Estate Planning Seminar
DISCLAIMER
Before purchasing, review the rules of your licensing or certifying entity. It is your responsibility to confirm this course meets your CE requirements. See the credit tab on the course page for details.
What’s Included: Full webinar recording, written course materials, expert instruction, a mandatory quiz, and a certificate upon completion.
Deliverability Timeline: All courses are generally available within 1-2 weeks after the live presentation.
CE Credits: AIA and/or LA/CES accreditation is available by request for courses recorded prior to March 11, 2026. All courses after that date include those accreditations by default, if applicable. With these accreditations, our courses qualify for credit in nearly all states for engineers, surveyors, architects, and landscape architects.
Learn more about the on-demand format in our FAQ or contact us at (715) 835-5900 or customerservice@halfmoonseminars.org
Agenda
Registration: 8:00 – 8:30 am
Morning Session: 8:30 am – 12:00 pm
Lunch (On your own): 12:00 – 1:00 pm
Afternoon Session: 1:00 – 5:00 pm
Federal Transfer Tax Legislation and Its Impact on Estate Planning
Overview of federal estate, gift and trust taxation
Tax rates and exemptions
Portability of exemptions between spouses
The Basics of Planning for Incapacity
Legal tools to avoid court-appointed fiduciaries
Planning for medical and non-financial decisions
Different forms of asset ownership
Revocable living trusts: the estate planner’s favorite technique
Basics of Estate and Gift Tax Planning
Will drafting: common estate planning provisions
Drafting challenges caused by state estate taxes
Gift tax planning
Basics of Gifting
Federal gift tax system
Gift tax discount planning techniques
Estate freeze techniques
Retirement Asset Planning
Minimum distribution rules
Fixing less-than-perfect beneficiary designations
Common estate planning strategies
Federal Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax (GST)
Basic theory of GST tax
Generation assignment
Taxable transfers and exemptions, inclusion ratio
Application of GST to various trusts
Advanced Gifting
Grantor retained annuity trustsIDIT sales
Self-canceling installment note
Qualified personal residence trust
Advanced Testamentary Planning
Testamentary planning for married couples
Portability of estate and gift tax exemptions
QDOTs and QTIP trusts
Testamentary generation-skipping planning and other techniques
Buy-Sell Agreements and Asset Protection Planning
Basics of buy-sell agreements
Asset protection planning basics
Charitable Planning
Choosing a charitable vehicle
Prohibitions against self-dealing
Case Study: Succession Planning for Charlie and Sally Jones
Credits
Accountants
8.0 CPE Hours
Colorado Attorneys
8.0 CLE Hours
Certified Financial Planners
8.0 CE Hours
IRS Enrolled Agents
8.0 CE Hours
Continuing Education Credit Information
This seminar is open to the public. It offers up to 8.0 CPE hours to Colorado accountants. Colorado State Board of Accountancy has adopted the NASBA/AICPA CPE Standards. If both the licensee and the CPE provider comply with the NASBA/AICPA CPE Standards, the continuing education will be accepted as meeting the CE standards of the Colorado State Board of Accountancy.
HalfMoon Education Inc. is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State boards of accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit. Complaints regarding registered sponsors may be submitted to the National Registry of CPE Sponsors through its website: www.NASBARegistry.org. (Sponsor No. 103015).
The Colorado Board of Continuing Legal and Judicial Education has approved this course for 8.0 general credits for attorneys.
This program qualifies for 8.0 hours of continuing education credit for enrolled agents and other tax return preparers under Treasury Department Circular #230 Section 10.6(g).
HalfMoon Education Inc. is a CFP Board-registered continuing education sponsor. The Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. has granted 8.0 hours of continuing education credit for the completion of this seminar.
Attendance will be monitored, and attendance certificates will be available after the seminar for most individuals who complete the entire event. Attendance certificates not available at the seminar will be mailed to participants within fifteen business days.
Speakers
John Phillips
J R Phillips & Associates, P.C.J R Phillips & Associates, P.C., Centennial, ColoradoMr. Phillips maintains an active law practice in the southern Denver suburb of Centennial and works with clients from all over the state of Colorado. He has more than 25 years of legal experience, and he is also a Certified Financial Planner™.
Mr. Phillips has taught both academic and continuing education courses on estate planning and estate and gift taxation as an adjunct professor at Metropolitan State College and as a program presenter for attorneys, CPAs, CFPs, stockbrokers, enrolled agents, insurance professionals, and trust officers.
He currently teaches the post-graduate estate planning academic requirement course for Certified Financial Planner™ candidates at Metro State University and teaches over 50 public seminars a year on Estate Planning.
Mr. Phillips received his B.A. degree from Louisiana State University (1970) and his J.D. degree from the University of Denver School of Law (1981).
He is actively involved in his community, having raised his family here. He serves as the president of the Board of Directors of AllHealth Network (formerly Arapahoe Douglas Mental Health Network) and has performed with the Colorado Symphony Chorus for more than 15 years.