Session 1: What is Estate Planning?

Airing on Tuesday, April 2nd @ 1 pm ET

This session is part of the InterActive Legal Academy Estate Planning Basics Series

Faculty

Teresa L. Bush Esq. and Vanessa L. Kanaga Esq.

Course Description

Estate planning involves both planning for death and planning for incapacity. In this initial session, we will introduce legal issues and common documents applicable to both areas. We will discuss how property is disposed of at death, how probate works, probate alternatives, and documents used when planning for death, including Wills and Revocable Trusts. For incapacity planning, we will cover what powers can be delegated and how, introducing documents such as Durable Powers of Attorney and Health Care Directives.

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Faculty Bios

Teresa L. Bush Esq.

Teresa Bush joined InterActive Legal in 2007 and serves as Director of Education and Support Services. Ms. Bush has been licensed to practice law since 1991, and focused her practice exclusively on issues of estate and gift tax planning, probate, charitable planning, and estate and trust administration. She began her practice in a small law firm, planning for clients of all levels of wealth. Thereafter, she practiced for a number of years in the Tax Section of Kelly, Hart and Hallman, P.C. in Fort Worth, Texas, and as an estate and gift tax consultant for the Dallas office of Ernst & Young, in both cases focusing on planning for very high net worth clients. Ms. Bush received her J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law, where she was a research assistant for Professor Stanley M. Johanson. She studied at Edinburgh University and the London School of Economics prior to obtaining a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from Rice University in Houston. While studying abroad, she worked as an intern for a Member of Parliament in the British House of Commons. Ms. Bush taught legal research and writing as a Teaching Quizmaster in law school, and later taught estate planning extension courses for American College of Financial Services CLU candidates. She has presented several online webinars on estate planning and drafting topics, and is the author or co-author of a variety of estate planning articles.

Vanessa L. Kanaga Esq.

Vanessa Kanaga serves as CEO of InterActive Legal. Vanessa received her J.D. from Cornell Law School and holds a B.A. in Philosophy from Wichita State University, as well as an Advanced Professional Certificate from New York University School of Law. She is licensed in New York, Kansas, and Arizona, and currently lives in Arizona. Prior to joining InterActive Legal in 2013, Vanessa practiced in New York, at Milbank LLP and Moses & Singer LLP, and in Kansas, at Hinkle Law Firm, LLC. She has experience in a range of estate planning matters, including high net worth tax planning and asset protection planning. In her role as CEO, Vanessa oversees strategic planning and development of InterActive Legal services and solutions, working with her valued colleagues to continuously provide reliable content and forward-thinking strategies to the estate planning and elder law attorneys who subscribe to InterActive Legal products. Vanessa also serves as the Moderator for the InterActive Legal Roundtable webinar series, fostering collegial discussion among a group of expert panelists on trending topics in estate planning.