LAW COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

LAW-2696 Estate Planning Ms. Catherine F. McCarron, 2 credits day; 2 credits evening.

The purpose of this course is to provide students with a comprehensive, practice-oriented guide to estate planning for individuals and families, based on exploration of actual client fact patterns. Emphasis is placed on the considerations and issues practitioners will encounter in formulating foundation estate planning documents for a diverse clientele, with particular focus on identifying client concerns and objectives as they arise in planning for the disposition of real and personal property, as well as ethical considerations commonly encountered. Additional topics covered include the types of trust commonly used by estate planners, marital deduction planning, reducing or eliminating the federal and state estate taxes, reducing or eliminating the probate estate, charitable gifts and giving, life insurance planning, disability planning, and special situations such as supplemental needs trust planning and Mass Health eligibility. The course will further explore proven business development strategies essential for sustaining an ongoing estate planning practice. Students will be evaluated based on a final project.

Prerequisite: Trusts and Estates, Prior or Concurrent enrollment: Estate Administration and Estate and Gift Tax is strongly recommended.

Elective Course

Final Project Required

Relevant Courses and Course Sequencing

JD/LLM Course

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