Registration Deadline: July 10, 2008!
Skills Training for Estate Planners CLE Program

July 21 - July 25, 2008

The ideal program for lawyers with less than five years of Estate Planning practice or
for lawyers who are interested in changing their careers

Sponsored by the American Bar Association Section of Real Property, Trust and Estate Law, the 2008 Skills Training for Estate Planners CLE Program will be held July 21 -25, 2008 at New York Law School in New York City.  This is a very popular annual estate planning program that is a consistent sell-out!  Early registration is advised.

Who should attend:  New estate planners – both young attorneys with a year or maybe two in the profession and attorneys seeking to make a transition from another area of law

Program Location:  New York Law School, 57 Worth Street, New York, NY 10013-2960

Program Co-Chairs:
William P. LaPiana - Professor of Wills, Trusts and Estates, and Director of Estate Planning, Graduate Tax Program, New York Law School        
Steve R. Akers  - Managing Director, Trust and Estates Attorney, Bessemer Trust

Faculty:
Marc S. Bekerman, Associate Director of the Graduate Tax Program and Adjunct Professor, New York Law School
Lawrence Brody, Bryan Cave, St. Louis, MO
Richard E. Davis, Krugliak, Wilkins, Griffiths & Dougherty Co., LPA, Canton, OH
Christopher Hoyt, Professor of Law, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law, Kansas, City
Nancy C. Hughes, Hughes & Scalise, P.C., Birmingham, ALHughes
Joshua Husbands, Holland & Knight, Portland, OR
Bruce R. Johnson, Johnson & McCaa LLC, Portland, ME
Lawrence P. Katzenstein, Thompson Coburn LLP, St. Louis, MO
Donald H. Kelley, Kelley, Scritsmier & Byrne, P.C., Highlands Ranch, CO
Curtis R. Kimball, CFA, ASA, Principal, Willamette Management Associates, Atlanta, GA
William P. LaPiana - Professor of Wills, Trusts and Estates, and Director of Estate Planning, Graduate Tax Program, New York Law School
Philip M. Lindquist, K&L Gates, Dallas, TX
Edward M. Manigault, Jones Day, Atlanta, GA
Lee P. Miller, Managing Director, The Threshold Group, New York, NY
Lee C. Schwemer, Supervisory Attorney (Estate Tax), Internal Revenue Service, Fort Worth, TX
Laura M. Twomey, Fulbright & Jaworski LLP, New York, NY
Diana S.C. Zeydel, Greenberg Traurig, LLP, Miami

Topics Covered:         
Basic fundamentals   
-Fiduciary administration and accounting 
-Income taxation, especially involving the taxation of trusts and estates and of structured sales
-Life insurance, particularly product packaging and premium payment 
-Deferred compensation and other employee benefits

Substantive Skills Development  
-Marital deduction basics, including analysis of how much to use,  the use of disclaimers or partial QTIP elections in the context of marital deduction planning, marital deduction funding and fiduciary administration problems, drafting marital and bypass plans
 -Charitable deduction planning including use of computer software  
 -Analysis of various forms of inter vivos gifting,
 -Life insurance planning, particularly with respect to irrevocable insurance trusts and the practical aspects of product selection, premium financing, and due diligence
 -Employee benefit beneficiary designation alternatives, and the drafting of beneficiary designations
 -Generation-skipping practicalities, such as exemption allocation and basic planning options
 -Powers of appointment and other means of adding flexibility to long-term trusts, with an emphasis on drafting and trustee selection
 -Sophisticated transactions such as GRATs and QPRTs, including  determining when such techniques make sense

Technical Skills Development
-Tax compliance: using computer software in conjunction with  hands-on manual preparation as a means of learning how the tax law works and  highlighting how software can produce errors
 -Fiduciary administration and accounting and the tax aspects of postmortem and other fiduciary administration
 -Client interviewing - with the "substantive" side (what information to obtain) coming as an ancillary element to learning the skills involved. -Valuation theory in practice, including how to select valuation experts and analyze their work
 -Exposure to software programs and web sites that assist in the analysis of estate assets and helps facilitate construction of planning models

Developing Ethical Attitudes
-Ethics instruction in practical settings, particularly including representations of spouses and fiduciaries 

Tuition: $1695.00 - includes all instruction and materials; continental breakfast, lunch and networking breaks each day; and dinner Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights. (There are a limited number of spaces available to full time government employees at $950.00.) Financial scholarship applications are available for this program.  To request an application or receive additional information, contact mpeter@staff.abanet.org.
 
Accommodations:  Registrants are responsible for hotel accommodations.  A block of rooms has been secured at the Millenium Hilton (55 Church St., New York, NY) at the rate of $349.00.  Please call the Hilton directly at 888-273-0734 for reservations.  Please reference the Skills Training for Estate Planners CLE Program to secure the conference rate.  The deadline for hotel reservations is June 30, 2008. A list of other hotels is available upon request.

CLE requested - Total 60-minute Hours of Instruction:  43.25 including evening sessions

Space is limited for this program!  To register, please complete the registration form and pre-registration survey here.  Both forms should be sent to Mary Ann Peter (fax 312/988-5262 or email mpeter@staff.abanet.org).  The registration deadline is July 10, 2008. Please contact Mary Ann Peter at 312/988-6155 with any questions.

Cancellation Policy:  Refund requests for this program must be made in writing and received via fax (312/988-5262) in our office by July 7, 2008.  There will be a $425 administration fee deducted from the refund.  The Section will gladly accept substitutions for cancellations received after July 7th; however, refunds will not be given after that date.