Providing wisdom and leadership to our clients and our peers as we dig into the planning opportunities and pitfalls created by the new Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. We'll focus on the most practical and relevant topics of conversation and planning opportunities dealing with wealth transfer planning, income tax planning and charitable planning in 2018 and beyond now that we have new law with a built-in that includes a sunset on the horizon.

• What obligations does the attorney who represented the now deceased client have to that deceased client as to the information that was imparted to the attorney by the client during life?  
• Must the attorney maintain the confidentialities of his former client?
• Can the attorney be compelled to disclose confidential information that may be protected by the attorney-client privilege?

A discussion of the Florida statutes and ethics of decanting, judicial and non-judicial modification of irrevocable trusts.  The discussion will include case studies of changes made to trusts before the death of a grantor of an irrevocable trust and after the death of a grantor of what was a revocable trust with emphasis on the ethics of the original drafting attorney making changes to trusts after the death of a grantor.  Sample materials for language to use in the decanted trusts will be provided.

Probate in the Age of Trust Administration.  I thought Trusts avoided probate. Wrong! Formal, Summary, or do nothing. How do we guide the successor fiduciary when our client dies? A practical conversation on where from here in dealing with probate within the context of a Trust administration. Dealing with the lose ends. What have we learned that might change the way we draft the planning documents to make the next trust administration/probate easier or work better.  How do we charge for all this so we don’t get blindsided in doing more work than we are paid for.

Best Practices for Estate Plan Drafting for the Moderate Wealth Blended Family

1.0 hour General CLE pending  

There are many valid applications of life insurance in the estate planning world beyond a traditional Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust or buy sell solutions.  We will begin with the more familiar, for example the use of life insurance to replace a lost income stream or to replace wealth lost to estate taxes, and proceed on to more intermediate and advanced applications of life insurance in estate planning. The attorney who truly understands the applications of life insurance is in the best position to support the financial advisor when using life insurance for an estate planning client.

An update on the 2018 Florida Legislative session as it impacts attorneys practicing in the areas of trusts, estates and real property. What new laws were enacted, what didn’t become law and what measures are looming on the horizon.