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This webinar will present a powerful personal story of a wife sharing her reflections on her husband's experience of navigating his depression, anxiety, and ever-growing pressures of being an estate planning lawyer. This presentation will be something different from the usual programs on mental health considerations. May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and the importance of this topic cannot be emphasized enough. Using a real case study to make the statistics relatable, this program will discuss the emotional, social, and relational impact of an advisor struggling with his work-related, stress-induced mental health, and the ways the culture of law firms fueled and exacerbated those struggles. Betsy Jameson, the wife of Ken Jameson, an estate planning attorney who died by suicide, will have a candid conversation with Amanda and Marty on what it felt like from her perspective as we bring in relevant stats, facts, and additional thoughts related to her experience. She will tell you the difficult personal journey that her late husband had, and that she and her children will continue on. This a powerful, moving and deeply personal presentation that will make this topic, and the urgency of addressing, it real.

The statistics related to professional advisors struggling with mental health and addiction issues in the high-pressure environments of law, CPA, and wealth management firms are significant. However, the data presents an even worse and more worrisome picture on advisor mental health when more specific questions are asked. That data will be reviewed in this webinar, along with explanations of “red flags” that can be used to identify colleagues, family or even you as struggling. Action steps to get help and possible changes to the culture of law, accounting, and financial firms will be suggested. This will be a practical and actionable discussion that may in fact help you save a life!

Uncertainty is good – but a challenge. And even though we felt things were uncertain in prior years, the transfer tax landscape is arguably more in flux today than it has been in decades. Not only are we awaiting Congressional action on the 2017 tax cuts – which could extend the bonus exemption that will otherwise expire at year end – proposals in Washington would repeal the federal estate tax (but not the gift tax) yet continue to permit the income tax-free step-up in basis at death.  There is no way to know when any clarity could arrive, in the form of more proposed (or actually passed) legislation. In the interim, estate planners still must recommend actions to their clients but without the benefit of a crystal ball.