California Estate Planning Task Requirement For Certification

An applicant must demonstrate that, within the five (5) years immediately preceding the initial application, he or she has been substantially involved in the practice of estate planning, trust and probate law. A prima facie showing of substantial involvement in the area of estate planning, trust and probate law includes the performance of the following number of tasks in any two (2) of the five (5) categories set forth below (task may be counted in only one category):

Thirty (30) tax planning matters, tax procedures, or tax returns, for at least twenty (20) separate clients. These may include, but not be limited to: tax opinions, memoranda, advice letters; tax-sensitive wills, trusts, or other dispositive instruments; audits or other adminis trative tax examinations, ruling requests; and estate, gift, fiduciary, or personal income tax returns;

Fifty (50) estate and incapacity plans, at least twenty (20) of which must include tax issues. Portions of a plan may comprise the following: wills, trusts, custodianship, documents of title, beneficiary clauses, property agreements, powers of attorney, advanced health care directives, gifts, powers of appointment, disclaimers, public benefit plans. A single document may not be sufficient to comprise an entire plan. Multiple documents for a client, or for a husband and wife together, comprise a single plan;

Forty (40) administration procedures, for at least twenty (20) separate clients, for estates, trusts (court or non-court), powers of attorney, advanced health care directives, custodianship, conservatorship, guardianships, spousal management procedures, or other procedures under the Probate Code or predecessor provisions;

Completed transfers, by administration or otherwise, of a decedent's assets upon deaths of forty (40) persons, including tax issues, tax returns or tax basis problems in at least ten (10) of the completed transfers. These may include, but not be limited to: trust terminations, terminations of joint tenancy, and summary probate procedures, including spousal property petitions; and

Twenty (20) litigated matters or contested hearings, relating to any of the above categories, for at least ten (10) separate clients. These may include, but not be limited to: will/trust contests, determinations of heirship, objections to accountings, fiduciary appointment/removal, creditors' claims, constructive trusts, family protection proceedings, asset ownership disputes, tax matters, elder abuse.