eCourses

A review of recent cases affecting the practice of estate planning, guardianship, and elder law in Texas and around the country.

Includes: Video Audio Paper Slides

Session 01: Alternatives to Guardianship including Supports and Services - A discussion of practical considerations in determining whether lesser restrictive alternatives and supports and services are available and feasible in guardianship proceedings. Session 02: The Rules of Evidence in Guardianship Proceedings - This presentation is designed to be a practical guide to the Texas Rules of Evidence that are most applicable in Guardianship Proceedings. Session 03: Settlements of Guardianship Disputes - Discussion of practical and technical considerations when settling guardianship disputes and related litigation, including necessary parties, potential settlement structure to avoid a guardianship, authority and limitations on a proposed guardian, and options to bind the proposed ward and proposed ward’s estate. The discussion also includes ways to enforce guardianship settlement agreements.   Session 04: Fee Petitions in Guardianship Cases - This presentation explores the results of a statewide survey from courts handling probate and guardianship cases. The survey aims to collect information on fee standards, fee petition preferences, local rules, and other relevant questions regarding fee assessments and payments. Session 05: Medicaid Planning in Guardianships - A discussion of how government benefits planning for single and married individuals can be accomplished in the context of Guardianships and Community Administrations. Session 06: ​Mental Commitments vs. Guardianships - Discuss finding the correct path to protection. PLEASE NOTE: To claim Texas Guardianship Ad Litem credit for the presentations that include guardianship hours, download the guardianship accreditation documentation (found here) as you claim your general MCLE credit at the end of this course and submit the affidavit to the State Bar of Texas.

Includes: Video Audio Paper Slides

Session 01: Estate Planning Best Practices - Practical advice on how to avoid contests and other litigation related to estate planning drafting. Session 02: When All Else Fails...Avoiding the Dreaded Certified Mail Return Receipt Requested! What Exactly Does a Qualified Delivery Method Mean for Probate and Guardianship? - Certified mail has become increasingly unreliable. Discuss recent changes to the Estates Code regarding alternative service options in probate and guardianship cases. Session 03: Execution of Documents - It is said that more documents fail due to improper execution rather than improper drafting. Proper effective execution rules are not difficult, but they can be draconian. Mistakes can be fatal (to the document), especially when one person is signing in a capacity for another. Session 04: Characterization of Marital Property - Learn about the various estates in a Texas marriage (i.e. separate estate and community estate), tracing and characterization of assets, and calculation of reimbursement claims. Hear about the intersection of probate and characterization and discuss the impact of various estate planning transactions and mechanisms on the characterization of assets. Session 05: Proper Preparation of Form 706 - Practical advice for preparing and filing the United States Estate (and Generation-Skipping Transfer) Tax Return, including considerations and tips when filing for portability purposes.

Includes: Video Audio Paper Slides

An overview of the leading issues related to asset protection and anonymity in business entity structures. Focus on the primary areas of concern when choosing the type of entity, jurisdiction for formation and ownership structure when the goals are asset protection and anonymity and the impact of the Corporate Transparency Act on these choices.

Includes: Video Audio Paper Slides

Session 01: Medicaid Update and Other Hot Topics - This presentation identifies and explains recent changes in Medicaid law and policy. Discuss Medicaid advocacy strategies that are “hot,” either because they are new or because they are underutilized but work really well. Session 02: Medicaid Planning or Medicaid Avoidance? - Sometimes we can help a relatively wealthy person qualify for Medicaid long-term care. This presentation explores how to help the client determine whether or not they are able to pay privately; and if so, whether they would be better served by doing so or by qualifying for Medicaid. Session 03: MERP Defense - This presentation provides updates on changes in defending against MERP claims and discussion of continuing sticky situations and traps. Discuss where HMS and we disagree and the problems of timelines, statutes of limitations, and the need for legislative change.

Includes: Video Audio Paper Slides

As advisors, if we knew when clients would pass away, who would survive them, the assets included in their taxable estates, and what the tax laws would be at the time of their deaths, we could all design perfect estate plans. Of course we are forced to do the best we can with what we have, including a scheduled 50% reduction to the transfer tax exemption amounts in 2026. This presentation focuses on estate planning and gifting strategies for clients who may or may not have a taxable estate, offering practical examples designed to empower advisors to enhance client relationships.

Includes: Video Audio Paper Slides

Session 01: A House Divided: The Rights and Duties of Homesteaders, Life Tenants, Remaindermen, and Co-Tenants - Discuss the often complex relationship between the surviving spouse who chooses to exercise her homestead right, or who inherits a life estate in separate property, and the remaindermen who are standing by to receive the property. Learn the various rights and obligations of those who exercise a homestead right, possess a life estate, or own a remainder interest in property.  Session 02: Partition of Real Property Under Texas Law: A Primer - An overview of the litigation process of a claim for partition of real estate, including issues which arise under the Uniform Partition of Heirs’ Property Act.

Includes: Video Audio Paper Slides

Using trust protectors to make changes to trusts, including advantages, disadvantages and potential liability.

Includes: Video Audio Paper Slides

Session 1: The Grievance Process and Most Common Violations - The presentation is intended to provide general information regarding the amendments made to the grievance process in 2018, the proper way to respond to a grievance identifying attorney misconduct, and common problems to avoid in practice. Session 2: So You Think You Know Your Evidence and Procedure? - An interactive and entertaining presentation testing your knowledge of the Texas Rules of Evidence and Procedure. Session 3: Research on Legal Writing - Get information about empirical research on legal writing techniques. Research supports plainer writing, reduced use of intensifiers, reduced use of “emotional” words, and use of narrative. Research also supports “connectives” (transitions), priming, and the value of resources, i.e. money. Session 4: Dealing With the Problem of Opposing Counsel - How to avoid intimidation and manage the disruptive, disreputable, and overly zealous opposing counsel in an ethical, civil, and professional manner.

Includes: Video Audio Paper Slides

Need ethics credit? We’ve got you covered! UT Law CLE’s First Friday Ethics streams live every first Friday of the month, and features some of our best ethics speakers and presentations for a total of 3.00 hrs ethics credit. Fulfill your entire annual ethics requirement in Texas in one day!   This month includes: (0.75 hr | 0.75 hr ethics) Techniques for Negotiating With Difficult Counterparties (Replay) Hear advice on how to negotiate contracts with difficult counterparties, and explore the importance of our own mindset and how to manage our emotions in these situations. Walk through five types of outrageous negotiation positions and effective responses to defuse and reset the tone of the discussions. Laura Frederick, How to Contract - Austin, TX (0.75 hr | 0.75 hr ethics) The Grievance Process and Most Common Violations (Replay) The presentation is intended to provide general information regarding the amendments made to the grievance process in 2018, the proper way to respond to a grievance identifying attorney misconduct, and common problems to avoid in practice. Nicole E. Jackson, Rosenblatt Law Firm - San Antonio, TX (0.50 hr | 0.50 hr ethics) Practical Uses of AI in M&A: Large Language Models to Create New Realities (Replay) What if you could review thousands of contracts, determine the potential risk of anti-assignment clauses, and have a first draft of a memo in under 15 minutes? Over the past year, the legal profession has seen incredible advances in the use of artificial intelligence that are making these possibilities a reality. Large Language Models, such as those fueling ChatGPT, have introduced incredible transformational potential for M&A work. Learn more about what is possible, including ethical considerations, in this new reality. Kenton S. Brice, University of Oklahoma College of Law - Norman, OK (1.00 hr | 1.00 hr ethics) Work Product and Attorney-Client Privilege after In Re Grand Jury: Where Do We Go From Here? (Replay) The law regarding when privileges and protections apply to tax advice was anything but clear leading up to the Supreme Court oral argument in In re: Grand Jury; the Court’s decision to dismiss the case as “improvidently granted” dashed the hopes of tax professionals hoping for a nationwide standard! Hear a review of the current state of the law post-In re: Grand Jury with an emphasis on the Fifth Circuit and how the law there differs from others around the country. Melissa L. Wiley, Lowenstein Sandler LLP - Washington, DC

Includes: Video Audio Paper Slides

Session 01: Medicaid Update - Latest developments affecting planning and applications for Medicaid to pay for nursing home care and home care. Session 02: What All Estate and Probate Attorneys Need to Know About Medicaid Planning and Drafting - Issue-spotting and discussion highlighting elder law issues for which every estate planner and probate attorney should be on the lookout. Session 03: The View from 30, 000 feet – Medicaid Myths All Attorney's Should Know - Join Stephanie as she explains Medicaid and Medicare mythbusting and challenges common misconceptions about: MERP, Medicaid, and Medicare, as well as protecting the home and other assets with Transfer on Death Planning and Couples Planning for Medicaid. Session 04: When Your Client May Have Diminished Capacity - In estate planning and elder law, attorneys often have clients that may be in some stage of diminished capacity. This creates ethical and legal issues for the attorney that can’t be ignored. Explore those issues and ways the attorney can navigate these turbulent waters. Session 05: Real Estate Issues in Elder Law - Review issues to better protect your clients, including homestead and agricultural exemptions; recent changes; to inspect or not, what could possibly go wrong; easements; and transactions with an affidavit of heirship within four years of date of death.  Session 06: Role of the Guardian - Examine the duties and responsibilities of a guardian under Texas law and guardianship administration, from initiation to closing, including the code requirements of selling and leasing property, ethical issues, and more. Session 07: Alternatives to Guardianship Including Supports and Services - An examination and discussion from the perspectives of the bench and in practice on lesser restrictive alternatives and available supports and services in guardianship. Which work? Which do not? And, how, in every case, the answer is, "It depends." Session 08: Medicaid Matters and Probate Proceedings - Join Stephanie as she explores how to protect homes from the Medicaid Estate Recovery Program [MERP] through probate proceedings, in addition to understanding the basics of protecting homes from the reach of MERP in the first place. Independent administrations may not always be the best choice, particularly in cases where no statutory waivers apply.

Includes: Video Audio Paper Slides

THIS MONTH: Contracting with Third-Party Vendors: Top Risk and Privacy Law Considerations • IRAs In Estate Planning, or Trust Me, I'm an EDB for RMDs After the RBD • Beating the Expert • Running Your Law Firm as a Business • The Unruly Client

Includes: Video Audio Paper Slides

Need ethics credit? We’ve got you covered! UT Law CLE’s First Friday Ethics streams live every first Friday of the month, and features some of our best ethics speakers and presentations for a total of 3.00 hrs ethics credit. Fulfill your entire annual ethics requirement in Texas in one day! This month includes: (0.75 hr | 0.75 hr ethics) The Grievance Process and Most Common Violations The presentation is intended to provide general information regarding the amendments made to the grievance process in 2018, the proper way to respond to a grievance identifying attorney misconduct, and common problems to avoid in practice. Nicole E. Jackson, Rosenblatt Law Firm - San Antonio, TX   (0.75 hr | 0.75 hr ethics) A Lawyer's Duty in a Democracy Under Attack (Replay) An examination of lawyers' duty to support the Constitution and democratic principles when they are being challenged.  Michael Curry, Attorney-Mediator - Austin, TX (1.00 hr | 1.00 hr ethics) Sign Right Here (Replay) A survey of provisions for your attorney client agreements from “must haves” to “optional” clauses. Claude E. Ducloux, Attorney at Law - Austin, TX (0.50 hr | 0.50 hr ethics) The "Difficult" Clients (Replay) Explore how to define, spot, course correct and terminate “difficult” clients and client relationships. John B. Henry III, Law Office of John B. Henry, III, PLLC - Bellaire, TX

Includes: Video Paper Slides

The presentation is intended to provide general information regarding the amendments made to the grievance process in 2018, the proper way to respond to a grievance identifying attorney misconduct, and common problems to avoid in practice.

Includes: Video Paper Slides

THIS MONTH: Legislative Update: New Texas Business Courts • EPA’s Latest Grid-Impacting Regulations • Mediation Strategies, Solutions and Lessons Learned • Accessing and Managing Digital Assets After Death • Deal Ethics

Includes: Video Audio Paper Slides

Explore how to define, spot, course correct and terminate “difficult” clients and client relationships.

Includes: Video Audio Paper Slides

Texas adopted its trust decanting statute in 2013. Ten years (and several amendments) later, practitioners are still grappling with when and how to decant a trust. Hear an overview of trust decanting in Texas, with a specific focus on decanting in response to unanticipated elder law and special needs issues.

Includes: Video Audio Paper

Gain insight on basic information about digital assets to estate planners and attorneys representing executors or administrators of estates, while also providing practical advice for how to access and manage those assets before and after death.

Includes: Video Audio Paper Slides

A review of an executor’s powers and fiduciary duties relating to the administration of real estate in probate proceedings, including the interplay between a beneficiary’s vested ownership interest and an executor’s right of possession, whether a power of sale is really all that powerful, and dealing with a surviving spouse’s homestead rights.

Includes: Video Audio Paper Slides

We’ve seen a lot of changes in how IRA’s and retirement plans are taxed after the participant’s death, especially when left in trust. Here’s what you need to know when planning an estate with significant tax-deferred assets.

Includes: Video Audio Paper Slides