Wills vs. Trusts: The Ultimate Guide

Agenda / Content Covered

1. What Questions to Ask Your Clients and Why
   10:00 — 11:00, Douglas Fendrick
   1. Current and Future Needs: Medical and Financial
   2. Planning Priorities, Values, Religion, Culture
   3. Travel, Citizenship
   4. Family Dynamics, Prior Marriages, Stepchildren
   5. Creditor Issues, Spending Habits
   6. Beneficiary Needs and Dynamics
   7. What Planning Tools are Already in Place
2. How the Nature and Value of the Assets Contributes to the Choice of Planning Tools
   11:00 — 11:30, Douglas Fendrick
3. Wills and Testamentary Trusts: Key Functions and Provisions (with Sample Documents)
   11:45 — 12:30, Douglas Fendrick
   1. When to Use a Simple Will
   2. Preliminary Clauses
   3. Bequests and Gifts
   4. Tangible Personal Property Provisions
   5. Real Property Provisions
   6. Fiduciary Powers and Appointments
   7. Will Execution
4. Executor/Trustee Duties and Responsibilities
   12:30 — 1:00, Leslie Levin
5. Tax Considerations
   1:30 — 2:00, Christopher Bondani
6. Complexity of Distributions
   2:00 — 2:30, Chris Rippy
7. Flexibility: Which Tools are Easier to Update/Modify?
   2:30 — 3:00, Leslie Levin
8. Living Trust Structures and Provisions
   3:15 — 4:00, Chris Rippy
   1. Revocable vs. Irrevocable Trusts
   2. Trust Situs and Choice of Law
   3. Key Provisions: Standardized vs. Custom Drafting
   4. Power of Appointment, Trust Protectors and Added Levels of Oversight
   5. Pour-Over Wills
   6. SNTs and Other Special Use Trusts
   7. Trust Funding
9. Legal Ethics Considerations
   4:00 — 5:00, Christopher Bondani
   1. Attorney Fees and Client Trust Accounts
   2. Conflicts of Interest
   3. Representing Spouses
   4. Guarding Confidentiality
   5. Verifying Testamentary Capacity
   6. Preventing Fraudulent Transfers
   7. Common UPL Risks

Accreditation Details:

Christopher J Bondani is a partner with the Law Offices of Hill & Bondani, PLLC, and practices in Jacksonville and Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. He offers legal advice and assistance in connection with a wide variety of complex legal matters that include estate planning, trusts, probate, asset protection, business law, limited liability company law, partnerships, corporations, not for profits, tax law, elder law, and deferred compensation/ERISA. Mr. Bondani is a member of The Florida Bar and is admitted to practice before the U.S. Tax Court. He earned his B.S. degree from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga; his J.D. degree, magna cum laude, from Florida Coastal School of Law; and his LL.M. degree, in tax law, from the University of Florida, Levin College of Law.

Douglas A Fendrick maintains his law office of Fendrick Morgan, in Voorhees, New Jersey. His practice concentrates in the areas of estate planning, elder law and estate administration. Mr. Fendrick is admitted to practice in New Jersey and Pennsylvania; and before the U.S. Tax Court. He is a certified elder law attorney through the National Elder Law Foundation, an accredited estate planning specialist through the American Bar Association, and a certified public accountant. Mr. Fendrick is accredited by the Veterans Administration to counsel clients regarding veterans benefits. He was a former trial attorney with the Office of Chief Counsel, Internal Revenue Service in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Mr. Fendrick is a member of the Camden County and Burlington County bar associations, as well as the South Jersey Estate Planning Counsel. He earned his B.S. degree, cum laude, from Rider University; his J.D. degree from Rutgers University School of Law; and his LL.M degree from Temple University.

Leslie E. Levin is special counsel to the firm Cuddy & Feder LLP, in White Plains, New York, where she practices in estate planning, probate, estate and trust administration, gift and generation-skipping tax transfer planning, asset protection, IRA distribution planning, not-for-profit organizations, charitable planning, special needs and disability planning, Medicaid planning, and elder law. Ms. Levin earned her B.A. degree, summa cum laude, high honors, from Brandeis University, and her J.D. degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. She is admitted to practice in both New York and Connecticut.

 

Chris Rippy is an attorney with Rippy Law Firm. After practicing in the area of civil litigation defense, he assisted in the opening of an estate planning and elder law firm in Maumelle, before moving his practice to Conway in 2014. Mr. Rippy's practice focuses primarily in elder law and estate planning, and enjoys helping his clients plan for their future. He graduated from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, and then attended the Bowen School of Law in Little Rock. During his time in law school, Mr. Rippy clerked for the firm Wilcox, Parker, Hurst, Lancaster, & Lacy, PLC and for the Honorable Rhonda Wood, Arkansas Supreme Court Justice. He also serves part-time as a prosecuting attorney.