The Atlanta Lawyer December 2018 / January 2019 | Page 31

SECTION UPDATE
ESTATE PLANNING & PROBATE
The Estate Planning & Probate Section has been
having a wonderful year so far!
PRO BONO AND COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES
The Section Board’s Pro Bono/Community Ac-
tivities Committee is made up of members Jackie
Saylor, Tim Curtin, Hamida Jackson-Little, and
Julia Hightower. We welcome other members of
our section to recommend ideas for Section in-
volvement in Pro Bono/Community Activities to
the Committee. Contact Jackie Saylor at jsaylor@
saylorlaw.com or [phone] with any ideas.
The Estate Planning & Probate Section continues
to volunteer at the Fulton County and DeKalb
County Probate Information Centers (PICs). In ad-
dition, the Section’s members have been involved
in volunteer initiatives for organizations such as
Three-Oh-We-Go and North Fulton Community
Charities (NFCC). For example, volunteers deliv-
ered large items such as bikes on behalf of NFCC
and delivered coats and blankets in downtown
Atlanta when the temperature dropped below 30°
through Three-Oh-We-Go. Section members will
continue to volunteer with these organizations in
the future, as well as with Crossroads Community
Ministries and other organizations.
FEBRUARY CLE EVENING EVENT & BREAKFAST
PROGRAM
On February 26 from 4 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., the Sec-
tion will be hosting a joint event with the Financial
Planning Association and the Elder Law Section.
This event, entitled “Outdated or Not: Are Our
Estate & Financial Planning Documents Still Rel-
evant or Do We Need to Revise?,” will be held at the
Buckhead Club. The event will be a panel discussion
with Richard Morgan of Morgan & DiSalvo, P.C.,
Brian Deutsch of McCurdy & Candler, LLC, Amy
Merrill of TrueWealth, LLC and Patricia Ammari
of The Ammari Firm, LLC. Kevin O’Sullivan of
Cohen Pollock Merlin & Turner, P.C. will moderate.
CLE credit will be available and hors d’oeuvres and
wine will be provided. Thanks to Linda Pacer for
organizing this event.
At the February 13 Section Breakfast, the speaker
will be Paula Frederick from the State Bar of Geor-
gia. She will speak on Ethics.
LATE FALL/EARLY WINTER MEETINGS
The Estate Planning & Probate Section has con-
tinued to have monthly breakfast meetings. In
October, Christy Eckoff of the Community Foun-
dation for Greater Atlanta spoke on tax issues for
non-profits under the new tax law. In November,
Lila Bradley of Claiborne Fox Bradley LLC spoke
regarding the topic of “The Intersection of Estate
Planning, Adoption, and Assisted Reproduction.”
Our December breakfast speakers were Charlie Jor-
dan and Christopher “Bud” Boland of Brightworth.
They spoke on “Estate Attorneys’ Guide to Year-End
Planning.” In January, our breakfast speaker was
Randy Kessler of Kessler & Solomiany, who spoke
on “Best Practices for Running a Small Law Firm.”
Tim Curtin, our Vice Chair, has been responsible
for getting our speakers.
We honor our speakers by making a generous dona-
tion to the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation
(AVLF) of Fulton County. The Section was also a
sponsor of the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyer Founda-
tion’s wine tasting event this fall.
ESTATE PLANNING FORUM
The Section held our 15th Annual Estate Planning
Forum on November 29 at Nelson Mullins’ offices
in Atlantic Station, co-sponsored by the Tax Sec-
tion and Diversified Trust. The Forum’s speakers
were David DeJong and Farhad Aghdami, who
spoke, respectively, on “How Tax Law Affects Estate
Planning, Especially Estates Under $22 Million”
and “Succession Planning.” The night ended with
a sumptuous buffet.
The Official News Publication of the Atlanta Bar Association THE ATLANTA LAWYER
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