Walter Lee Davis, Jr.,
Attorney, CPA, AEP, EPLS
Walter Lee Davis Jr. PC,
Johnson City, Tennessee

Greetings from your National Association. Some of you may wonder why my salutation greets four different groups. Let me tell you who they are. First are Council Leaders. Typically, these are the officers of local councils who are identified on each current Local Council "Splash Page" of our NAEPC website at www.naepc.org. These splash pages are our "Level 1" websites that we provide free of charge to every member council of NAEPC, although many have opted for the enhanced versions, Levels 2, 3, or 4. Council Leaders with Level 1 websites advise us of the names and addresses of various Council Leaders to whom we should address all correspondence. In some cases, we only have an address for one or two, and in other cases, we have addresses for five or six.

Next is Council Members. These are all the individual members of local councils which have supplied the National Office with the email addresses of their entire local council membership. We send NAEPC email to all of those people. National has committed not to send more than six (6) emails per year, plus the Annual Conference brochure to everyone for whom we have email addresses, regardless of whether they are a Council Leader, Council Member, an At Large Member or a Designee. It is our hope that every council will see the benefit of having our NAEPC emails go to their entire membership rather than going only to the Council Leaders, who then may or may not forward these emails to the entire local council membership. See more information about this campaign.

Next is At Large Members. There are some people who are qualified for membership in a local council, but who do not live or work within practical driving distance to a local council. These people are allowed to join the National Association, in order to obtain the member benefits, as an At Large Member. They have a 1/100 vote and are entitled to all the benefits just the same as local councils and the local council members. It is particularly important to have at large memberships available for people who meet the qualifications to be designated as an Accredited Estate Planner, but who live a great distance from any affiliated council. These people can become At Large Members and then be designated an Accredited Estate Planner. They have supplied us with their email addresses.

Finally, I addressed Designees. These are the people who have received the Accredited Estate Planner ("AEP") designation or the Estate Planning Law Specialist ("EPLS") designation. They, too, have supplied their email address so that they can receive NAEPC communications.

The Member Benefits just keep getting better. You now have access to our password-protected Members Only Benefits page (see below for instructions). It discloses the details of all member benefits, such as the special vendor price for our members and other special benefits that are limited to our members. We already have exciting news to share with you on this page and you should all take a look today! Plan to go there immediately and check out some new benefits. They are compelling. Look for new offers from Trusts & Estates magazine, Confidant software and a free webinar based on our agreement with the Society of Financial Service Professionals to sponsor a number of webinars each year. If you did not get to tune in to one earlier you are missing some great education. You do not want to miss them. We're excited to announce a partnership arrangement with InterActive Legal Systems that will be debuting in May! This series of educational webinars is sure to be a hit. See more information about this benefit.

It's not too early to make your hotel reservations at the Doubletree Paradise Valley Resort in Scottsdale, Arizona for the National Association of Estate Planners & Councils and The NAEPC Foundation 45th Annual Conference. The NAEPC Annual Meeting of members will be held Wednesday morning, November 12, 2008, and then the rest of the day will be devoted to Council Leadership Day. Every council needs to have a representative at this meeting so your council can learn what other councils are doing and how to make your council better serve your membership and the general public. Then on Thursday and Friday, November 13 and 14, 2008, we will have our educational program the best speakers in the industry providing you with two (2) full days of continuing education.

If there are some of you who plan to come to the educational sessions but not participate in Council Leadership Day, you also have an opportunity to participate in an additional half-day of continuing education on November 12 presented by the Jewish Community Foundation and the Arizona Community Foundation just a few blocks away at the Lakeview Inn at Camelback Golf Club. Information about this outstanding November 12, 2008, Tax & Legal Seminar is available on the NAEPC website just below the information regarding our 2008 conference. While you are looking at the website, look at some of the highlights from prior NAEPC conferences going back to 2002. Particularly note the speakers. These are names you will recognize. We have the best at our conferences. Best regards. Good planning.

Estate Planning Day in a Box is moving along. We now have the Phase 1 materials, which are all the planning materials for your local council to use to plan an Estate Planning Day for the general public. Very shortly the PowerPoint slides will be added for the second phase dealing with the educational program. Be aware that the National Association of Estate Planners & Councils has declared the third full week of October of each year to be National Estate Planning Awareness Week. This year it is October 20-26. We hope that a very substantial number of our local councils will hold an Estate Planning Day Seminar for the general public.

Finally, if you are an AEP, are you proudly displaying the Accredited Estate Planner license plate frame? Buy one now!

I attended my first NAEPC conference in 1986 in Portland when I served as President of the Tri-Cities (TN-VA) EPC. I keep coming back.

Member Benefits & Discounts

The NAEPC appreciates our Value Partners and is proud to announce a new offering!

For estate planning professionals serious about staying up-to-date in their areas of expertise, a new "Webinar" series making its debut this May is something not to be missed. Featuring leading national experts as speakers, these Web seminars will promote success through education in estate planning, business planning, elder law, tax law, asset protection, and more.

This innovative series represents a new way to remain current, take in best practices, and learn about the latest developments in the field - essential for the success of any firm. The format takes full advantage of the latest Internet technologies. The result will be a high-quality presentation filled with essential information that's also affordable and convenient. Try finding that combination in a traditional seminar!

The Estate Planning Webinar series is made possible through a collaboration between the NAEPC and InterActive Legal, an NAEPC Member Benefit Partner that specializes in creating software for attorneys. To sign up - or to learn more about the upcoming Webinar series - you can e-mail Patricia McLelland at pmclelland@interactivelegal.com.

We'll keep you posted on topics, speakers and dates as that information becomes available. We know you won't want to miss a single Webinar.

CCH, a Wolters Kluwer business, features an extensive line of research materials and software solutions that are the professional's first choice for reliable, practitioner-oriented guidance for advising clients and making critical business decisions. Visit Tax.CCHGroup.com to learn more about titles including:

CCH and NAEPC joined together to offer NAEPC members a 30% discount on outstanding tax and accounting books written by the leading experts. Visit the member benefits page and then log in for pricing and ordering instructions (see instructions below).

NAEPC and the Society of Financial Service Professionals are teaming up to provide two more audio-web conferences between September 2008 and May 2009. Information about these valuable programs will be sent in future issues of NAEPC News and placed online. As a special, NAEPC members-only benefit, one audio-conference will be available to our members at no charge!

The Member Benefits page of our website has undergone recent changes! In an effort to provide you with the BEST discounts on programs and services offered through NAEPC Value Partners, the information has been password-protected. If your EPC is using a site hosted by NAEPC that currently uses passwords, you can use that same council password for the National site. If you are not sure what that password is, you can retrieve using the Forgot Password feature of the login page. If you are an AEP EPLS designation holder, you can also use this feature to retrieve your password. Please contact the administrator of your affiliated local estate planning council to retrieve password information if your council is not currently using the password option.

You might also be able to find a similar Member Benefits page on your local council's website, with the addition of member benefits that your council has added.

The NAEPC Foundation

National Estate Planning Awareness Week has been named during the third full week of October each calendar year! The NAEPC Foundation Committee of the NAEPC Board of Directors recently spent a great deal of time on an initiative for all affiliated local councils to easily host a publicly-focused Estate Planning Day within their community. Phase 1, the organizational system, has been released and is available to all councils online on a special web page for this event. We encourage each and every affiliated local estate planning council to consider hosting this type of event during National Estate Planning Awareness Week in 2008.

We would like to thank those that have made personal contributions to The NAEPC Foundation during the beginning of calendar year 2008:

Ronald R. Holden, Attorney, AEP;
Julie A. Buschman, AEP;
J. Stanley Montgomery, CLU, ChFC, AEP;
John D'Arcy Becker, CLU, AEP;
Michael W. Halloran, CLU, ChFC, AEP, CFP®, REBC, RHU, LUTCF, MSFS, MSM;
Jerry L. Picucci, CPA, AEP;
George M. Smrtka, Attorney, AEP;
Judith L. Sterling, Attorney, EPLS, AEP;
William J. Braun, CLU, ChFC, AEP;
M. Eileen Dougherty, CTFA, CFP®, AEP;
Charles Driscoll, CLU, AEP;
Michael H. Kessling, CLU, CFBS, AEP, CLTC;
Barry A. McBride, CLU, AEP;
John H. Reamey, CPA, AEP;
Nicholas D. Tellie, BBA, JD, AEP;
Glenn Ward, CLU, ChFC, CFBS, AEP;
Valorie Joy Promisel, BS, MBA, JD, AEP;
Ian M. Sammis, JD, AEP;
Michael J. Sweet, AEP, CLU and
Julia P. Wald, Attorney, AEP.

45th Annual Conference Information

Join us from November 12 - 14, 2008 for the NAEPC's 45th Annual Conference co-hosted by Central Arizona Estate Planning Council. The event will take place at the Doubletree Paradise Valley Resort in Scottsdale, Arizona. The three day program features one day devoted to leadership development and is intended to appeal to board members of our 190+ affiliated local estate planning councils. The two full days of technical education that follow are among the best in the country. Watch your e-mail and our conference web page for more information.

A detailed list of speakers and registration information will be available on the website soon! Check back often for updates.

Sponsorship opportunities are still available! Visit our conference web page to obtain a complete sponsorship kit.

Mark your calendar now for the 46th Annual Conference scheduled from November 11 - 13, 2009 in Amelia Island, FL.

NAEPC Council Relations Committee Happenings

The NAEPC's Council Relations Committee is charged with helping affiliated councils use all of the benefits and services available to them as well as assisting unaffiliated councils to understand the benefits of membership. We're proud to welcome two new members to our committee:

Frank S. Berall, Atty, AEP, LL.M. of Copp & Berall LLP in Hartford, CT &
Robert L. Fischer, CLU, ChFC, AEP of Harbor Wealth Management LLC in Green Bay, WI.

These gentlemen join existing committee members that are anxious to talk to the leadership of your affiliated local council. See our website for a list of the entire committee, along with the state(s) that they represent. Please contact the representative nearest you or the national office if you have any questions.

AEP & EPLS Designation Information

The Accredited Estate Planner Designation Committee is proud to welcome three new members! They are:

Frank S. Berall, Atty, AEP, LL.M. of Copp & Berall LLP in Hartford, CT;
Daniel E. Rich, JD, MBA, TO, AEP of American National Bank in Denver Colorado &
Charles N. Stewart, AEP, MSFS of Stewart Financial Services in St. George, UT.

Professional estate planners can now achieve accreditations that acknowledge their experience and specialization in estate planning!

The Accredited Estate Planner (AEP) designation is available to attorneys, Chartered Life Underwriters, Certified Public Accountants, Certified Trust and Financial Advisors, Chartered Financial Consultants, and Certified Financial Planners® and is awarded to professionals who meet stringent experience and education qualifications including two graduate level courses administered by The American College.

The Estate Planning Law Specialist (EPLS) designation is available to attorneys by the Estate Law Specialist Board, Inc., an attorney-run subsidiary of the National Association of Estate Planners & Councils. Attorneys who become Board-certified under this program demonstrate a high level of professionalism and commitment to the concept of specialization. We believe that as attorney specialization increases, it will benefit not only lawyers but the public. This program is currently the only program, other than certain state bar association programs which are only for residents of their particular states, accredited by the American Bar Association to Board-certify attorneys as Estate Planning Law Specialists.

Councils in the News

We would like to thank those councils that took advantage of the Council Nominated AEP program during calendar year 2007. They are:

Boulder County EPC
Chattanooga (EPC of)
East Coast EPC (FL)
Greater NJ EPC
Hampton Roads EPC
Lower Fairfield County EPC
Metropolitan Detroit, Inc. F&EPC
Montgomery County EPC
Northeast Florida (EPC of)
Northeast Wisconsin, Inc. (EPC of)
Pittsburgh EPC

Pomona Valley EPC
Putnam County, EPC of
Redwood Empire (Ca.) EPC
Riverside EPC
Seattle (EPC of)
Southern New Jersey (F&EPC of)
St. Louis (EPC of)
Suburban Maryland (EPC of)
Westchester County (EPC of)
Western Conn. E&TPC
Western New York (Estate Analysts of)

National Association of Estate Planners & Councils 1120 Chester Avenue, Suite 470 Cleveland, OH 44114
Phone: (866) 226-2224 ~ Fax: (216) 696-2582 ~ E-Mail: admin@naepc.org

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