Revised: February 2014

Introduction to Estate Planning provides an overview of the taxation and estate planning issues that affect personal trusts. It covers basic fiduciary income tax and the role of transfer taxes in basic estate planning.

Audience: Trust department and other bank staff who are new to the trust business and want to develop a basic working knowledge of trust administration. No prior knowledge of the subject is required.

Learning Objectives: After completing this course, students will be able

• Define basic terms
• Explain how trusts are taxed
• Calculate distributable net income
• Minimize transfer taxes
• Calculate gift, estate, and generation-skipping transfer taxes
• Describe why estate planning is important
• Identify considerations when developing an estate plan