reasons – I liked drafting documents and educating people on estate planning and estate taxation. During those first sixteen years, I learned that I was very much a language/grammar nerd, and that I valued the teaching aspect of what I was doing more than I expected.
Unexpectedly – but appropriately – I ended up at InterActive Legal, working on estate planning documents and teaching others about them. Other than the direct client contact, the past sixteen years have allowed me to focus on the parts of estate planning that I like the most – the intricacies of document language and education. I truly enjoy working with our subscribers to address questions about how to use our drafting systems and the hundreds of planning options we offer.
On the education front, InterActive Legal has always provided extensive training on how to use the programs and webinars on hot topics in estate planning (SECURE, anyone?). However, for some time, we have felt there was something missing in what we could offer. Our content team attorneys recalled being fortunate enough to learn much about estate tax planning early in our careers from other attorneys at our first law firm. This in-house education built on what we learned in law school and translated into working for actual clients: I understood how a life insurance trust was designed to work, but what did one actually look like? I saw how a disclaimer plan could be used to take advantage of the federal estate tax exemption, but how would I draft the estate planning document that implements that type of plan? I learned a lot of concepts in law school, but when and how should I use them? This is where the in-house education became invaluable.
We also found that many subscribers were bringing up the fact that the estate tax exemption is currently very high, but we know it’s going to drop, and they will need to go back to considering transfer tax planning for more clients than they have had to for many years. All of these factors were the genesis of a new idea – a multi-session back-to-basics course where attorneys could learn about (or get a refresher on) estate planning and transfer taxation. InterActive Legal Academy launches next week for this very purpose.
And we continue, of course, to work with subscribers on individual drafting questions and education – how to find various options, which profile would be the best drafting starting point, how a Clayton QTIP works, and more. We are here for when the laws change, but also to keep the basics in mind, even if those basics are not needed for every client.
I never expected to not have an actual law practice, but I’m now fortunate to work with a fabulous group of professionals dedicated to excellence and helping our subscribers practice efficiently. And even though these years have flown by, they have been incredibly worthwhile.
If you are a subscriber with drafting questions, please contact us at content@interactivelegal.com.
For more information or to register for InterActive Legal Academy’s Estate Planning Tax Series, which begins next week, email academy@interactivelegal.com.
Meet the Author
Teresa Bush joined InterActive Legal in 2007 and serves as Director of Education and Content Support Services.
Ms. Bush has been licensed to practice law since 1991, and focused her practice exclusively on issues of estate and gift tax planning, probate, charitable planning, and estate and trust administration. She began her practice in a small law firm, planning for clients of all levels of wealth. Thereafter, she practiced for a number of years in the Tax Section of Kelly, Hart and Hallman, P.C. in Fort Worth, Texas, and as an estate and gift tax consultant for the Dallas office of Ernst & Young, in both cases focusing on planning for very high net worth clients.
Ms. Bush received her J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law, where she was a research assistant for Professor Stanley M. Johanson. She studied at Edinburgh University and the London School of Economics prior to obtaining a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from Rice University in Houston. While studying abroad, she worked as an intern for a Member of Parliament in the British House of Commons.
Ms. Bush taught legal research and writing as a Teaching Quizmaster in law school, and later taught estate planning extension courses for American College of Financial Services CLU candidates. She has presented several online webinars on estate planning and drafting topics, and is the author or co-author of a variety of estate planning articles.
