8½ Life Insurance Tax Traps (Including the Connelly Case)

Life insurance is one of the most powerful yet misunderstood tools in tax and estate planning. While it’s often viewed as a “tax-free” asset, a series of hidden traps can create unintended income, estate, or gift tax consequences. This advanced session examines eight and a half critical life insurance tax traps, including the landmark Connelly v. United States (2024) case that reshaped how buy-sell agreements impact corporate valuation and estate inclusion.

Using real-world examples, key tax code sections, and recent legal developments, the course walks advisors through ownership structures, transfer rules, valuation principles, and exchange mechanics that can either preserve or destroy life insurance tax benefits. The presentation blends theory and practice to help advisors recognize, prevent, and correct planning errors in both personal and business contexts.

Artificial Intelligence and the Estate Planner: Resistance is Futile

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly being incorporated into estate planning practices. AI products can increase the speed by which you prepare, review, and summarize estate planning related documents, tax returns, and client communications. Likewise, the speed by which you can conduct legal and financial research is faster than ever. This presentation is designed to explain how AI operates, the potential use of AI in your practice, warnings about the use of AI, and how to address the ethical issues that arise when using AI.

Washington State Estate Planning Updates

Philip Jones and Prof. Karen Boxx will summarize and discuss the latest estate planning developments in Oregon and Washington, with particular emphasis on new developments taking place in 2025. These developments will include legislation enacted by the 2025 sessions of the Oregon and Washington legislatures, plus new opinions issued by the appellate courts in both states.

Charitable Remainder Trusts: Flexible Tools to Benefit Donors and Charities Alike

This session explores the basic structures of charitable remainder trusts including deduction, taxation, and operational limits applicable to charitable remainder trusts. We'll also examine more advanced topics, including techniques for addressing specific situations like difficult-to-sell assets, and controlling trust distributions.

2025 Federal Tax Updates

Stay current with this informative, engaging, and always entertaining review of the year's most significant cases, rulings, regulations, and legislation affecting federal income, estate, and gift tax laws. This session covers key developments from the past 12 months, helping you understand important changes and how they may impact your practice and clients.

Oregon Estate Planning Updates

Philip Jones and Prof. Karen Boxx will summarize and discuss the latest estate planning developments in Oregon and Washington, with particular emphasis on new developments taking place in 2025. These developments will include legislation enacted by the 2025 sessions of the Oregon and Washington legislatures, plus new opinions issued by the appellate courts in both states.

Cross-Border Estate Planning Issues and How to Solve Them

This presentation will address important cross-border planning with a focus on practical solutions you can use with clients. It will point out common foot faults, take address them from the lense of being an adviser, and give ideas on how to strategize for those issues. Participates should gain a deeper understanding of this complex area of practice and a better grasp of the solutions available to well advised clients.

Taking Care of Business: New Approaches to Business Succession Planning

Business ownership succession planning is a hot topic in the Estate planning community, with over 3 million business owners over the age of 55, of which 83% have no succession plan. Purpose trusts have recently attracted attention as an alternative business ownership and succession planning tool. They can provide a strategy to transition ownership, maintain business operations, and fulfill the company’s mission. While well-publicized use of a purpose trust to own the voting shares of Patagonia in order to preserve the founder’s mission of protecting the environment stimulated interest in the concept, there are many other business owners of all stripes and sizes innovating with these models. In 2019, Oregon passed the Stewardship Trust legislation, which has paved the way for more adoption of this structure. Natalie Reitman-White & Steven Bell, who spearheaded Oregon legislation will share their experiences working with these trusts. Reitman-White, a leading business consultant, will discuss why business owners are choosing purpose trusts, discuss the benefits, challenges, and real-world applications. Steven Bell will support, speaking to the design, tax and estate, and transfer considerations.