In case you’ve been wondering what your Estate Planning, Probate and Trust Section has done for you lately, and what the section has planned for the rest of the year, please keep reading! As you may know, the Estate Planning, Probate and Trust Section helps members of the Oklahoma Bar Association with continuing legal education, develops legislative proposals for the bar, and involves section members in the activities of the section. Here are some of the section’s activities for 2004:

1. 2004 Mid-Year Meeting and Selected Issues in Estate Planning and Probate Seminar (Five Oaks Lodge, Jenks).

On June 18, more than 80 members of the bar attended the CLE seminar co-sponsored by the section and the bar entitled “Selected Issues in Estate Planning and Probate.”

The seminar boasted an interesting array of topics. David Carpenter gave guidance on asset protection with an emphasis on the use of LLCs; Michael Nemec educated us on the proposed Uniform Trust Code; LeAnn Drummond advised us of the effect of HIPAA on estate planning; Richard Craig gave us an update, with miscellaneous thoughts, on valuation discounts; James C. Bass discussed summary and ancillary probate procedures in Oklahoma; and Hal Ellis advised us on ethical issues associated with estate planning and probate. Afterwards, the section held a social hour for the seminar attendees.

2. October 2004 Advanced Estate Planning Seminar Featuring Professor Jeffrey Pennell (Emory School of Law)

On Oct. 15, the section co-sponsors its advanced estate planning seminar with the Oklahoma Bar Association and the Oklahoma State University Foundation. Professor Pennell was one of the section’s featured speakers at the section’s 2000 Advanced Estate Planning Seminar, and has been invited back to be the featured speaker at the Section’s 2004 Advanced Estate Planning Seminar.

Professor Pennell is the Richard H. Clark Professor of Law at Emory University School of Law in Atlanta, Ga. Professor Pennell has written articles and institute chapters, a casebook, Income Taxation of Trust, Estates, Grantors and Beneficiaries (West 1987), Wealth Transfer Tax (West 1997, with Kahn and Waggoner), a “Trusts and Estates” monograph (Aspen 2000), Tax Management Portfolio on the Marital Deduction (BNA 1996) and he was editor-in-chief of the American Bar Association’s Real Property, Probate & Trust Journal (1987-1989). Currently, Professor Pennell is the successor author of Casner on Estate Planning (Aspen), produces the annual supplements, and is working on the sixth edition.

This promises to be another outstanding advanced estate planning seminar. The topics include: (i) Recent Developments in Estate Planning; (ii) The Marital Deduction: What the Estate Planner Needs to Know; and (iii) An Eye to the Practical: Ethics and Estate Planning.

3. 2004 Annual Meeting, Continuing Legal Education and Activities.

The section holds its annual meeting beginning at 4 p.m. on Nov. 11 in conjunction with the Annual Meeting of the Oklahoma Bar Association. After the business meeting, the section will present a 60 – 90 minute seminar. The topics will include: (i) Oklahoma’s New Family Wealth Preservation Trust Act; and (ii) Recent Developments in Estate Planning, Probate and Trust Law.

4. OBA Informational Brochures

The OBA Communications Committee distributes 14 informational brochures to help citizens understand some of the fundamentals about the law in Oklahoma. The sction reviewed the “Do You Need a Will?” and “Is Probate Needed” informational brochures, and assisted the OBA Communications Committee with the cost of reprinting these brochures.

5. Legislative Proposals — Uniform Trust Code.

During 2003, the Legislation Committee of the section considered and revised the Uniform Trust Code with the goal of conforming it to the established laws of trusts in Oklahoma. The committee’s revised version of the code was adopted by the section. Then, on Nov. 14, 2003, the Oklahoma Bar Association House of Delegates adopted a resolution to include the section’s revised version of the code in the bar’s legislative package for the second session of the 49th Legislature. However, the code was introduced, instead, by the Oklahoma Bankers Association in HB2426. HB2426 passed the House of Representatives, but was stricken from the agenda of the Senate Judiciary Committee by its chairman, Sen. Jerry L. Smith. Because the Senate Judiciary Committee could not hear the bill, the bill could not be sent to the full Senate for consideration. Sen. Smith, in effect, “killed” the bill for the 49th Legislature. It is possible the code will be reintroduced in a subsequent legislative session.

I would like to thank my fellow officers who have worked to provide excellent continuing legal education and activities for the members of the Estate Planning, Probate and Trust Section. The section officers for 2004 are:

Matt D. Matheson, Chair
525 S. Main St., Suite 800
Tulsa, OK 74103
(918) 599-7755
(918) 599-7756 Fax
mmatheson@barberbartz.com

Amanda Mclnnis-Nixon, Chair-Elect
13201 Blair Drive
Piedmont, OK 73078
(405) 522-1563
amanda.nixon@oscn.net

Amy J. Sine, Immediate Past Chair
201 Robert S. Kerr Ave., Suite 1600
Oklahoma City, OK 73102
(405) 235-7000
(405) 235-7329 Fax
asine@hartzoglaw.com

Susan B. Shields, Secretary/Treasurer
201 Robert S. Kerr Ave.
Suite 1600
Oklahoma City, OK 73102
(405) 235-7000
(405) 235-7329 Fax
sshields@hartzoglaw.com

LeAnn P. Drummond, 2004 Mid-Year Meeting Coordinator
711 S. Husband St., P.O. Box 1507
Stillwater, OK 74076
(405) 743-3770
(405) 743-3773 Fax
lpdrum@swbell.net

I also appreciate L. Michele Nelson, Judge David Winslow, Michael Nemec and the other members of the Legislative Committee, for all of their hard work in developing legislative proposals, including the Uniform Trust Code.

The Estate Planning, Probate and Trust Section is here to serve you. If you have ideas for continuing education or projects for the section, do not hesitate to contact any officer.

Matt D. Matheson
Chairperson