InterActive Legal Academy
Estate Planning Tax Series
The Estate Planning Tax Series offered by InterActive Legal Academy is a practical introduction to estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer taxation, and how to draft estate planning documents that minimize these taxes.
This series focuses on the fundamentals of estate and gift taxation and foundational planning to minimize transfer taxes. The basic principles of generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax and income taxation of trusts and estates are also covered. Topics include: Credit shelter planning and portability, flexible planning using “Clayton” and “disclaimer” plans, lifetime gift planning, grantor trusts, and more. Classes meet three times per week over a four-week period. One-hour instructional sessions take place on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 1pm ET, followed by one-hour drafting workshops on Fridays, also at 1pm ET.
Over the four weeks, attendees will learn how the estate tax system works when a taxpayer dies, what property is subject to tax, how lifetime gifts impact estate taxes at death, and how to plan to minimize overall estate and gift taxation via the use of available exemptions and other strategies. Additionally, we will introduce the generation-skipping transfer tax, explaining what it is, when it applies, and how to maximize available exemptions. Later sessions will cover specific assets that have unique issues (such as IRAs, other retirement plans, and life insurance), and discuss the income tax consequences of various estate planning strategies.
Syllabus
| Session Name | Faculty | Date/Time | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Estate and Gift Tax Basics | Michael Graham and Teresa Bush | Tuesday, October 7th, 1pm-2pm ET | This session will cover the basics of estate taxation – what is taxed, how estate taxes are calculated, and how lifetime gifting impacts estate taxation. We cover gift taxation as well, and we will also introduce the estate tax exemption and the marital and charitable estate tax deductions. |
| Estate tax exemptions and “A/B” Planning | TBD | Thursday, October 9th, 1pm-2pm ET | This session will focus on the federal estate tax exemption, how it can be best utilized via a “bypass trust,” and how it might be wasted. The presenters will also cover “portability” of the estate tax exemption and marital deduction gifts. |
| Week 1 Workshop | TBD | Friday, October 10th, 1pm-2pm ET | This session will review the concepts covered in the first week, showing drafting examples and giving attendees the ability to ask questions of the faculty. |
| Flexible estate tax planning | Teresa Bush | Tuesday, October 14th, 1pm-2pm ET | To start Week 2, we will learn about ways to draft contingency plans to use the estate tax exemption only if it turns out to be necessary at death. This can allow for a simpler estate plan if estate taxes are not relevant, but still permit the tax planning if warranted. We will also discuss estate tax planning in states with a separate state estate tax. |
| Designing trusts for tax and other purposes | Vanessa Kanaga | Tuesday, October 16th, 1pm-2pm ET | In this session, we will illustrate different types of trusts that can be incorporated into an estate plan, for both tax and non-tax purposes. We will cover a variety of options for drafting trusts for the benefit of different beneficiaries and why such options are useful. |
| Week 2 Workshop | TBD | Friday, October 17th, 1pm-2pm ET | This session will review the concepts covered in the second week, showing drafting examples and giving attendees the ability to ask questions of the faculty. |
| Specific Assets that Impact Estate Planning | TBD | Thursday, October 21st, 1pm-2pm ET | We’ll start off week 3 with a discussion of estate planning for specific types of assets, including personal effects, real estate, life insurance, retirement assets (such as IRAs), family businesses, and more. |
| Lifetime Planning and Gifting Using Trusts | TBD | Thursday, October 23rd, 1pm-2pm ET | This session will focus on transferring property away during lifetime, rather than at death. Lifetime gifts can save estate taxes in the long run, or might be made for other reasons, such as to provide wealth for family members or to plan for Medicaid. We will revisit gift taxation as well. |
| Week 3 Workshop | TBD | Friday, October 24th, 1pm-2pm ET | This session will review the concepts covered in Week 3, showing drafting examples and giving attendees the ability to ask questions of the faculty. |
| Income Tax and the Estate Plan | Letha McDowell and Deirdre Wheatley-Liss | Tuesday, October 28th, 1pm-2pm ET | This session features practicing attorneys with daily experience in dealing with all aspects of estate planning. They will focus here on the income tax consequences of different estate planning strategies, including the income taxation of trusts and estates, how lifetime trusts are taxed, and future income taxation of beneficiaries after death. |
| GST Tax Planning | Teresa Bush | Thursday, October 30th, 1pm-2pm ET | This session will introduce a separate type of transfer taxation, known as the generation skipping transfer tax. We will examine the purpose of this tax, when it applies, how it is calculated, and how to utilize the available “GST exemption.” |
| Week 4 Workshop | TBD | Friday, October 31st, 1pm-2pm ET | This session will review the concepts covered in the final week, showing drafting examples and giving attendees the ability to ask questions of the faculty. |
Registration
| Registration is not yet available. |
Want to Learn More about InterActive Legal Academy?
| Our faculty and support staff will be happy to help you with inquiries, registration, information on future sessions, and questions about the material presented in the most recent sessions. Email academy@interactivelegal.com Support Hours are 8:30am – 5:30pm ET Monday through Friday, except holidays |
