How to Settle a Client's Estate
Tuesday, June 27, 2023
8:30am - 4:00pm (opens at 8:00am) EST
8Credits
Technical Business
Registration is Closed
Online registration for this course is now closed. Please contact the Member Service Center at (800) 342-3197 if you wish to inquire about registering.
Members
$275.00 Regular Price
Non-Members
$400.00 Regular Price
Course Type: CPE Seminars
Course Code: 23/SEAZ6WS
Level: Intermediate
Vendor: Surgent
Field of Study: Taxes
Overview:
Federal estate and gift taxes currently affect few clients, but there are many other issues involved in settling an estate or administering a trust. Clients who are beneficiaries of a trust or estate often turn to their financial advisors to understand the administrative process and its effect on their interests. This course enables the accountant to cut through the jargon to understand the legal concepts, communicate a real-world explanation to clients, and serve, in some instances, as an advisor to them. After taking this course, practitioners will feel more confident to serve in a fiduciary capacity. Updated for developments relative to estate taxation.
Objectives:
- Understand how creditors’ claims impact a beneficiary’s claims
- Understand the key provisions in a will or trust
- Understand the duties of an executor or trustee in relation to beneficiaries and other third parties
- Identify trusts, wills, and other documents encountered, & their uses
- Understand the stages of an estate administration including costs, collections, payment of debts/taxes, & distribution to beneficiaries
- Be aware of the duties a fiduciary and members of the estate planning team owe to creditors, beneficiaries, and the courts
Presenters:
-
Don Paul Cochran
Don Paul Cochran, JD, CPA, CFP®, CRC® Don Cochran is a solo practitioner in Apple Valley, Minnesota. His 30 years of practice has been focused primarily in the areas of small business legal and tax consulting, and individual tax, estate, and financial planning. Don has practiced law in both Iowa and Minnesota, was a CPA with the Small and Emerging Business practice of then Big 8 accounting...
Read more about Don Paul Cochran here
Presenters:
Don Paul Cochran
Don Paul Cochran, JD, CPA, CFP®, CRC® Don Cochran is a solo practitioner in Apple Valley, Minnesota. His 30 years of practice has been focused primarily in the areas of small business legal and tax consulting, and individual tax, estate, and financial planning. Don has practiced law in both Iowa and Minnesota, was a CPA with the Small and Emerging Business practice of then Big 8 accounting...Read more about Don Paul Cochran hereMajor Topics:
- Issues involved when settling an estate – marshaling of assets, payment of creditors, & distribution and accounting to beneficiaries
- Explaining the needs and limitations of durable powers of attorney, health care directives, and living wills
- Why a will is probated, and on what grounds it may be challenged
- Comprehensive checklists on how to read a will, duties of an executor and trustee, and much more
- Identification and report of estate assets
- What to do and what not to do as a fiduciary, executor, or trustee – duty of care, investment, informing, payment of debts and taxes, & defending a will contest
- How executors and trustees interact with beneficiaries
- Elective shares, and when a spouse might make that choice
- What a trustee needs to know about incompetents and minors
- Rights of creditors, third parties, and beneficiaries
- Key issues in transferring property to a trust and from a trust or estate to a beneficiary
- Identifying income, estate, and inheritance taxes
- Fiduciary accounting – principal and income concepts
- An introduction to drafting an account, and why it is relevant
- Administration of revocable trusts
- Estate basis reporting
Major Topics:
- Issues involved when settling an estate – marshaling of assets, payment of creditors, & distribution and accounting to beneficiaries
- Explaining the needs and limitations of durable powers of attorney, health care directives, and living wills
- Why a will is probated, and on what grounds it may be challenged
- Comprehensive checklists on how to read a will, duties of an executor and trustee, and much more
- Identification and report of estate assets
- What to do and what not to do as a fiduciary, executor, or trustee – duty of care, investment, informing, payment of debts and taxes, & defending a will contest
- How executors and trustees interact with beneficiaries
- Elective shares, and when a spouse might make that choice
- What a trustee needs to know about incompetents and minors
- Rights of creditors, third parties, and beneficiaries
- Key issues in transferring property to a trust and from a trust or estate to a beneficiary
- Identifying income, estate, and inheritance taxes
- Fiduciary accounting – principal and income concepts
- An introduction to drafting an account, and why it is relevant
- Administration of revocable trusts
- Estate basis reporting
Designed For:
Accounting and Financial Professionals who wish to assist in settlement of an estate, regardless of size
Prerequisites:
None