A look at some of the significant developments of 2025, what planning might still be done before year end, and the importance of continued planning in the current environment.

InterActive Legal is once again a Proud Platinum Sponsor at the Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning. Join us and thousands of your peers at the Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning — where the future of estate planning takes shape through world-class programming, invaluable networking opportunities, and the industry’s largest exhibit hall dedicated exclusively to estate planning solutions.

InterActive Legal is a proud sponsor of New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) Annual Meeting. The NYSBA Annual Meeting is where leading legal professionals connect, learn, and advance the practice of law.

Directed trusts are a powerful—and often underutilized—planning tool that can help estate planning attorneys meet today’s realities: complex family dynamics, evolving asset classes, and heightened fiduciary risk. In this one-hour webinar, attorney Mary Vandenack explains what a directed trust is and why it matters—specifically how it separates traditional trustee responsibilities so that an administrative trustee can take direction from specialized “directors” or advisors over investments, distributions, special holdings, charitable decisions, and more.

Pooled special needs trusts can provide an essential safety net in estate plans. Attorneys who draft estate plans must anticipate the unexpected—a client’s unforeseen disability, a fiduciary who becomes ill, a contentious relationship between the beneficiary and the fiduciary, or assets that are depleted below the corporate fiduciary’s minimum. By including additional authorities in documents, attorneys-in-fact, executors, and trustees can react to unforeseen circumstances and create and fund pooled special needs trusts for clients and their loved ones without the need for court involvement. After giving an overview of pooled special needs trusts, this presentation will cover powers that should be considered for inclusion in trusts, wills, and powers of attorney to utilize pooled special needs trusts as a safety net.

The 60th Annual Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning was held in Orlando, Florida, on January 12-16, 2026. The Institute is the preeminent estate planning conference of the year and always provides a full week of valuable seminars covering a broad range of estate planning issues for all types of practitioners and all types of clients. Not only does the Institute inform planners of new developments from the past year and state-of-the-art estate planning techniques, but it also includes an array of eclectic topics to broaden the knowledge and perspective of practitioners attending.

The Estate Planning Council of Portland is a non-profit organization with the objective of providing professional education to further the estate planning knowledge of its members.  Membership is comprised of Estate Planning Attorneys, Trust Officers, Certified Public Accountants, Chartered Life Underwriters, Certified Financial Planners, Chartered Financial Consultants, and others actively participating in estate planning matters in Oregon and Southwest Washington. As the region’s premier continuing education event for estate planning professionals, this year’s seminar features nationally recognized speakers addressing the most critical topics in Estate Planning.

Join top elder law professionals for two days of advanced strategy, practical sessions, and peer discussion. Sessions built for experienced elder law attorneys looking to sharpen planning strategies and expand impact.

-Annuity Innovations in Medicaid Planning
-Taxes, the Big Beautiful Bill and Elder Law Planning
-Elder Law Ethical Conundrums
-“Sell” is not a four-letter word, practices to show your value proposition
-Mindset and Life Balance for the Special Needs and Elder Law Attorney
-Intersection between Estate Recovery and -Creditor Claims
-White Board Discussions

The Pennsylvania Association of Elder Law Attorneys (PAELA) is a non-profit association which assists lawyers, bar organizations, and others who work with older clients and their families. PAELA provides a resource of information, education, networking, and assistance to those who work with the many specialized issues confronting the elderly and the disabled.