Certificate in Estate Planning
The Certificate in Estate Planning focuses on providing essential technical and client-relations skills in the area of private wealth transfer, including traditional estate and gift tax planning.
The Certificate consists of three technical classes in the fall semester and an intensive workshop in the spring semester. The spring workshop requires students to work in teams to prepare and explain a detailed plan for a hypothetical client.
Information regarding Georgetown’s ability to offer online certificate programs, as well as the disclosure about online programs in relation to professional licensure can be found on the Professional Licensure and Bar Examinations in the United States — LL.M. Students(This text opens in new tab.) page.
- The Certificate in Estate Planning is open to U.S.-trained lawyers, and can be pursued in-person or online, in conjunction with the LL.M. in Taxation degree.
- The Certificate in Estate Planning may generally not be completed by foreign-trained lawyers who do not hold a J.D. degree.
- J.D. students are not eligible to pursue the Certificate in Estate Planning as part of their J.D. degree studies.
- Students cannot be admitted into the Certificate in Estate Planning program on a standalone basis.
- Students who wish to apply for the Certificate should do so by notifying their LL.M. Program Director no later than the last day of add/drop activity in the last semester before their graduation.
- Online students must attend all class sessions live via Zoom videoconferencing at the scheduled class times.
Prior to pursuing the Certificate in Estate Planning, students must successfully complete:
- A basic federal income taxation course in prior study, or Foundations of Federal Income Taxation (online, non-credit, no tuition cost), and
- Decedents’ Estates, its equivalent in prior study, or enrollment in Wills & Trusts during LL.M. degree program study.
The requirements for the Certificate in Estate Planning are:
- Successful completion of 10 academic credits, consisting of the following required courses:
- Estate Planning: Income Taxation of Trusts, Estates and Beneficiaries (2 credits)
- Estate Planning: Estate and Gift Tax (2 credits)
- Estate Planning: Special Topics in Transfer Tax (2 credits)
- Advanced Private Wealth Planning Seminar (4 credits)
- A minimum grade point average of “B-” or higher in the courses that are counted toward the Certificate requirements.
Refer to the Curriculum Guide for the current list of course offerings for the Certificate in Estate Planning. In the Curriculum Guide Search Options menu, select Estate Planning Certificate as the option under Courses in a Graduate Program drop down option. Alternatively, direct links for each estate planning course offering can be found below.
- Estate Planning: Income Taxation of Trusts, Estates and Beneficiaries
- Estate Planning: Estate and Gift Tax
- Estate Planning: Special Topics in Transfer Tax
- Advanced Private Wealth Planning Seminar
Descriptions for courses currently or previously offered to satisfy requirements for the Certificate can be found on the Certificate in Estate Planning Curriculum Essay.