Agenda / Content Covered

11:00 am to 6:00 pm Eastern Standard Time

1. What Still Works
   11:00 - 11:30, Paul F. Wright
   
2. When Should the Irrevocable Trust be Modified?
   11:30 - 12:00, Paul F. Wright
   
   1. Beneficiary Needs to Qualify for Government Benefits
   2. To Obtain a Step-up in Basis
   3. To Change Distribution Terms
   4. To Minimize Income Taxes
   5. Upstream Planning Needs
3. Mechanisms for Making the Change
   12:15 - 1:15, Louis A. Silverman
   
   1. Who Can Modify the Trust? Trustee, Trust Protector/Adviser, Attorney-in-Fact? Guardian or Conservator under UGPPA?
   2. Can a Settlor of an Irrevocable Trust Modify It Unilaterally?
   3. Creative Uses of Powers of Appointment
   4. Trust Amendment of a Revocable Trusts
   5. Modification by Consent, Non-Judicial Settlement Agreements (NJSA)
   6. Modification with Court Approval
   7. Decanting to Modify Irrevocable Trusts
   8. Restatement of the Trust
   9. Building Trust Modification Provisions into the Trust Instrument
4. What to Do With Old Credit Shelter Trusts
   1:15 - 1:45, Thomas J. Murphy
   
5. Specific Solutions to New Trust Tax Problems and Opportunities
   2:15 - 3:15, Thomas J. Murphy
   
   1. Charitable Distributions from Trusts: Recent Changes and Workarounds
   2. Trust Deduction Changes: Planning Tips and Exceptions to the New Trust Expense Rules
   3. Trusts for Divorced Spouses: Responding to the Elimination of Alimony Deduction
   4. Making the Best Use of High Estate Exemptions to Manage Risk by Gifting to Trusts
   5. Creating Carefully Structured Incomplete Gift Nongrantor (ING) Trusts to Limit Exposure to State Income Tax Rates
6. Qualifying Trusts for the New Pass-Through Entity Deduction
   3:15 - 4:15, Paul F. Wright
   
7. Drafting for Flexibility to Respond to Future Tax Law Changes
   4:30 - 5:00, Thomas J. Murphy
   
8. Legal Ethics
   5:00 - 6:00, Louis A. Silverman
   
   1. Guarding Confidentiality
   2. Attorney Fees and Expenses
   3. Client and Trustee Loss of Capacity Issues
   4. Fiduciary Liability
   5. Conflicts of Interest

Accreditation Details:

THOMAS J. MURPHY is an attorney located in the Ahwatukee area of Phoenix. His practice emphasizes estate planning, elder law (including nursing home issues), all probate matters (including contested matters and guardianships), and tax controversies. Mr. Murphy has regularly appeared before the Arizona Court of Appeals, litigating many of the cutting-edge appellate cases in probate law and has successfully litigated cases in the U.S. Tax Court, the Arizona Tax Court, and the Arizona Board of Tax Appeals. He has represented clients before all levels of the Internal Revenue Service and the Arizona Department of Revenue. Mr. Murphy is a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, the State Bar of Arizona (Tax Law, Probate and Trust Law, Mental Health and Elder Law sections), and the Arizona Medicaid Planning Council. He has served on numerous state and county bar association committees, and was selected as the state bar representative to the Arizona Supreme Court's Committee on Reform of Lower Jurisdiction Courts. Mr. Murphy has testified as an expert witness in cases before the Maricopa County Probate Court regarding probate practices in Arizona. He serves on the advisory board of the Phoenix Tax Workshop and the editorial board of NAELA News. Mr. Murphy has been published in many national, state and local professional journals, writing on a wide variety of legal and tax matters. His articles on the impact of the new HIPAA regulations on health care powers of attorney and related documents have garnered him wide recognition as one of the nation's foremost authorities in this field, and he has been invited to speak before many organizations. Mr. Murphy graduated from Tufts University, with honors, and he earned his J.D. degree from Suffolk University Law School.

LOUIS A. SILVERMAN has been practicing law in Arizona since 1981. From 1981 through 2005, Mr. Silverman’s practice included many aspects of litigation, including family law, civil litigation, and personal injury and wrongful death. In addition, he included estate planning and estate administration. Mr. Silverman has narrowed his practice focus, to estate planning, estate administration, probate law, and related tax matters. He accomplished this transition through affiliations with professional estate planning associations, ongoing continuing education, and accepting only estate planning and estate administration matters. In 2015, Mr. Silverman became board-certified in estate and trust law by the State Bar of Arizona. His practice emphasizes estate planning, which includes wills and trusts and other estate planning devices, and trust administration and probate, which includes death probate, guardianship, and conservatorship. Mr. Silverman has served as judge pro tem on the Maricopa County Superior Court. He is a member of WealthCounsel and is a past member of the Elder Law, Mental Health and Special Needs Planning Section of the State Bar of Arizona. Mr. Silverman is on the Board of Trustees of Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine and past president of the Board of Directors of Tempe Leadership. He is a frequent speaker on National Business Institute’s educational panels and also lectures to local groups on estate planning issues. Mr. Silverman earned his B.S. degree in business from Arizona State University and his J.D. degree from South Texas College of Law in Houston. He is admitted to practice in the state courts of Arizona and Texas, the U.S. District Court for Arizona, and the Western District of Texas.

PAUL F. WRIGHT is the founding partner of the Law Offices of Paul F. Wright, P.C., where he practices in the areas of estate planning, probate and tax. Mr. Wright is a licensed Texas attorney and a certified public accountant. Mr. Wright is board certified in estate planning and probate law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. He is a frequent lecturer on tax, estate planning and probate, as well as how technology impacts the practice of law. Mr. Wright is a member of the Texas Society of CPAs, the AICPA, the Dallas Bar Association (member, Business Litigation, Tax, Estate Planning and Probate sections), the State Bar of Texas (member, Real Estate, Probate and Trusts & Computer and Technology sections), the American Bar Association (member, Real Estate, Probate and Trusts Section) and the College of the State Bar of Texas. Mr. Wright earned his B.S. degree in accounting from the University of North Texas, his M.S. degree in taxation from the University of North Texas and his J.D. degree from South Texas College of Law.