The Atlanta Lawyer January/February 2013 | Page 27

section update Estate Planning & Probate Section Update By Loraine M. DiSalvo Morgan & DiSalvo, P.C. [email protected] A s 2012 drew to a close, many members of our Section were scrambling frantically to help clients who wanted to make large gifts and try to lock in the historically-high 2012 gift and generation-skipping transfer tax exemptions before those exemptions disappeared as 2013 arrived. We then watched, along with the rest of the nation, as the nation started over the “fiscal cliff,” only to be pulled back by the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012. Among its many provisions, that Act gave Section members and our clients the gift of some “permanent” estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer tax laws – the first time in nearly twelve years that such laws have not been scheduled to expire. 2013 shows signs of being an interesting year for estate planning practitioners as we adjust to the new rules and figure out what they mean for our clients and our practices. and probate areas, we have also planned some other events. We held a joint social with the Family Law Section on January 24, 2013, at the Gordon Biersch Brewery in Buckhead. We will also have a social with the Financial Planning Association’s local members on March 21, 2013, at Aja Restaurant in Buckhead. Please watch the Bar’s calendar for further updates or to register. ■ The Section also has a number of events scheduled for 2013. We held our first breakfast meeting of the year on January 9, 2013. Denis M. Brown of Abraxas Business Services spoke on the importance of business succession planning and the numerous issues which should be considered and addressed by any business owner. Our next Section breakfast, to be held on February 13, 2013, will feature Dave Polstra and Lisa Brown of Brightworth Private Wealth Counsel, who will talk to us about estate planning for corporate executives and their many different types of benefit and compensation programs. We will continue to have our monthly breakfast meetings on the second Wednesday of each month for the rest of the year. We are also currently working to schedule a luncheon for April, which will feature Professor Mary F. Radford of the Georgia State University College of Law. The Section’s breakfast and luncheon events generally have available CLE credits, and present an easy and affordable way for Section members to comply with their annual CLE requirements. To ensure that Section members are not perceived as “all work and no play,” and to provide opportunities for Section members to network with others outside the estate planning The Official News Publication of the Atlanta Bar Association January/February 2013 THE ATLANTA LAWYER 27