Jump to Footer

Curriculum

To obtain the degree, each student will be required to complete 15 credit hours in required courses and 9 hours in elective courses.  

 

Required Courses

Introduction to Law

Introduction to the Law is required for all entering MS in Elder Law and Estate Planning students, offered prior to the beginning of the first term, and graded on a pass-fall basis. This class introduces students to the study of law. It is designed to give students the knowledge and skills that will enable them to get the most out of their other courses. The goals of the course include introducing students to the purposes and pedagogy of law school, providing techniques and strategies for learning the law, and providing information on background concepts. Students will gain an understanding of the American legal system, explore the function of case law and how it relates to other sources of the law, and learn to actively engage in case analysis. (1 credit; on campus)

Lawyering Skills I

Lawyering Skills I is a required first-year course designated to introduce students to the essential problem-solving and communication skills of the legal profession.  The legal research and writing faculty work closely with students in smaller classroom settings to introduce techniques of legal analysis, the basic sources and processes of legal research, and the principles of legal writing and oral advocacy.  Through a series of assignments of increasing complexity; students learn how to analyze legal problems, research legal issues, frame legal arguments, and gain experience in drafting the major forms of predictive and persuasive legal writing.  Students will receive individualized feedback throughout the semester.  (2 credits; on campus)

Income Tax I

A study of the codified law as it relates to the federal taxation of the income of individuals.  This course emphasizes the concepts of gross income, taxable income, and deductions.  Special emphasis is given to the federal tax policy considerations inherent in resolving tax issues.  A survey of selected topics such as the tax consequences of divorce and administrative practice before the Internal Revenue Service and the Tax Court may be included in the course.  (3 credits; on campus)

Contracts

This course introduces students to the law governing legally enforceable agreements with a focus on the rights and duties of contracting parties.  In focusing on how promissory relationships are created by the parties, the course emphasizes how these relationships are interpreted, limited, discharged, breached, and enforced.  The course also addresses the ethical and equitable considerations affecting the contracting parties.  (4 credits; on campus)

Trusts and Estates

This course is a study of the inter-vivos and testamentary gratuitous transfer of property, including intestate succession, wills, and trusts.  Also discussed are the duties and liability of the fiduciary, the use of charitable donations, and the raising of constructive and resulting trusts.  (3 credits; on campus)

Elder Law

This course concentrates on the legal problems associated with the elderly and issues of aging.  Topics of discussion will include social, psychological, legal, and financial aspects of planning for the elderly.  Issues will include Medicare benefits, Medicaid benefits, nursing home institutionalization, social security, and estate planning.  (2 credits; online)

Elective Courses

Fiduciary Administration

This course is a survey of the fiduciary powers and duties of executors and trustees in the administration of estates and trusts. Topics will include qualifications of a fiduciary, potential liabilities, and conflicts of interests of a fiduciary. Special consideration will be given to an attorney's role in representing the estate, the trust, and/or the fiduciary.  (2 credits; online)

Federal Wealth Transfer Taxes

This course is a study of the basic principles of the federal transfer tax system, including estate tax, gift tax, and generation-skipping tax.  The topics included in this course are retained interests, powers of appointment, lifetime transfers, life insurance, marital deduction, definition of gift, transfers to revocable and irrevocable trusts, and gifts to minors.  (2 credits; online)

Income Taxation of Trusts & Estates

This course studies the income tax issues for estates, trusts, and beneficiaries. Topics that will be examined include grantor trust rules, simple trusts, complex trusts, distributable net income, distributions in-kind, assignment of income, and income in respect of a decedent.  (2 credits; online)

Wealth Planning with Life Insurance

This course will consider the various uses of life insurance in wealth planning, including funding buy/sell agreements, providing liquidity for the estate, and restoring capital used for taxes.  Areas of study will include the use of irrevocable life insurance trusts, as well as various life insurance products.  (2 credits; online)

Income Taxation for Estate Planners

This course will focus on income tax issues that are essential for estate planning.  The topics in this course will include the income tax treatment of bequests and inheritances; the income tax treatment of gifts; basis rules; income taxation of life insurance and annuities; tax rules for sale of a personal residence; taxation of exchanges; fundamentals of capital gains; tax deferred like-kind exchanges; concepts concerning the time value of money, imputed interest and the original issue discount rules; installment sales; income in respect of a decedent; assignment of income and the income taxation of deferred compensation.  (2 credits; online)

Tax Procedure

This course will focus on the preparation and planning of gift and estate tax returns; the administrative process involved in an audit, including settlement procedures and administrative remedies; interest and penalties; the tax collection process; ethical considerations relating to estate tax matters; and the most current issues and how they are addressed at the audit level.  (2 credits; online)

Business Succession Planning

This course will consider the issues that owners of closely held businesses face in the operation and disposition of their business interests. The course will consider the operational and transfer problems for unrelated business owners as well as the operational and transfer problems for family owned businesses.  Areas of study will include buy/sell agreements, life insurance, and alternative methods of succession. Note: This course was formerly called Business & Estate Planning/Closely-Held Business Entities.  (2 credits; online)

Life & Estate Planning for Retirement Plans

This course will examine and provide solutions to the problems presented in both lifetime planning and estate planning for traditional and Roth retirement plans such as IRAs, 401(k)s, and 403(b)s.  Areas of discussion will include spousal rights, designation of beneficiaries, rollover options, with a heavy emphasis on the Required Minimum Distribution Rules and naming trusts as death beneficiaries of retirement plans.  Course instruction is newly updated for the SECURE Act which became effective January 1, 2020.  Professor Worthington wrote the Issues Brief submitted to Congress by the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys which resulted in the Joint Committee on Taxation redrafting of the Act to preserve lifetime Required Minimum Distribution for Special Needs Trusts. 2 credits

Income Taxation of Pass-Through Entities

This course focuses on the income tax treatment of partnerships, limited liability companies, and Subchapter S corporations. Areas of study will include tax consequences from the operation of the entity, the tax consequences from retirement or death of an owner, from the redemption of an owner's interest, and from the liquidation or sale of the entity.  (2 credits; online)

Advanced Issues Elder Law II

This course will be an in-depth study of a selective number of advanced topics in Elder Law that have not been covered in the basic Elder Law course, including legal capacity issues, governmental benefits, and financial and estate planning. Prerequisite is Law 807 Elder Law.  (2 credits; online)

Special Needs Planning

Special needs trusts and supplemental needs trusts [both commonly known as SNTs] allow a disabled beneficiary to receive gifts, inheritances, lawsuit settlements, or other funds and yet not lose his or her eligibility for certain government programs such as Supplemental Security Income [SSI] and Medicaid. SNTs can be set up by parents or other persons for a disabled child or relative or by an individual who has become disabled as the result of an accident or medical malpractice and later receives the proceeds of a personal injury award or settlement. This course is designed to provide a practical guide to using different types of SNTs each with its own eligibility standards-planning for and administering the trusts, integrating them into larger estate plans, and drafting tips and common traps for the planner and clients.  (2 credits; online)

International Estate Planning

Clients with international interest are on the rise. This course examines the profile of a multinational client in need of estate and income tax planning. Foundational concepts, such as the reach of the U.S. transfer and income tax system outside U.S. borders are covered, as well as the situs rules for various types of assets and the concept of residency. The operation of both credits and deductions available in an international context are explored as well as a focus on charitable planning for charities overseas. Pre-immigration planning for the multinational coming to the U.S., as well as expatriation planning for the U.S. citizen or resident is explored, along with a focus on the recent exit tax and federal "inheritance" tax laws. Income tax planning for both of these populations will also be covered, as well as the recent foreign bank account income and reporting issues common to these populations. Foreign trusts, estates and beneficiaries will be discussed. The use of tax treaties throughout all of the topics will be discussed.  (2 credits; online)

Medicaid Planning

This course covers Community and Institutional Medicaid; Medicaid Waivers; Rules regarding Categorical, Medical, and Financial Eligibility; Relationship to Social Security Supplemental Security Income; Rules regarding Asset Transfers, Liens and Estate Recovery; Treatment of Spouses and other Special Individuals; and Rules regarding Trusts; Use of Trusts and Trust Drafting. If time permits we will examine the relationship with VA Aid & Attendance benefits and how VA benefits influence Medicaid trust drafting. There is a final paper, but a significant emphasis on class participation (especially student discussion of hypotheticals via non-real-time posts to Kodiak in between classes). Helpful but not required: Law 807 Elder Law; Law 804 Federal Income Taxation of Trusts & Estates; Law 803 Federal Wealth Transfer Taxes; Law 801 Wills and Trusts: Design, Drafting and Implementation.  (2 credits; online)

The Grantor Trust Rules

The Grantor Trust Rules govern when a transfer to trust is a completed transfer for income tax purposes; if the transfer is incomplete, the trust is a “Grantor Trust” and the trust income is taxed as though belonging to the grantor. From this simple concept flows powerful consequences. But while the concept is simple, the rules are not. This class walks through the Grantor Trust Rules more slowly and in much greater depth than possible in a one-semester class on Income Taxation of Trusts & Estates. In addition, students will learn the advantages and disadvantages of Grantor Trust Status as well as pitfalls and opportunities in drafting and trustee selection. We will compare & contrast the Grantor Trust Rules with the less complex rules for when a transfer is complete for gift & estate tax purposes, as well as Medicaid and SSI purposes, and thereby derive methods of drafting so that a transfer to trust is incomplete for some purposes while being complete for other purposes. Knowledge of the Grantor Trust Rules permits one to become truly a virtuoso draftsperson! Course grading is based on a combination of class participation, informal homework, and a take-home final examination.  Prerequisites:  LLME 804: Federal Income Tax of Estates & Trusts; LLME 803: Federal Wealth Transfer Taxes.  (2 credits; online)