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Course Details

Course Information
  • smart_display Format

    On-Demand

  • signal_cellular_alt Difficulty Level

    Intermediate

  • work Practice Area

    Estate Planning

Date & Time
  • event Date

    Tuesday, April 8, 2025

  • schedule Time

    1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT

  • timer Program Length

    90 minutes

Credit Information

  • This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.

$297.00

This CLE/CPE course will guide trusts and estates counsel on leveraging spousal lifetime access trusts (SLATs) in estate planning under current tax law and in light of the sunset of TCJA. The panel will discuss critical issues concerning income, gift, estate, and GST taxes amid the sunset of the TCJA, including pitfalls to avoid. The webinar will explore SLAT basics, discuss how to design SLATs to incorporate flexibility to anticipate an ever-changing landscape, and review the best way to minimize tax liability and ensure multi-generational gifting and flexible long-term planning.

Faculty

Tyson D. Willis
Attorney
Arnall Golden Gregory LLP

Mr. Willis focuses his practice on crafting and implementing successful wealth transfer planning strategies, including estate and gift tax planning, charitable giving, family business succession planning, and estate administration.

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Diana S.C. Zeydel
Shareholder
Greenberg Traurig LLP

Ms. Zeydel is the National Chair of the firm’s Trusts and Estates practice, and she focuses on estate, trust and tax planning for high net worth individuals and families. Her practice includes planning for U.S. and non-U.S. citizens and residents, and she specializes in sophisticated intra-generational wealth transfer strategies and business succession planning. She assists clients in litigated probate, trust and guardianship matters, and represents clients before the Internal Revenue Service in matters involving complex fiduciary income tax and estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer tax matters.

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Description

The current estate tax exemption is scheduled to sunset to pre-2017 levels at the end of 2025, creating uncertainty and challenges in designing estate plans. SLATs can capitalize on current federal and state estate exemption levels in case there is a shift in the current tax regime.

A SLAT is an irrevocable trust created by one spouse for the other's benefit by using the gift tax exemption to make a gift to the SLAT, naming the other spouse as the current beneficiary. Children and grandchildren may also be named as trust beneficiaries during the spouse's lifetime, but will certainly benefit after the beneficiary spouse's death. This allows limited access to the beneficiary spouse of the SLAT assets and offers flexibility for the family.

Trusts and estates counsel must have a clear understanding of critical tax issues that may arise. The estate and gift tax exemption allows SLATs to be a useful lifetime tax savings tool when structured correctly. It can apply to various liquid and illiquid assets, allowing them to flow to the next generation outside of the estate tax regime.

Listen as our panel discusses critical issues and pitfalls to avoid with income, gift, estate, and GST taxes when using SLATs. The panel will explore SLAT basics, discuss how to design SLATs to incorporate flexibility to anticipate an ever-changing landscape, and review the best way to minimize tax liability and ensure multi-generational gifting and flexible long-term planning.

Outline

  1. Impact of potential sunset of the TCJA on estate planning
  2. Considerations for the use of SLATs in estate planning
    • Access to trust assets
    • Choice of trustee
    • Impact of joint property
    • Building in substitution powers and flexibility
  3. Critical tax considerations under the current tax regime
    • Dual trusts (reciprocal trust doctrine)
    • SLATs as grantor trusts
    • Divorce
    • Other tax issues
  4. Other alternative methods for multi-generational gifting and long-term planning

Benefits

The panel will review these and other key issues:

  • What are the critical considerations for the use of SLATs in estate planning in light of potential sunset of the TCJA?
  • How can you incorporate flexibility and options into your SLATs, and what are the pitfalls to avoid?
  • What tax issues arise in the use of SLATs under current tax law?
  • How does a divorce impact SLATs?
  • What are other methods available for multi-generational gifting and long-term planning?