A Practical Guide to Trusts

Overview

This course provides financial professionals with a comprehensive understanding of trusts and their role in estate planning. Participants will learn how to determine whether a trust aligns with a client's financial goals and explore strategies to maximize tax efficiency. The course covers various trust structures and their potential to reduce income, estate, and generation-skipping taxes at both federal and state levels. Additionally, it delves into trustee responsibilities and the benefits of irrevocable life insurance trusts and dynasty trusts.

With a focus on practical applications and real-world scenarios, this course equips CPAs, EAs, attorneys, bankers, and financial planners with the expertise to navigate probate avoidance, streamline asset distribution, and manage complex tax considerations. Whether working with revocable or irrevocable trusts, participants will gain the tools to enhance their clients' financial well-being across generations.

*Please Note:  If you need credit reported to the IRS for this IRS approved program, please download the IRS CE request form on the Course Materials Tab and submit to kori.herrera@acpen.com

Objectives

• Identify the responsibilities and duties of trustees in trust administration.
• Apply trust strategies to help clients avoid probate and efficiently transfer assets.
• Analyze the tax implications of revocable living trusts, including income, gift, and estate tax considerations.
• Explain the role of marital deductions and evaluate the use of bypass trusts.
• Determine when irrevocable trusts are beneficial for estate planning.
• Assess the advantages and limitations of irrevocable life insurance trusts.
• Describe the characteristics and benefits of dynasty trusts in multi-generational wealth planning.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of estate planning tools such as GRIT, GRAT, GRUT, and QPRT.

 

Highlights

• Trustee responsibilities and trust administration
• Strategies for probate avoidance and efficient asset distribution
• Tax treatment of revocable living trusts
• Marital deductions and bypass trusts
• Uses of irrevocable trusts in estate planning
• Benefits of irrevocable life insurance trusts
• Multi-generational wealth planning with dynasty trusts
• Overview of estate planning tools: GRIT, GRAT, GRUT, and QPRT