The 52nd Annual Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning, the nation's largest annual gathering of estate planners, may be dealing with more questions than answers when it launches in January.
With the fate of President Trump's tax plan still unsettled in Washington, D.C., the future of the estate tax and other tax regulations related to estate planning is still unclear.
Hence, conference organizers say the theme of the conference, held from January 22 to January 26 in Orlando, Fla., will be "Planning Strategies For An Unpredictable World."
Tina Portuondo, director of the Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning said, "the conference will provide comprehensive coverage of the planning implications of enacted or anticipated tax reform legislation, as well as in-depth coverage of the important non-tax issues of the day. With 45 educational sessions, and a faculty comprised of the nation's leading experts, the Heckerling Institute is the ideal place to get the practical guidance needed to plan effectively in these unpredictable times."
Held at the Orlando World Center Marriott and Convention Center, the year’s conference provides practical information and tools to navigate the current changes in the economic and legal environments.
The conference is designed to cover topics of interest to attorneys, trust officers, accountants, charitable giving professionals, insurance advisors, elder law specialists, wealth management professionals, educators and non-profit advisors.
Trevor Potter, the former commissioner and chairman of the Election Commission, will be one of the keynote speakers, providing "an inside look at Washington and the impact of money in politics," according to the conference website.
The institute will introduce a Recent Development Panel series, which will discuss the most significant developments of 2017 and trends that may affect estate planning firms. In addition, the institute has added bonus coverage for estate planner to prepare for the 2018 partnership centralized audit rules. The 90-minute program will be an overview of the new audit rules and how partnership agreements can address the issues.
Two conference will also feature new series on closely-held business planning and planning with trusts.
Closely-held business planning covers topics such as buy-sell agreements, estate investors and ethical issues. Case studies will be examined for issues involved the life cycle of a closely-held business.
Planning with trusts will present information on the new Uniform Directed Trust Act, fiduciary income tax issues, preparing fiduciary accountings to mitigate risk, the care and feeding of dynasty trusts, the scope of trustee discretion, and trust asset protection through the lens of the drafting attorney, the fiduciaries and the creditors.
Additional series include international planning, financial assets, charitable giving, elder law and litigation.
Ms. Portuondo highlighted several key trending topics of interest for advisors, including income tax and basis planning, flexible planning strategies for new and existing trusts and planning for clients with international connections.
Conference registations are being accepted online at www.law.miami.edu/heckerling.
