ON-DEMAND PROGRAM: Estate Planning for Blended Families 3-Part Series

Every Married Couple with Children of a
Prior Marriage is a Malpractice Suit
Waiting to Happen!
 

Most estate planning forms and techniques were developed when couples enjoyed long-term marriages with one set of kids.

But today’s reality is totally different.  The U.S. Census Bureau estimates some 43% of marriages are second marriages, and over 66% of those involve children from prior marriages.  That’s a lot of “blended” or “mixed” families who need your estate planning help!

This fast-growing number of blended families poses a great challenge for estate planners.  You better know how to properly advise these clients, so you protect both the rights of the surviving spouse and kids of the prior marriage - - or you risk being later caught in the crossfire of World War III!  (Because another development you have probably noticed over the past few years is the increased willingness of the surviving spouse and disgruntled children to “lawyer-up”!)

The Pandora’s box of subtle and not-so-subtle tax and non-tax issues that estate planning for these blended families presents is something that has not been adequately addressed in your law school, CE classes or form books!  There’s potential liability for you, the estate planner, that can arise at every stage of your engagement, including but not limited to:

• Advising a Couple with Conflicting Goals.  How do you engage them both and avoid attack for breaching your ethical duties?

• Designing the Estate Plan. “QTIP” Trusts aren’t the quick and easy solution.  In fact, they’re often part of the problem!  And how do you deal with IRAs and other assets that can underfund the first-to-die’s estate tax exemption?  How do you allocate the tax burden at the second death?  Who should be the Trustee doing this?  What kinds of lifetime transfers should take place to avoid problems after death?  And on and on…

• Administering the Plan After Death. Who do you represent and owe an ethical and legal duty to, particularly with the added issue now of portability?  The surviving spouse?  The Trustee?  The beneficiaries?  How do assets get allocated to the Exemption or QTIP Trusts without a fight?  What about subsequent sub-Trust investments and discretionary distributions?  And what about accountings? And on and on…

Don’t navigate the mine field of blended family planning without an experienced guide to walk you through it!

We’ve enlisted the help of two of the nation’s leading experts in this field - - estate planning attorney, L. Paul Hood, Jr. and Money Coach, Emily Bouchard - - co-authors of the book, Estate Planning for the Blended Family.  Together, the two of them will present a very special 3-part series to alert you to the blended family traps and liabilities (and, more importantly, how to avoid them). 

Session 1: Sorting Through the Key Issues of the Initial Consultation & Successfully Engaging the Married Couple with a Blended Family
Duration: 90 Minutes

• The tax and non-tax reasons blended family estate plans often fail and how to define and explain these key risks to the clients

• Should you advise partners separately or together and what kinds of “sign-offs” do you need?

• How do you address the emotionally charged issues and fears that keep the planning process from moving forward - - and the documents from eventually being signed?

• What to do when a client shuts down or shuts you out?

• What strategies can you use when tempers flare?

• How do you properly prepare the client (and yourself) for the meeting?

• How do you address and solve specific property ownership and distribution issues including…?
  • Pre-nuptial agreements
  • Prior divorce obligations
  • Community property, co-ownership and commingling
  • Family home and living arrangements
  • Family business complexities (Buy-Sell and Operating Agreements)
  • Assets that pass by beneficiary (insurance, qualified retirement plans and IRAs)
  • Family heirlooms and keepsakes

• Who should be considered for what roles?
  • Trustees of revocable and irrevocable trusts
  • Beneficiary designations
  • Health Care Powers of Attorney
  • Living Wills

• How do you get the couple to engage you and move forward?

Session 2: Lifetime Estate Planning for Blended Families
Duration: 90 Minutes

• Why is lifetime planning is of greater importance to blended family couples?

• How do you properly use life insurance?

• Why and how to do gifting?
  • Severing joint tenancy
  • Annual gifts (and to whom)?
  • Equalization strategies
  • Gift splitting

• How do you evaluate and custom-fit the various gifting vehicles to the client?
  • Lifetime QTIP Trusts
  • QPRTs
  • GRATs
  • CRTs & CLTs
  • Charitable Gift Annuities
  • Family Limited Entities (FLPs, LLCs, etc.)
  • Sales to IDGTs
  • Defined Value Gifts
  • Below-market Loans
  • Guarantees
  • Opportunity Shifting

Session 3: Testamentary Planning and Administration for Blended Families
Duration: 90 Minutes

• Who should serve as Executor and Successor Trustee of the Living Trust?
  • Surviving spouse?
  • Children of the deceased spouse?
  • Independent professional trustee?
  • Some combination?
  • What about when the surviving spouse dies?

• The right and wrong ways to go about equalization between the husband’s half and wife’s half of the estate

• QTIP Trusts - - A Blessing or a Curse?

• Carefully customizing Powers of Appointment

• Disinheriting family members and protecting the plan with In Terrorem Clauses

• Retooling your standard tax allocation clause?

• Who do you represent in the administration process and what duties do you owe, such as disclosures and accountings, to the non-represented parties?

• How do you allocate assets between Survivor’s, Exemption and Marital Trusts at first death, without a fight?

• How do you deal with issues of subsequent investment of the sub-trusts’ assets and discretionary distributions from those trusts?

• How do you apportion and collect estate taxes at the second death?

As you can see, this 3-part series is going to be packed with a wealth of knowledge.  We trust that you will find this teleconference series immeasurably valuable whether you’re a CPA, financial advisor, insurance agent or an estate planning attorney - - and regardless of your level of experience and expertise in this area of planning - - if only to provide you with a must-have Checklist of issues and solutions when you meet with blended family couples!

PROGRAM DETAILS:

Duration: 90 minutes each

Cost Per Session: $149 for Immediate Download / $199 for Printed Materials & CD

Speaker: L. Paul Hood, Jr., J.D. and Emily Bouchard

Purchase Includes: Handout Materials and Audio Recording

Frequently Asked Questions

HOW TO PURCHASE:

Online: Purchase online - - it's fast, safe and convenient!

Program	Price
Session 1: Sorting Through the Key Issues of the Initial Consultation and Successfully Engaging the Married Couple with a Blended Family IMMEDIATE DOWNLOAD Includes: PDF Handout Materials & MP3 Audio Recording	$149
Session 1: Sorting Through the Key Issues of the Initial Consultation and Successfully Engaging the Married Couple with a Blended Family PRINTED MATERIALS & DISC Includes: Printed Handout Materials and CD-ROM containing PDF version of handout materials and audio recording	$199
Session 2: Lifetime Estate Planning for Blended Families IMMEDIATE DOWNLOAD Includes: PDF Handout Materials & MP3 Audio Recording	$149
Session 2: Lifetime Estate Planning for Blended Families PRINTED MATERIALS & DISC Includes: Printed Handout Materials and CD-ROM containing PDF version of handout materials and audio recording	$199
Session 3: Testamentary Planning and Administration for Blended Families IMMEDIATE DOWNLOAD Includes: PDF Handout Materials & MP3 Audio Recording	$149
Session 3: Testamentary Planning and Administration for Blended Families PRINTED MATERIALS & DISC Includes: Printed Handout Materials and CD-ROM containing PDF version of handout materials and audio recording	$199

By Phone: Call us at 1-866-754-6477

*IMPORTANT NOTICE REGARDING CE CREDIT: The Ultimate Estate Planner, Inc., L. Paul Hood, Jr. and Emily Bouchard are not approved Continuing Education Sponsors.  However, several states and regulatory agencies for a variety of professionals that participate on our teleconferences may still receive continuing education credit for their participation.  If a participant wishes to receive CE credit for their participation on these teleconferences, they must apply to receive credit on their own and through their individual states and regulatory authorities.  A Certificate of Completion will be provided to all of those in attendance.  It is the responsibility of the participant to file for CE credit and is not guaranteed by The Ultimate Estate Planner, Inc., L. Paul Hood, Jr. and Emily Bouchard.