Program Overview

Estate Planning (EPL) Program

The Estate Planning (EPL) program offers a comprehensive range of courses designed to equip students with the knowledge and skills necessary to navigate the complex field of estate planning. The program covers various aspects of estate planning, including tax law, trusts, and estates, as well as ethical and practical considerations.

Course Offerings

• EPL 901: Elder Law: This course examines the legal and financial problems affecting aging or incapacitated clients, including asset protection and management systems, health care decisions, and housing options.
• EPL 903: Ethical and Practical Aspects of Estate Planning: This course focuses on the ethical and practical problems that a lawyer may encounter in various estate planning contexts, including issues of representing multiple clients, fiduciaries, and disabled persons.
• EPL 904: Fiduciary Administration: This course considers selected problems in the administration of trusts and estates, including appointment and qualification of fiduciaries, ancillary administration, and fiduciary powers and duties.
• EPL 905: Asset Protection: This course examines the techniques and legal strategies utilized to obtain maximum wealth protection, including exemption planning, limited liability entities, and domestic trusts.
• EPL 908: Marital Deduction Planning: This course focuses on the uses and importance of the marital deduction, including estate equalization, use of disclaimers, and partial QTIP elections.
• EPL 909: International Estate Planning: This course examines the income, gift, and estate tax issues facing non-resident, non-citizen individuals investing in, or moving to, the United States.
• EPL 910: Federal Income Taxation of Trusts and Estates: This course provides a study of the income taxation of estates, trusts, and their beneficiaries, including distributable net income and distribution deductions.
• EPL 911: Corporate Tax: This course covers the fundamental principles of corporate taxation.
• EPL 912: Charitable Gifts and Foundations: This course examines the income and transfer tax consequences of gifts to charities, including uses of public charities and private foundations in the estate planning process.
• EPL 913: Tax Procedure: This course focuses on the preparation and planning of gift, estate, and fiduciary income tax returns, including the administrative process involved in an audit.
• EPL 915: Chapter 14: This course examines the provisions of IRC Chapter 14, the special rules for valuing property for transfer tax purposes.
• EPL 920: Valuation: This course examines the significance of value and fair market value for federal tax purposes, including the determination of the fair market value of tangible personal property, real property, and business interests.
• EPL 924: Planning for the Family Business: This course examines the use of intra-family deferred payment sales, such as installment sales, private annuities, and SCINs, in disposing of the closely-held business and investment assets.
• EPL 925: Drafting for Estate Planners: This course focuses on the skills required for a successful drafting practice, including ascertaining a client's dispositive intentions and communicating through complex documents.
• EPL 926: Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax: This course provides an in-depth examination of the generation-skipping transfer tax, including the effective date provisions and utilization of available exemptions and exclusions.
• EPL 928: Introduction to the Probate Process: This course introduces students to the probate administration process, including the Uniform Probate Code and the pragmatic aspects of probate proceedings.
• EPL 929: Life Insurance Planning: This course analyzes the taxation of and planning for life insurance in an estate planning context, including a description of various life insurance products and the income tax and transfer tax consequences of the use of life insurance.
• EPL 930: Planning for Distributions from Qualified Plans, IRAs, and Non-Qualified Plans: This course focuses on planning for distributions during the life and at the death of the owner of the benefits, including consideration of the types of retirement and deferred compensation plans available.
• EPL 931: Investment Planning: This course provides an overview of wealth management and investment planning, including the different approaches to asset management and portfolio construction.
• EPL 936: Partnership Tax: This course covers the federal income tax treatment of partners and partnerships, including the taxation of limited liability companies and other entities treated as partnerships for income tax purposes.
• EPL 939: Income Tax for Estate Planning: This course provides an introduction to both basic and advanced income tax principles that are the foundational building blocks for the other courses offered in the estate-planning program.
• EPL 946: Federal Wealth Transfer Tax: This course examines federal estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer taxes, including property included in the gross estate, valuation, expenses, and marital deduction.

Program Requirements

• Requisite: Plan of Estate Planning or JD/ LLM EP.
• Components: LEC (Lecture)
• Grading: GRD (Graded)
• Typically Offered: Varies by course (Fall, Spring, or by Announcement Only)