In this program, speakers, Ray Odom and Richard Franklin will provide ideas, examples and language to prepare trusts and other estate planning documents that are designed to improve well-being.  They will show how to build positivity, meaning and purpose into trusts, using positive psychology’s empirical research and other data to support family well-being and flourishing.  Ray will review positive, research based ways to spend that increase well-being (there’s a shocking absence of such information in trusts & estate literature) and share a “benevolence” model to consider in all wealth transfers. Richard will provide a model for trustees to use in building a well-being baseline and beyond. 

Richard S. Franklin focuses on estate planning, trusts and estate administration, and beneficiary and fiduciary representation.  He is a member of the District of Columbia and Florida Bars, a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and serves on its Tax Policy Study Committee.  Richard has spoken at numerous estate planning programs around the country, including the University of Miami’s Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning, ACTEC, the American Bar Association, state and local bars, estate planning councils, and charities such as the Carter Center, to name a few.  He has also written extensively on estate planning topics for various publications including the ACTEC Law Journal, The Washington Lawyer, Trusts & Estates, Estate Planning, and the Bloomberg/BNA Estates, Gifts & Trust Journal.

Raymond C. Odom is a Senior Vice President at Northern Trust - Chicago. He serves as Director of Wealth Transfer Services in the Wealth Management division. Ray serves as a national subject matter expert in wealth transfer planning. Ray works with The Northern Trust Foundation & Institutional Advisers and Wealth Management partners and clients to provide valuable estate planning and charitable giving ideas to clients, prospects and professional advisers.  Ray has a B.A. from Valparaiso University and a J.D. from The Ohio State - Moritz College of Law. He is an attorney licensed to practice law in Illinois and before the U.S. Tax Court. In addition, Ray is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP). Ray is a Fellow in the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC). He is a current member of the Chicago Estate Planning Council and is on the advisory council for the Hadley (f/k/a Hadley Institute for the Blind and Visually Impaired) Winnetka, Illinois and the Northern Illinois Food Bank in Geneva, Illinois.

REGISTER HERE for the individual program. To purchase the 2021 webinar series, please click HERE.

Details coming soon.

REGISTER HERE for the individual program. To purchase the 2021 webinar series, please click HERE.

Program details coming soon.

Christopher Hoyt is a Professor of Law at the University of Missouri (Kansas City) School of Law where he teaches courses in the area of federal income taxation, charitable organizations and retirement plans.

Previously, he was with the law firm of Spencer, Fane, Britt & Browne in Kansas City, Missouri. He received an undergraduate degree in economics from Northwestern University and he received dual law and accounting degrees from the University of Wisconsin.

Professor Hoyt is the Vice- Chair of the RPTE Charitable Group and he serves on the editorial board of Trusts and Estates magazine. He is an ACTEC fellow and has been designated by his peers as a "Best Lawyer". He was elected to the Estate Planning Hall of Fame by the National Association of Estate Planners & Councils.

REGISTER HERE for the individual program. To purchase the 2021 webinar series, please click HERE.

Details coming soon.

REGISTER HERE for the individual program. To purchase the 2021 webinar series, please click HERE.

Details coming soon.

REGISTER HERE for the individual program. To purchase the 2021 webinar series, please click HERE.

In this intermediate level presentation, we will explore how changing income tax rates affect planning for business owners and trusts, with a view towards strategic estate planning/administration issues. Topics include:

1. Compare the overall tax burden when a C corporation distributes none, half, or all of its earnings and how that stacks up against a pass-through entity. Consider how these issues affect planning for distributions and inform estate planning as well as what entities are best for your clients.

2. If capital gain rates are repealed for high income taxpayers, that will be horrible for trusts that accumulate capital gains.  Review practical tools for passing capital gains from trusts to beneficiaries –much more flexibility exists than most people think.

3. Potential big increases capital gain rates may make portfolio turnover becomes much more expensive.  Consider how variable life insurance may reduce that tax burden.

Steve Gorin practiced accounting for his first eight years after law school and continues to make income tax planning an integral part of his estate planning law practice.  Over 8,000 tax and estate planning professionals subscribe to his quarterly newsletter so that they can receive the most recent version of “Structuring Ownership of Privately-Owned Businesses: Tax and Estate Planning Implications,” over 2,800 pages of technical materials distributed without charge.  Steve enjoys working with planners throughout the country from all professions comprising NAEPC.

REGISTER HERE for the individual program. To purchase the 2021 webinar series, please click HERE.

Details coming soon.

REGISTER HERE for the individual program. To purchase the 2021 webinar series, please click HERE.

This session considers integrating Social Security retirement benefits into estate planning. Even with the high net worth client, this benefit is an important planning tool because of tax affects and longevity considerations. We will address issues such as how the system’s underfunding factors into projecting benefits, how to avoid the Social Security tax torpedo, retirement income bridging techniques that help defer and maximize retirement benefits, and coordinating OASDI payments with retirement drawdowns. Practical considerations are also included, such as how to help the client file for the benefit, using the benefit to pay for Medicare, and what to do about Social Security at death. 

Steve Parrish is a former practicing attorney and financial planner with over 40 years’ experience in financial services. He serves as Co-Director of the Retirement Income Center at The American College and as an adjunct estate planning professor at Drake University Law School. He is widely published in legal and financial journals, and is an ongoing Forbes contributor.   

REGISTER HERE for the individual program. 

To purchase the 2021 webinar series, please click HERE.

As the traditional nuclear family has changed because of evolving social and legal norms as well as scientific and technological developments, estate planning professionals must be prepared both for issue spotting and thoughtful problem solving with regard to issues clients face, how existing trusts are interpreted, and how new estate planning instruments can be drafted for sufficient flexibility. This discussion will touch upon a potpourri of issues to consider, including: Marital Status (single, divorced, unmarried couples and polyamorous relationships); Defining Descendants (stepchildren, adoption, nonmarital children and assisted reproductive technologies); and other forms of Diversity (disability, LGBTQIA+, religious, racial and cultural inclusion) . . . and more!

REGISTER HERE for the individual program. To purchase the 2021 webinar series, please click HERE.