2022 The Art & Science of Conditional Gifts in Estate Planning

Original program date 12/16/2022

In formulating their trust and estate plans, clients often want to set up benchmarks of achievement before distributions or gifts are made. These benchmarks often involve educational attainment – i.e., that a child obtain a college degree by a certain.  But they may involve more difficult to measure benchmarks or life goals that are arguably not appropriate – i.e., that a child marry or have children of their own by a certain age.  Conditional gifts can easily lead to resentments among beneficiaries, questionable enforceability, disputes, and fiduciary litigation.  This program will provide you with a practical guide to conditional gifting using incentive trusts and other mechanisms, and counseling clients about the real limits and risks of conditional gifting.

•    Conditional gifting using incentive trusts and other mechanisms
•    Establishing objectively measurable conditions for gifts or distributions
•    Types of conditions or benchmarks – education, life goals, etc.
•    What’s enforceable, what’s not – counseling clients about limits
•    Choosing the right fiduciaries to administer conditional gifts/incentive trusts

Note: This material qualifies for self-study credit only. Pursuant to Regulation 15.04.5, a lawyer may receive up to six hours of self-study credit in a reporting year. Self-study programs do not qualify for ethics, elimination of bias or Kansas credit.