Last week, I attended the 58th Annual Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning (“Heckerling”) held in Orlando, Florida. Nationally renowned speakers take the stage and give attendees legislative updates, tips on estate planning techniques, and answers to their submitted questions. As the Associate Director of Education for the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys (“Academy”), I attend this annual conference so that I can share what I learned there with the Members of the Academy. The Academy requires its Members to earn 36 hours of continuing legal education (“CLE”) in Estate Planning, Tax, Elder Law, and Ethics. The Academy’s rigorous continuing education requirement ensures its Members know and understand the latest developments in these fields, many of which are discussed at the Heckerling conference. Many Members earn significant hours through the Academy’s two semi-annual Summit conferences each year and by attending monthly Webinars of Wisdom during which the Director of Education, Steve Hartnett, and I present on hot topics in Estate Planning. January’s Webinar of Wisdom will focus on the most significant takeaways from Heckerling.
Heckerling requires stamina – it’s a marathon of information for an entire week and feels a bit like drinking from a firehose. It began with a presentation on estate planning for modest estates that provided practical tools that every Estate Planner should know. Heckerling’s official opening began when several panelists took the stage to present the Recent Developments of 2023. They covered noteworthy developments in 2023, reminded us that the Corporate Transparency Act took effect on January 1, 2024, discussed CCA 202352018, reviewed several valuation and transfer tax cases, mentioned the new actuarial valuation tables, explored the proposed regulations for Donor Advised Funds, and other pending and proposed legislation. The conference continued with in-depth looks at various topics such as Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts, Conservation Easements, ESG Investing, and Issues in Estate and Gift Tax Audits just to name a few. Several speakers referenced both the Corporate Transparency Act and CCA 202352018 issued at the end of 2023. Another popular topic was the idea of social welfare entities both as trust investments and as an alternative to charitable entities.
As the conference wound down, I began synthesizing the sessions for my educational webinar later this month titled Heard at Heckerling. I will present the webinar to Members of the Academy. I can’t wait to share what I learned at Heckerling, including how to address the Corporate Transparency Act, what I learned about CCA 202352018, and Natalie Choate’s thoughts on the “mature” SECURE Act.
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