The Community Foundation of Southeast Kansas hosted the 2022 Estate Planning Forum in partnership with Foulston Siefkin LLP on Thursday, June 23. The Forum, which is held every year, offers a free lunch and free Kansas continuing-education credits for attorneys, insurance agents, CPAs, and other professional advisors.
This year, the forum was held at Crestwood Country Club in Pittsburg.
The first session offered only ethics CLE. Later sessions offered CLE, insurance CE, CPE, and PACE credits. The agenda is included below, along with brief bios of our speakers.
Registration for this event has closed. Please contact Joshua McCloud with any questions.
Table of Contents
Agenda
9:30 – 10:00 Registration
10:00 – 10:50 It Hurts When I Do That!
Credits: CLE only (Ethics)
Presenter: Kathleen J. Selzler Lippert
The vast majority of lawyers practice appropriately and abide by the professional rules of conduct. For such lawyers, ethics CLEs are like preventive medicine: They help keep us healthy.
Common complaints can be very broad and cover every rule imaginable. Rules that are commonly violated may surprise lawyers. In fiscal year 2022, Rule 8.4(d) (conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice) was violated more often than Rule 1.1 (competence). This CLE looks at commonly violated rules and invites the audience to consider fact patterns that may implicate these rules.
11:00 – 11:50 Estate Planning for Healthcare/Disabilities
Credits: CLE, CPE, Insurance CE, PACE
Presenter: Tim O’Sullivan
In this segment, Tim discussed planning for healthcare decisions through advance directives (healthcare powers of attorney), living wills, and do-not-resuscitate directives (DNRs). He reviewed drafting such documents, including desirable provisions, and their practical aspects, such as whether healthcare powers of attorney should be “springing” or “nonspringing” and when it is appropriate to execute DNRs. The presentation included a comprehensive living-will form that Tim drafted with the assistance of medical doctors and that provides many desirable options not found in the basic statutory form or typically used by estate-planning and elder-law attorneys.
12:00 – 1:00 Lunch courtesy of the Community Foundation
The Community Foundation provided a free buffet-style lunch for attendees.
1:00 – 1:50 Estate Planning for Asset Protection
Credits: CLE, CPE, Insurance CE, PACE
Presenter: Tim O’Sullivan
In this presentation, Tim addressed estate-planning techniques that maximize asset protection for clients and their family members, including a discussion of what assets are exempt from creditors, the ownership of property by a client and his or her spouse, the role of “umbrella” policies, the use of LLCs, lifetime or “generation-skipping” trusts for family members, and how reciprocal irrevocable trusts between spouses can afford significant asset protection while achieving estate-planning goals. Tim also covered ethical and substantive “traps” for attorneys who do not conduct proper due diligence.
2:00 – 2:50 Estate Planning to Minimize Income Taxation
Credits: CLE, CPE, Insurance CE, PACE
Presenter: Tim O’Sullivan
In light of Congress’ failure to pass portions of President Biden’s legislative agenda that would have had a detrimental effect on many estate planning techniques, and with estate- and gift-tax-reduction techniques likely to remain of significant relevance to only a small minority of the population for the foreseeable future, income-tax-reduction techniques should continue as the major tax focus of the estate planner’s regimen. Toward that end, Tim covered a range of estate-planning techniques that can substantially reduce the income-tax burden on beneficiaries while remaining consistent with a grantor’s or testator’s other important estate-planning goals, including asset protection, maintaining plan integrity, flexibility, and charitable giving.
3:00 – 4:40 Current Developments in Estate Planning
Credits: CLE, CPE, Insurance CE, PACE
Presenter: Corey Moomaw and Tim O’Sullivan
Corey and Tim reviewed recent state and federal legislative, judicial, and regulatory developments affecting estate planners, including the Kansas Directed Trust Act and proposed “claw back” regulations issued by the IRS. They also reviewed changes proposed by the KBA that will be re-submitted in the next Kansas legislative session.
4:40 – 5:00 Q&A
Continuing Education Credits
This section includes important information about what continuing-education credits were available through the 2022 Estate Planning Forum.
Information for Lawyers
This year’s Estate Planning Forum has been approved for 6 hours of CLE, including 1 hour of ethics.
At the end of the Forum, you will be asked to complete a CLE affidavit, the bottom (pink) copy of which you should keep for your records. You will need to know your Kansas Supreme Court Registration Number to complete the affidavit. The Community Foundation will submit the original affidavit to Kansas CLE by July 22.
You will also be invited to complete an evaluation addressing the quality, effectiveness, and usefulness of the day’s sessions.
Information for Insurance Professionals
This year’s Estate Planning Forum has been approved for 5 hours of insurance CE credits.
The Community Foundation will report course-attendance information to the Kansas Insurance Department by July 1.
Information for CPAs
The Estate Planning Forum has not been pre-approved for CPE credits, and Kansas CPAs report their own continuing-education attendance to the Kansas Board of Accountancy.
CPAs seeking continuing-education credit should know the following:
- Learning objectives and content for each session are summarized in the descriptions above.
- There are no prerequisites and no requirements for advance preparation for the Estate Planning Forum.
- Each session has a beginner-to-intermediate program level.
- Instruction will be delivered in person in a classroom setting.
- The Forum provides a recommended 5 hours of CPE credit.
- You must register for the Forum using the form below, by emailing Joshua McCloud, or by calling the Foundation at (620) 231-8897.
Information for Other Professionals
The Community Foundation has not sought or obtained pre-approval for any other professional continuing-education credits. However, we can provide a PACE attendance certificate for holders of a CLU or ChFC designation.
About Our Presenters
Tim O’Sullivan, JD, LLM
Mr. O’Sullivan is a partner with Foulston & Siefkin practicing in the areas of estate planning, probate, trust law, and elder law. He has a broad range of experience in developing and implementing both simple and complex estate planning techniques. He represents both individual and institutional fiduciaries in the administration of trusts and estates.
Mr. O’Sullivan’s practice also involves advising clients on strategies and provisions which enhance the preservation of family harmony in the estate planning process. Over his career, Mr. O’Sullivan has made presentations on estate planning topics at approximately one hundred professional seminars.
He received a JD from the Washburn University School of Law and a LLM in taxation from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law. He is a fellow in the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel.
Corey Moomaw, JD, LLM
Corey Moomaw is an associate in Foulston Siefkin‘s Wichita office, where he is a member of the firm’s Business & Tax Team. He received his JD, magna cum laude, from Washburn University School of Law, and his LLM in taxation with distinction from Georgetown University Law Center.
Kathleen J. Selzler Lippert, JD
Kathleen J. Selzler Lippert, JD, is a graduate of Drake Law School. She joined the Office of the Disciplinary Administrator (ODA) in December 2019 as a Deputy Disciplinary Administrator. She has practiced law for over two decades in public service. As a prosecutor for over a decade, her work involved general criminal cases, drug task force, and felony domestic violence including homicide cases. She practiced in administrative law and medical license regulation for over a decade by serving in a variety of roles for the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts. She is a wife, mother of three young men–two in college and one in high school–and serves on the local school board.
Estate Planning Forum Course Materials
Community Foundation staff distributed a book containing high-quality course materials to all attendees at the Estate Planning Forum.
Last updated July 22, 2022