Life insurance is often thought about too late in the estate and business succession planning processes. In reality, life insurance is a structural planning tool that may affect estate liquidity, business succession outcomes, trust design, tax exposure, and the enforceability of agreements. When considered early on, life insurance becomes one of the most flexible instruments available in sophisticated planning.

In this practical training session, attorney and life insurance strategist Eric Eklund will walk attendees through how insurance actually functions inside estate plans and business agreements. Topics include ownership sequencing, irrevocable life insurance trust (ILIT) timing risks, buy-sell implementation realities, underwriting constraints that affect document strategy, and common drafting assumptions that unintentionally create exposure for clients.

Attendees will leave with a clearer framework for when to consider life insurance in the planning process, how to coordinate it with trusts and entity agreements, and how to avoid the most common structural mistakes that can arise when legal design and underwriting execution are not aligned.

This session is designed for estate planning and business professionals who want to integrate life insurance more intentionally into advanced planning strategies without becoming product specialists.