Heckerling Graduate Program in Estate Planning (LL.M.)

Heckerling Graduate Program in Estate Planning

The Right Time to Consider This Degree

The aging of the baby boomer generation has set the stage for the largest intergenerational wealth transfer in history. This, combined with the increasing complexity of income tax, wealth transfer tax, property laws, and today’s changing economic environment, has created a demand for attorneys with expertise in individual and estate planning.

Attorneys can meet this growing demand by attending our LL.M. program in estate planning, offering a unique combination of tax and non-tax estate planning courses unavailable elsewhere.

Choose From a Variety of Career Paths

The Heckerling Graduate program offers career development for students seeking successful and rewarding professions. Job opportunities for attorneys with an LL.M. in Estate Planning can include:

  • Large law firm attorney
  • Boutique estate planning firm attorney
  • Bank or trust company officer
  • Internal Revenue Service position
  • Wealth manager at bank or investment house
  • In-house or independent attorney for public or private charity
  • Tax and probate litigator
  • More on career development
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How Does this Degree Differ from a Tax LL.M.?

This unique program prepares attorneys to deal with the tax implications of wealth transfers and with the related non-tax, investment, and business succession planning issues. The breadth and depth of coverage of both the tax and non-tax aspects of individual and estate planning distinguishes the curriculum from traditional graduate tax programs. While tax LL.M. programs may offer a cluster of survey courses on the tax aspects of estate planning, they cannot match the in-depth, practical focus of Miami Law’s spring semester classes. Our unique one-week classes in the spring offer advanced level coverage of essential issues in estate planning, including fiduciary administration, charitable giving, planning for retirement benefits, the Generation Skipping Tax, asset protection, the marital deduction, life insurance, investment planning, tax procedure, elder law, valuation, IRC Chapter 14, ethics, and drafting.

The Heckerling LL.M. Difference

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A History of Excellence

 Philip E. HeckerlingThe late Philip E. Heckerling was a Miami Law faculty member from 1963 to 1983. A professional to the core, Professor Heckerling was an active member of the FL Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the American College of Probate Counsel, and the American Law Institute. From his early years in trust work, he was a man with a passion for improving the technical competence of estate planners. In pursuit of his goal, he created the University of Miami School of Law's Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning in 1967 as a place for experts to gather and refine their skills. He nurtured it through the years of its phenomenal growth to its position as the largest and most respected continuing education program for estate planners today. That passion led him also to establish this graduate LL.M. program in estate planning, which is named in his honor.

 


 Ganon J. Studenberg"The Graduate Program in Estate Planning at UM is mandatory for a successful career in sophisticated estate planning and complex trust and estate administrations."
Ganon J. Studenberg, J.D., LL.M. '08
Studenberg Law, Melbourne, Florida


 

Contact Us

Please reach out with any questions to Laura Adams, Manager, Programs Heckerling Graduate Program in Estate Planning
Phone: 305-284-4918
Email: ladams@law.miami.edu