In light of recent developments, some estate planning strategies have become especially popular. This presentation explains and evaluates several “hot” planning ideas, including spousal lifetime access trusts, charitable remainder trusts as beneficiaries of retirement accounts, ultra-long-term GRATs, and strategies to avoid the cap on the deduction for state and local taxes.
Participant will be able to: (1) explain trending tax and estate planning strategies to their clients; (2) recommend trending tax and estate planning strategies to clients based on their unique situations, and (3) determine which trending tax and estate planning strategies offer the best opportunities for their clients.
About the speaker
Samuel A. Donaldson, J.D., LL.M. (Taxation), A.E.P. (Distinguished), is a Professor of Law at Georgia State University in Atlanta, where he teaches a number of tax and estate planning courses, as well as courses in the areas of property, commercial law, and professional responsibility. Prior to joining the Georgia State faculty in 2012, he was on the faculty at the University of Washington School of Law in Seattle for 13 years, where he served as the Director of the law school’s Graduate Program in Taxation as well as Associate Dean for Academic Administration. In addition to Georgia State and the University of Washington, Professor Donaldson has taught law school classes at Northwestern University, the University of Florida, and Emory University. He has won seven “professor of the year” awards from three different law schools.
He is an Academic Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC) and a member of the Bar in Washington, Oregon, and Arizona. He currently serves as the Tax Editor for the Probate Practice Reporter, a monthly publication from the University of South Carolina School of Law. Among his scholarly works, Professor Donaldson is a co-author of the popular law school textbook, Federal Income Tax: A Contemporary Approach, and a co-author of the Price on Contemporary Estate Planning reference volume published by Wolters Kluwer.