Module I – Ownership, Beneficiaries, Children, Wills, Probate, and Living Trusts
Marital and estate planning become straightforward once the advisor has a basic grounding in terminology and law. Asset acquisition takes a back seat to asset protection and donative intent as clients become older. A living trust used with a pourover will provide peace of mind. Moreover, trusts are the only way someone can control their assets "beyond the grave."

• Common vs. community law and moving to a different state
• Beneficiaries: life, final, alternate, and residuary
• Shared gifts, disinheritance, and simultaneous death
• Leaving property to children, children later conceived, and educational investment plans
• The will as the estate plan centerpiece, types, backup, updating, and challenging the will
• The 19 steps of probate, fees, and when probate may be desired
• Living trusts, explanations, decisions, and updates

Module II – POD Designations, Life Insurance, Retirement Benefits, plus Estate and Gift Taxes
There are times when a will and trust are not needed. Proper account registration can insure that assets are passed as intended. Using life insurance to create an instant estate is a simple solution for those with modest holdings. Social security and retirement accounts provide secure sources of monthly income. Probate should usually be avoided if possible, but there are situations where this costly and time-consuming process is desired.

• Joint tenancy, back accounts, documentation, and tenancy by the entirety
• Pay-on-death accounts, transfer-on-death deeds, and vehicle registration
• Life insurance: determining needs, types, beneficiaries, and transferring ownership
• Social security, IRAs, pensions, retirement account disclaimers, plus probate and taxes
• Estate qualification and state law exceptions to probate
• Tax exemptions, estate and gift taxation, tax reduction, basis, and state inheritance taxes
• Gifts: federal taxation, reduction, ways to reduce income taxes, and what not to gift

Module III – Ongoing, Tax Saving, Generation Skipping, Charitable, and Combination Trusts
The world of trusts is far-reaching and complex. Married couples frequently use these instruments to protect each spouse as well as children from a current or former marriage. Those who do not have loved ones may wish to reduce their taxable income and estate taxes by using one or types of charitable trusts. Often times, the effectiveness of a trust document is only limited by the creativity of its drafters.

• Trusts for tax reduction, control, and probate avoidance
• Trustees and taxation, trust limitations, and when a trust begins and ends
• Bypass trusts, IRS restrictions, QTIP trusts, and generation-skipping trusts
• Irrevocable insurance trusts, QDOTs, and grantor-retained interest trusts
• Charitable lead and remainder trusts, comparisons, and tax deductions
• Disclaimers: advantages, for couples, living trusts, and IRS rules
• Ongoing trusts and gift giving plus three tax-saving trusts

Module IV – Control Trusts, Incapacity, plus Body and Organ Donations
Trusts offer control and discretion that can be used to protect reckless or incapacitated heirs and mates. When restricting access to principal, it is important to know what asset categories should be used to generate income while protecting and growing principal for the final beneficiaries. Accidents and death are never planned; having powers of attorney can impact one's health as well as finances. Donating the decedent's body or organs must be decided while the person is still alive.

• Marital property control trusts, restricting spousal rights and the role of the trustee
• Educational, special needs, spendthrift, and sprinkling trusts
• Powers of appointment, medical and financial decisions, plus guardianships
• Conservatorships, donating a body or organs, and death notices
• Services following death, funerals, cremations, and burials

Module V – Estate Settlement, the First Month After Death, and Deciphering the Will
Distraught family members will find comfort in seeking the advice of a practitioner who is familiar with the costs and services following the death of a loved one. The steps taken during the first week and month after death set the tone for how easy the estate can be settled. Conferring with the designated executor and trustee creates a calming effect that is felt by all concerned. The process of overseeing an estate is only learned through experience or with the help a trusted advisor.

• Executor, trustee and successor trustee duties, levels of difficulty, and emotional concerns
• Death and physician's certificates, autopsy, personal belongings, and the first week after death
• Setting up a filing system, ordering documents, sending notifications, and keeping property secure
• Annuity and insurance benefits, pensions, veteran benefits, and wages owed to the deceased
• Family allowance, claims, determining validity, gifts to groups, death of an heir, and minors

Module VI – Managing Assets and Paying Bills, Taxes, and Trust Termination
The steps taken to establish accounts and pay claims after death is straightforward, if you are educated in estate settlement. The potential liability for the individual responsible for asset distribution and tax settlement is enormous. Protecting the estate's representatives is simple if the proper steps are taken. The needs and rights of the surviving spouse and children present their own set of problems and solutions.

• Legal duties, setting up accounts, managing investments, plus paying claims and debts
• Selling property, handling the family business, and giving property to beneficiaries
• Raising a child, managing a minor's property, plus personal and practical issues
• The final income tax return, trust income, and the surviving spouse
• Notifying beneficiaries, trust registration, trustee resignation, and ending the trust
• Handling an AB trust and dividing trust assets