How to Settle a Client's Estate
260 | Course | Basic | Scheduled
Description
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. This course is continually updated for developments relative to estate taxation.
A Live Stream version of this event is available here.
Credits
| Number of Credits | Type of Credits |
|---|---|
| 8.00 | Taxes |
| 8.00 | CFP |
| 6.75 | CLE |
Designed For
Accounting and Financial Professionals who wish to assist in settlement of an estate, regardless of size
Highlights
- Issues involved when settling an estate - marshaling of assets, payment of creditors, and 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, and 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
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, and their uses
- Understand the stages of an estate administration including costs, collections, payment of debts/taxes, and distribution to beneficiaries
- Be aware of the duties a fiduciary and members of the estate planning team owe to creditors, beneficiaries, and the courts
Prices
- Member (Early Bird)
- $299.00
- Non-Member (Early Bird)
- $399.00
- Member
- $349.00
- Non-Member
- $449.00
Instructors
Michael A. Frost, CPA
Mike Frost, CPA, of Jacksonville, Alabama, provides tax consulting, continuing education, and motivational speaking services through his company, Mike Frost Enterprises. Mike is a former shareholder of MDA Professional Group, PC, where he managed the tax department of the Albertville office.
Mike has 31 years of experience in public accounting, including but not limited to: Business and individual income tax preparation and planning; mergers and acquisitions; estate, gift, and trust tax preparation; small business consulting; Medicare planning and other elder care; audit representation; and religious groups and clergy. Mike has conducted CPE engagements and seminars throughout the United States and has served as technical advisor for tax articles in The Sand Mountain Reporter, a local newspaper. Mike has been a featured presenter at the Alabama Society of CPAs Annual Meeting and the Federal Tax Clinic held annually at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.
Mike graduated with "high honors and distinction" from Jacksonville State University with a major in accounting, a minor in finance, and a 4.0 GPA. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Alabama Society of Certified Public Accountants. In addition, he is a graduate of the Tax Planning and Advising for Closely Held Businesses Certificate of Educational Achievement Program sponsored by the AICPA.
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