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

• Identify the elements of estate planning and the importance of well-drafted legal documents and cite the key team participants and their roles in estate planning process;
• Recognize the probate process to guide clients through an average;
• 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;
• Identify potential death taxes differentiating federal estate tax as it applies to various size estates, determine principal taxes that impact how individuals are taxed at death, and specify the expiration of the death tax credit;
• Determine the taxable estate under §2501 and what assets are included in a gross estate using basic categories of property and transfers;
• 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 the use of Form 706 to pay any estate tax due, and identify the tax basis of estate assets and how common transactions affect property basis under §1014;
• 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, and determine the value of different types of gifts including split gifting for spouses;
• Identify the various gift tax exclusions, and the treatment of below-market loans, cite the gift tax marital deduction requirements, specify the tax consequences of giving various assets and factors to consider when gifting, and recognize the use of Form 709 to compute and pay federal gift tax;
• Determine the distinctions between the process of property disposition within probate under a will and intestate succession and the resulting impact on an estate and its beneficiaries;
• 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, valuations, and entities can reduce estate taxes, cite the advantages of the annual gift tax exclusion, and how it can provide a tax deduction or offer income, estate, and gift tax savings; and
• Recognize a grantor retained income trust as an estate-planning device specifying the variations of this trust and their benefits to the grantor and beneficiaries.