Description
The prevalence and complexity of addiction and mental health conditions present unique and often difficult challenges for estate planners. Effective planning in these cases requires a thoughtful, individualized approach that is holistic and adaptable. While early collaboration with treatment and healthcare professionals is ideal, it's not always feasible. Planners must be equipped to meet clients and beneficiaries wherever they are in the cycle of illness, recovery, or relapse.
Register today for this one-of-a-kind program to explore foundational issues and develop practical tools to design and implement responsive, ethical, and purpose-driven estate plans for individuals affected by addiction and mental health disorders.
Gain practical insight into how to support clients and beneficiaries navigating recovery or struggling with ongoing substance use or mental illness. Topics include:
> Looking at Addiction and Mental Health Diseases Through a Clinical Lens (15 minutes)
- Evolving definitions and diagnostic criteria for addiction and mental health disorders
- Managing the emotional toll on clients, beneficiaries, their families, and counsel
- Understanding the role of a care team—and how to meaningfully incorporate one into the estate planning process
> The Brass Tacks of Estate and Trust Planning: Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders (45 Minutes)
- Assessing where beneficiaries are in their disease progression and how that affects planning choices
- Addressing current support needs while preserving long-term financial security
- The limitations of HEMS and Special Needs Trusts in the context of behavioral health
- Drafting trust purposes that reflect individual client needs, including beyond recovery or relapse
- Designing distribution standards tied to sobriety milestones, clinical input, or treatment engagement
- Selecting trustees and support systems: using outside professionals, forming trust committees, indemnification strategies, and more
> Providing Sage Counsel Without Compromising Your Ethics or Your Well-Being (30 minutes)
- Outlining competency considerations to the case file for lawyer self-protection if the estate plan is later questioned or challenged. (Model Rules 1.6)
- Navigating objections to treatment, and the ethics of withholding or delaying distributions (Model Rules 1.4, 1.6, and 1.15)
- Managing testing, privacy, and HIPAA-related considerations
- Confidentiality concerns when collaborating with care teams, administrators, and institutions (Model Rules 1.4, 1.6, and 1.15)
- Counseling clients and families through emotionally charged situations—and how lawyer self-care ties into ethical competence (Model Rule 1.1)
By the end of this course, you’ll be better equipped to navigate both the technical complexities and emotional demands of designing effective estate plans for individuals struggling with addiction or mental illness.
Experienced estate planners, trust administrators, tax or financial advisors, family lawyers, and other related professionals will benefit from this ALI CLE webcast.