Courses

    This course will provide students with a solid grounding in advanced estate-planning techniques and help them build the drafting and client-relations skills necessary to develop and implement a comprehensive estate plan. This course is required for the Certificate of Study in Estate Planning.

The course will be structured in two modules. The first module will introduce students to technical tax regimes (such as the generation-skipping transfer tax) and more complex planning scenarios. Topics covered will include philanthropy and private wealth planning; the role in estate planning of private foundations, public charities, and supporting organizations; charitable giving techniques; planning for family controlled businesses; planning for highly-compensated individuals; and international aspects of private wealth planning.

The second module will consist of a hands-on exercise in developing, drafting, and executing a complex estate plan. Working from a comprehensive fact pattern, students will make in-class presentations about the problem and participate in the development of the estate plan by drafting documents and by commenting on drafts prepared by others. These documents may include legal memoranda, client communications, and analysis of planning alternatives, as well as the will, trust instruments, and organiza¬tional documents for charitable entities.

The grade for this course will be based on a mid-term examination at the end of the first module and on written assignments and class participation during the second module. There will be no end-of-semester examination.