InterActive Legal Academy Estate Planning Tax Series

InterActive Legal Academy

Estate Planning Tax Series

InterActive Legal Academy is education by lawyers for lawyers. The Estate Planning Tax Series offered in October is a practical introduction to tax issues relevant to estate planners and how to draft documents that can minimize overall taxation.

October 6–31, 2025
1:00–2:00 PM ET
Tues & Thurs: Live Online Instruction
Fri: Drafting Workshops Q&A

Online Registration is CLOSED.
Email [email protected] for LATE REGISTRATION.

What You’ll Learn

The fundamentals of estate, gift, and generation skipping transfer tax
Income tax issues that estate planners can’t ignore
When to use credit shelter trusts, disclaimer planning, and Clayton QTIPs
The benefits of lifetime gifting through irrevocable trusts
Tax issues with specific assets
And more—reinforced with case studies, sample drafting language, and live Q&A

Course Syllabus

Week #1 – October 6-10

Session Name	Faculty	Description
Optional Kick off Meeting (October 6, 2025; 1pm ET)	Teresa Bush	Administrative meeting in advance of the official program: • Check connections • Review Syllabus • Answer any questions
Estate and Gift Tax Basics (October 7, 2025; 1pm ET)	Michael Graham and Teresa Bush	The basics of estate and gift taxation: • What is taxed and how taxes are calculated • Estate and gift tax exemptions • Marital and charitable deductions.
Estate Tax Exemptions and “A/B” Planning (October 9, 2025; 1pm ET)	Vanessa Kanaga and Beth Boehmcke	Using the estate tax exemption: • Bypass trust planning • Exemption portability • Wasting the exemption • Marital deduction gifts
Week 1 Workshop (October 10, 2025; 1pm ET)	Academy Faculty	Week 1 concept review: • Case studies and sample language • Q&A

Week #2 – October 13-17

Session Name	Faculty	Description
Flexible Estate Tax Planning (October 14, 2025; 1pm ET)	Teresa Bush and Rebecca Strub	Wait-and-see estate tax exemption planning: • Disclaimer plans • Clayton QTIP trusts • State estate taxation
Designing Trusts for Tax and Other Purposes (October 16, 2025; 1pm ET)	Teresa Bush and Mike Graham	Trust provisions and their tax impact: • Using different types of trusts – why and how • Specific trust provisions and what they do
Week 2 Workshop (October 17, 2025; 1pm ET)	Academy Faculty	Week 2 concept review: • Case studies and sample language • Q&A

Week #3 – October 20-24

Session Name	Faculty	Description
Specific Assets that Impact Estate Planning (October 21, 2025; 1pm ET)	Letha McDowell and Deirdre Wheatley-Liss	Tax issues when planning for specific assets: • Personal effects and real estate • Life insurance • Family businesses • Retirement accounts
Lifetime Planning and Gifting Using Trusts (October 23, 2025; 1pm ET)	Vanessa Kanaga and Jonathan Blattmachr	Irrevocable trust planning: • How lifetime gifting saves overall taxation • Non-tax reasons for lifetime gifting • Gift taxation when creating trusts
Week 3 Workshop (October 24, 2025; 1pm ET)	Academy Faculty	Week 3 concept review: • Case studies and sample language • Q&A

Week #4 – October 27-31

Session Name	Faculty	Description
Income Tax and the Estate Plan (October 28, 2025; 1pm ET)	Letha McDowell and Deirdre Wheatley-Liss	Income tax issues for estate planners: • Trust income taxation – who pays? • Grantor trusts • Carry-over basis vs. step-up in basis
GST Tax Planning (October 30, 2025; 1pm ET)	Teresa Bush	Introducing the Generation Skipping Transfer Tax: • Triggering and calculating the GST tax • Utilizing the GST exemption • Reverse QTIP trusts
Week 4 Workshop (October 31, 2025; 1pm ET)	Academy Faculty	Week 4 concept review: • Case studies and sample language • Q&A

Faculty

Learn directly from respected practitioners and thought leaders in estate planning.

Jonathan G. Blattmachr, JD
Editor in Chief and Co-Founder
InterActive Legal

Teresa L. Bush, Esq.
Director of Education and Support Services
InterActive Legal

Elizabeth (Beth) Q. Boehmcke, Esq.
Advisor Emeritus
InterActive Legal

Michael L. Graham, Esq.
Chairman and Co-Founder
InterActive Legal

Vanessa L. Kanaga, Esq.
InterActive Legal Advisor

Letha Sgritta McDowell, CELA
InterActive Legal Advisor

Rebecca Strub, JD, LL.M.
Legal Content Manager
InterActive Legal

Deirdre Wheatley-Liss, Esq.
InterActive Legal Advisor

Tuition

Non-Subscriber: $699*
Subscriber: $399

Special Pricing for Law Students (proof required)

2-Hour Lifestyle Lawyer, Elder Law College, Million Dollar Solution, and Personal Family Lawyer members receive a tuition discount.
Contact your organization for details.

*Non-subscribers who attend may apply a tuition credit toward a new InterActive Legal subscription
(if purchased within 60 days of the series end).

*CLE Approved

The Estate Planning Tax Series is approved for 12 hours of Florida CLE credit.

Certificates of attendance are provided.

Attendees outside Florida may apply for credit with their own state bar.

CLE credit may be available only for sessions attended live.

Want to Learn More about InterActive Legal Academy?

Our faculty and support staff will be happy to help you with inquiries, registration, information on future sessions, and questions about the material presented in the most recent sessions.

Email [email protected]

Support Hours are 8:30am – 5:30pm ET
Monday through Friday, except holidays

Trusted by Estate Planning Attorneys Nationwide

Hundreds of attorneys have turned to InterActive Legal Academy to sharpen their estate planning knowledge and strengthen their drafting skills. With instruction led by practicing attorneys and nationally recognized thought leaders, the Academy is where legal theory meets real-world practice.

“The Interactive Legal Tax Planning Course exceeded my expectations. It was substantive and well presented. I would enthusiastically recommend it for experienced trusts and estates attorneys like myself, but also for any attorney who does estate planning work. In addition, as the former national director of wealth planning for one of the largest planning groups in the wealth management industry, I believe this course would be excellent for trust officers, wealth planners, and others who work with estate planning generally, and trusts, in particular. Terrific job by everyone at Interactive Legal.”

Steve Pappaterra, Attorney at Law
Cherry Hill, New Jersey

“The Estate Planning Tax Series was excellent! All of the speakers are very knowledgeable and provided expertise instruction in their presentations. The covered topics were in-depth and comprehensive with very useful outlines and supporting materials! I will definitely refer to these in the future. Thank you for offering this great program! I highly recommend this Tax Series for everyone who works in estate planning!”

Kelly Junkins, Dominick Feld Hyde, P.C.
Birmingham, Alabama

“The materials (slides and detailed outlines) were well done and easy to understand. The various speakers all knew their stuff. I have been in this field for decades and have an LL.M. in tax since 1983 and thought it was well done for the new person and the old timer like myself. And, not without great merit, the program cost was incredibly reasonable. Loved the sample language in the workshops. That by itself was worth the price of admission, A legitimate 5 out of 5.”

Jeffrey Askew, Askew & Askew, P.A
Port Saint Lucie, Florida

“The InterActive Legal Academy Estate Tax Planning Series has helped fill in holes in my knowledge that I did not even realize were there. I am a much better and more professional practitioner because of Interactive Legal. Thank you!”

Bill Ramos, Ramos Law, P.A.
Holly Springs, NC

“Although I’ve been a trusts/estates and tax lawyer for many years, I learned something new at every session. Sometimes it was a new aspect of tax law I hadn’t focused on, and other times, I found myself “connecting the dots” better on concepts I had only generally known. I’d highly recommend this program for estate planners of all levels. Speakers and program materials were excellent.”

Susan Parker, Susan G. Parker Law Associates PC
Briarcliff Manor, NY

InterActive Legal Academy Estate Planning Tax Series