The irrevocable life insurance trust (ILIT) is one of the most widely used estate planning tools. Those who work in the estate planning field-or any professional who wants to extend his or her practice into this arena-should become knowledgeable about ILITs, and how and why they are used. The purpose of this course is to provide a general understanding of trusts and how they work, with a specific focus on irrevocable life insurance trusts. Along with an exploration of ILITs, the course explains collateral issues that might arise in their creation and operation including a number of important tax-related issues.

• demonstrate an understanding of the basic nature of trusts and the various ways in which they can be described
• identify the parties to a trust, as well as their roles and responsibilities
• outline how to fund an ILIT with a new life insurance policy and describe the kind of life insurance policy that should be used as a funding vehicle
  
• demonstrate an understanding of the basic estate planning benefits that can be derived from utilizing an ILIT
• compare the potential advantages and disadvantages of utilizing an ILIT for estate-planning purposes
• recall how the grantor trust rules, the kiddie tax, the generation-skipping transfer tax, and the rule against perpetuities, among others, may affect an ILIT