Estate Planning Foundations: Probate and Federal Transfer Taxes (2026 Edition)

This program is designed for practitioners entering the estate planning field and those who practice in other areas but want an introduction to it. Over two hours, attendees will receive a high-level discussion of the California probate process for testate and intestate estates, followed by an overview of the federal Estate and Gift Tax systems and key planning considerations. The program begins with pre-death transfer planning, including trusts, wills, and other planning methods, before covering probate alternatives, the administration of testate and intestate estates, unique procedures such as the sale of real property and distributions during administration, and common traps for the wary and unwary. The second portion of the program provides an executive summary of the federal Estate and Gift Tax systems, including transfer tax basics, estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer taxes, planning considerations during life and after death, and the fundamentals of preparing the federal estate tax return. Attendees will leave with a practical foundation for recognizing key probate and transfer tax issues and understanding how these systems operate.