How to Settle a Client's Estate

Description

Federal estate and gift taxes currently affect few clients, but there are man 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 understand the legal concepts, communicate a real-world explanation to clients, and serve, in some instances, as an executor or trustee or as an advisor to them  Updated for developments relative to potential estate tax repeal.

Highlights

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 not 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 required
Administration of revocable trusts
Taking care of an estate before death: powers of attorney, health
care directives, living wills, and administration of revocable trusts
Estate basis reporting
Developments relative to potential estate tax repeal

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, & 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

Designed For

CPAs who wish to assist in settlement of an estate, regardless of size.