Surgent's How to Settle a Client's Estate - Download

Overview

Federal estate and gift taxes currently affect few clients, but there are many other issues involved in settling an estate or administering a trust. Clients who are beneficiaries of a trust or estate often turn to their financial advisors to understand the administrative process and its effect on their interests. This course enables the accountant to cut through the jargon to understand the legal concepts, communicate a real-world explanation to clients, and serve, in some instances, as an advisor to them. After taking this course, practitioners will feel more confident to serve in a fiduciary capacity. Updated for developments relative to estate taxation.

Highlights

Issues involved when settling an estate – marshaling of assets, payment of creditors, & distribution and accounting to beneficiaries
Explaining the needs and limitations of durable powers of attorney, health care directives, and living wills
Why a will is probated, and on what grounds it may be challenged
Comprehensive checklists on how to read a will, duties of an executor and trustee, and much more
Identification and report of estate assets
What to do and what not to do as a fiduciary, executor, or trustee – duty of care, investment, informing, payment of debts and taxes, & defending a will contest
How executors and trustees interact with beneficiaries
Elective shares, and when a spouse might make that choice
What a trustee needs to know about incompetents and minors
Rights of creditors, third parties, and beneficiaries
Key issues in transferring property to a trust and from a trust or estate to a beneficiary
Identifying income, estate, and inheritance taxes
Fiduciary accounting – principal and income concepts
An introduction to drafting an account, and why it is relevant
Administration of revocable trusts
Estate basis reporting

Prerequisites

None

Designed For

Accounting and Financial Professionals who wish to assist in settlement of an estate, regardless of size

Objectives

Understand how creditors’ claims impact a beneficiary’s claims
Understand the key provisions in a will or trust
Understand the duties of an executor or trustee in relation to beneficiaries and other third parties
Identify trusts, wills, and other documents encountered, & their uses
Understand the stages of an estate administration including costs, collections, payment of debts/taxes, & distribution to beneficiaries
Be aware of the duties a fiduciary and members of the estate planning team owe to creditors, beneficiaries, and the courts