SCBA Free CLE
1.0 Law Credit
Trusts & Estates and Estate Taxes – an Overview
When: Monday, 05/07/2018 - 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Location: Max Dale’s Chop House, 2030 Riverside Dr., Mount Vernon
Presenters: Kate Szurek, J.D., LL.M. and Kim Ray, CPA, MS Tax, CGMA
With the new federal tax legislation comes changes in practices, both legal and accounting. Kate and Kim will discuss:
1. An overview of basic trusts – what are the most common; why use them; when to use; how they work; are they necessary? Living trusts versus testamentary trusts.
2. Pitfalls – trusts not funded /underfunded; undistributed income and compressed income tax rates; funding difficulties (what assets to use to fund trusts post-death?); failure of purpose.
3. Esoteric trusts (alphabet soup!) – what are QPRTs, QSSTs, IDGTs, ILITs, CRATs, CRUTs, CLATs, CLUTs, and do we need them? Who are the Waltons and the Crummeys?
4. Current estate tax situation – certainty, brouhaha, or relief at the federal level?; opportunities at the state level.
They will take questions at the end.
Materials will be distributed electronically to registered attendees prior to CLE - please print and bring them if you wish to have them for the CLE.
PLEASE REGISTER TO ATTEND
This CLE is free, and is held jointly with Whatcom /Skagit CPAs.
SCBA members will receive 1.0 WSBA Law Credit.
Non-members are welcome to attend but will not receive credit.
No host bar. Light appetizers provided.
Kate Szurek, J.D., LL.M.
Skagit Law Group, PLLC
PO Box 336 / 227 Freeway Dr, Ste B, Mount Vernon WA 98273
Phone: 360-336-1000 Email: kate@skagitlaw.com
Kate is a principal with the Skagit Law Group, PLLC. Her law practice focuses on estate planning and estate settlement, as well as tax law. Kate earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Washington. She is a Thomas More scholar and cum laude graduate of Gonzaga University School of Law, and obtained her master of laws in taxation from the University of Washington, which she attended on a fellowship. Kate served as a teaching assistant while attending law school, was president of the prestigious William O. Douglas Committee and of the Martin Luther King Committee, was chosen Outstanding Woman Law School Graduate of Gonzaga University School of Law by the National Association of Women Lawyers, and continues to be a member of the Phi Delta Phi legal fraternity. She makes frequent presentations regarding estate planning and tax law.
Kate has an extensive volunteer service record, having worked with victims of domestic violence and having served on a number of boards, including having been elected to the school boards of three different school districts and the Washington State School Directors Board of Directors, and having served on the Board of Trustees for the Skagit Hospice Foundation (now Hospice of the Northwest Foundation). She is currently serving as president of the La Conner School Board. She is also on the advisory committees of a number of local non-profits, including the Skagit Land Trust and Hospice of the Northwest Foundation.
A Washington native, Kate was born in Seattle, raised in Yakima, and has lived and worked in the legal field in a number of Washington counties, including in Stevens County in northeastern Washington, where she raised her daughter before moving back to the Skagit Valley in 2000. She currently lives just off Skagit Bay, outside of La Conner, up the street from her first home in Skagit County which she purchased in January 1981. Her daughter April and husband Tracy recently purchased acreage further up the street from Kate, and will build their home there after Tracy retires from his career as a special ops medic in the United States Air Force and joins his wife and young children in the Skagit Valley in June 2018. The family is very active outdoors, hiking, rock climbing, snow skiing, kayaking, sailing, and gardening.
Kim Ray, CPA, MS Tax, CGMA
Williams & Nulle, PLLC, CPAs
407 Pine St, Mount Vernon WA 98273
Phone: 360.336.6611 Email: kmr@wncpa.com
Kim specializes in Tax Preparation, Estate & Tax Planning, and Business Taxes & Accounting. It is her belief that by forming long-term relationships with clients she can help integrate tax planning with their charitable, business, and family goals. Kim feels privileged to be a trusted advisor of over 25 years to many of her clients.
Kim joined Williams & Nulle in 1986. She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Washington Society of Certified Public Accountants. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Washington, Michael G. Foster School of Business, in 1978. She received both a Master of Science in Taxation and an Advanced Certificate in Estate Planning from Golden Gate University in 1995.
Kim’s passions include bicycling and travel, especially to places where she can improve her Spanish. Her other car is a bicycle and she endeavors to use it as much as possible, rain or shine.
Hope to see you there!
SCBA CLE Committee
