Session 2: Estate Tax Exemption and “A/B” Planning

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

Faculty

Vanessa L. Kanaga Esq. and Elizabeth Q. Boehmcke Esq.

Course Description

This session will focus on the federal estate tax exemption, how it can be best utilized via a “bypass trust,” and how it might be wasted. The presenters will also cover “portability” of the estate tax exemption.

Marital Deduction Gifts – form and requirements
Estate tax exemptions and how “all to the spouse” might waste the exemption
Portability – basics and advantages/disadvantages
Bypass Trusts – ensuring use of the exemption

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Faculty Bios

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.

Elizabeth Q. Boehmcke Esq.

Elizabeth (“Beth”) Boehmcke graduated cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School in 1993. After graduation from law school through 2003, she specialized in high net worth estate planning, with an emphasis on cross-border and asset protection planning, and the representation of fiduciaries managing complex trusts and family businesses. During her career in New York, she was an associate attorney at both Rogers & Wells (now Clifford Chance) and Hodgson Russ in New York City. After a hiatus in her legal career to care for her children, she resumed her legal career by passing the Virginia bar in 2014 and began working for the Hook Law Center, P.C., where she expanded her estate planning practice to include elder law, specifically focusing on asset protection planning for Medicaid and Veteran’s benefits. She is a proud graduate of the University of Virginia where she received a B.A. with distinction in Psychology in 1988 and is also a graduate of SUNY-Buffalo where she received an M.A. in Clinical Psychology in 1990.