For Professionals

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NAEPC Journal of Estate & Tax Planning

Issue 47 - October, 2025

Regular Columns and Reports​

  • Editor-in-Chief Note

Features​

  • The Future Practice of Estate Planning: Gamification of Data Gathering
  • Three Estate Planning Pictures Worth Thousands of Words
  • IRS Continues to Attack Trust Modifications: Revisiting CCA 202352018 Following McDougall v. Commissioner
  • Why Older Attorneys Without Adequate Retirement Savings Use Cash Balance Plans to Create Exit Strategies Without Selling Their Business
  • Managing Aging Clients Real Life and Practice Management
  • Options to Prevent a Connelly Outcome
  • Understanding Probate Bonds in Estate Administration
  • From QTIP to Gift Tax: Understanding Anenberg and McDougall’s Impact on Estate Planning
  • Overfunded 529 Plans – Solutions During Life & Treatment at Death
  • Planting Seeds for Evergreen Charitable Planning
  • Non-Grantor Trusts for State Resident-Beneficiaries to Avoid Income Tax
  • Medicare Facts: Challenging Myths and Preventing Common Mistakes
  • The Essential Role of Qualified Personal Property Appraisers in Estate and Donation Valuations
  • Understanding Probate Bonds in Estate Administration
  • How Mere Hours Can Cost Millions: Survivorship Presumptions and Estates
  • Rethinking and Repurposing Life Insurance: Enhancing Estate Planning with Retained Death Benefit Strategies
  • What Really Drives Life Insurance Sales?
  • Designing a Private Decanting Power

News Nook: A Compendium of Current Affairs

  • NAEPC Monthly Technical Newsletter

Read the complete issue.

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Member Benefits

Members of NAEPC and affiliated local councils can take advantage of discounts on benefits, programs and services through our member benefit providers.  Visit the "Member Benefits" page of this website to learn more.

62nd Annual NAEPC 
Advanced Estate Planning Strategies Conference
with Post-Conference Sessions for Council Leaders (EPC board members welcome)

October 19 - 23, 2025 - Washington, DC

The conference features nationally-recognized speakers on advanced topics of interest to allied professionals and provides opportunities for attendees to cultivate multi-disciplinary relationships while collaborating on cutting edge ideas and trends. The conference educational sessions are for every member of every estate planning council and all estate planning professionals.  

Learn more about the Annual NAEPC Advanced Estate Planning Strategies Conference

Accredited Estate Planner® Designation 

How can you gain a "leg-up" on your competition in your estate planning practice? Obtain the Accredited Estate Planner® (AEP®) designation. Professional estate planners can achieve a nationally-recognized, graduate level accreditation that acknowledges their experience and specialization in estate planning. Awarded by the National Association of Estate Planners & Councils to estate planning professionals who meet strict requirements of education, experience, knowledge, professional reputation, and character, the AEP® designation helps both clients and colleagues understand your belief in, and dedication to, the team concept of estate planning.  

The designation is available to credentialed professionals actively licensed or certified as an accountant; attorney; insurance and financial planner; philanthropic advisor; or trust officer – holding one or more of the following credentials CAP®, CFA, CFP®,ChFC®, CLU®, CPA, CPWA®, CSPG, CTFA, JD, MSFS, and MST– who are devoting at least a third of one’s professional time to estate planning. Eligible applicants must meet stringent qualifications at the time of application and commit to ongoing continuing education and recertification requirements.

Join the growing group of professionals who recognize the value of holding the premier estate planning professional designation.  Become an Accredited Estate Planner® designee. > Learn More

Estate Planning Law Specialist Certification 

The Estate Planning Law Specialist (EPLS) certification is available to attorneys and is administered by the Estate Law Specialist Board, Inc., an attorney-run subsidiary of the National Association of Estate Planners & Councils. Attorneys who become board-certified under this program demonstrate a high level of professionalism and commitment to the concept of specialization. This program is currently the only program, other than certain state bar association programs which are only for residents of their particular states, accredited by the American Bar Association to Board-certify attorneys as Estate Planning Law Specialists. Many states permit lawyers to hold themselves out as specialists if their certification is awarded by an ABA-accredited program. Each lawyer, however, must consult the rules in his or her own state to determine how such a certification can be presented to the public. > Learn more