Advanced Estate Planning Conference

September 3, 2026

Advanced Estate Planning Conference

Join Hope Haven for an Advanced Estate Planning Conference designed for attorneys, tax professionals, financial planners, planned giving professionals, and others who help individuals and families prepare for the future. This conference will focus on current advanced planning techniques that are important for supporting and growing your clients’ estate plans and portfolios. Speakers will cover key topics including estate and income tax planning, succession planning, charitable giving, trust planning, incapacity planning, and estate litigation, providing practical insight into the information your clients are looking for.

Hope Haven hosts this event as a resource for area professionals, helping ensure that current laws, guidelines, and planning strategies are part of individual financial and estate planning conversations. Financial planning is an important part of everyone’s life, especially when navigating changing tax laws, asset distribution, charitable giving opportunities, and long-term planning decisions. Attorneys, tax professionals, financial planners, and planned giving professionals play a vital role in helping individuals prepare not only for the transfer of assets after death, but also for creating thoughtful plans that benefit them during their lifetime.

Conference Agenda

Planning for the “In-Between” Client: Flexibility, Income Tax Optimization & Post-Exemption Strategy

This session will explore planning priorities for clients whose primary concerns may not center on estate tax exposure, but instead on income tax efficiency, basis planning, flexibility, and future law changes. Topics will include:

Reframing planning priorities when estate tax is not the primary constraint
The tradeoff between basis planning and estate tax planning
Why “doing nothing” may sometimes be optimal, but risky without proper guardrails
Planning for legislative volatility, family changes, and asset growth uncertainty
Disclaimer planning and QTIP trusts as flexible planning tools
Toggle planning concepts, including grantor versus non-grantor status and powers of appointment
Capital gains planning inside trusts
State income tax planning
The intersection of Roth conversions and estate planning
Balancing tax efficiency, control, flexibility, simplicity, and long-term planning goals

The session will conclude with practical client scenarios.

Incapacity Planning and the Rise of Estate Litigation: Risks, Triggers, and Ethical Practice

This session will focus on the growing importance of incapacity planning as professionals serve an aging population, navigate increased wealth transfer, and help clients plan through blended family dynamics, cognitive decline, and potential disputes. Topics will include:

Current trends and risk factors in estate litigation
Common causes of action and practical litigation red flags
Why incapacity planning is often a pressure point in estate disputes
Core incapacity planning documents and substantive planning considerations
Drafting strategies to help prevent litigation
Legal and practical frameworks for determining capacity
Red flags of diminished capacity
Best practices for capacity assessment
When to seek a medical opinion
Ethical duties when representing clients with diminished capacity
Undue influence, conflicts of interest, and documentation as ethical protection

The session will include an interactive scenario or case study and conclusion.

Registration Information

Cost: $149 per person

Fee includes meeting materials and lunch.

Please send registration form and payment to:

Hope Haven

1800 19th Street | PO Box 95

Rock Valley, IA 51247

[email protected]

All proceeds support Hope Haven International Ministries, helping us provide mobility and dignity to children and adults with disabilities around the world through custom-built and refurbished wheelchairs. So, grab your sweetheart, your besties, or your whole crew and let's roll out a night to remember!

Registration form

Refund Policy: Cancellations will be accepted through September 1 and are subject to a $25 administration fee.

Click above to download the registration form.

Conference Agenda

Planning for the “In-Between” Client: Flexibility, Income Tax Optimization & Post-Exemption Strategy

This session will explore planning priorities for clients whose primary concerns may not center on estate tax exposure, but instead on income tax efficiency, basis planning, flexibility, and future law changes. Topics will include:

Reframing planning priorities when estate tax is not the primary constraint
The tradeoff between basis planning and estate tax planning
Why “doing nothing” may sometimes be optimal, but risky without proper guardrails
Planning for legislative volatility, family changes, and asset growth uncertainty
Disclaimer planning and QTIP trusts as flexible planning tools
Toggle planning concepts, including grantor versus non-grantor status and powers of appointment
Capital gains planning inside trusts
State income tax planning
The intersection of Roth conversions and estate planning
Balancing tax efficiency, control, flexibility, simplicity, and long-term planning goals

The session will conclude with practical client scenarios.

Incapacity Planning and the Rise of Estate Litigation: Risks, Triggers, and Ethical Practice

This session will focus on the growing importance of incapacity planning as professionals serve an aging population, navigate increased wealth transfer, and help clients plan through blended family dynamics, cognitive decline, and potential disputes. Topics will include:

Current trends and risk factors in estate litigation
Common causes of action and practical litigation red flags
Why incapacity planning is often a pressure point in estate disputes
Core incapacity planning documents and substantive planning considerations
Drafting strategies to help prevent litigation
Legal and practical frameworks for determining capacity
Red flags of diminished capacity
Best practices for capacity assessment
When to seek a medical opinion
Ethical duties when representing clients with diminished capacity
Undue influence, conflicts of interest, and documentation as ethical protection

The session will include an interactive scenario or case study and conclusion.

Registration Information

Cost: $149 per person

Fee includes meeting materials and lunch.

Please send registration form and payment to:

Hope Haven

1800 19th Street | PO Box 95

Rock Valley, IA 51247

[email protected]

All proceeds support Hope Haven International Ministries, helping us provide mobility and dignity to children and adults with disabilities around the world through custom-built and refurbished wheelchairs. So, grab your sweetheart, your besties, or your whole crew and let's roll out a night to remember!

Registration form

Refund Policy: Cancellations will be accepted through September 1 and are subject to a $25 administration fee.

Speaker Bios

Seth Van Gorp, CPA

Seth Van Gorp is a CPA and shareholder with Kroese & Kroese, PC, a local CPA firm in Sioux Center, Iowa. Seth grew up in Sioux Center and earned his Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting and Master of Accountancy with an emphasis in tax from the University of Iowa.

He began his career working for a local CPA firm in Sioux City in 2008 before moving back to Sioux Center and joining Kroese & Kroese in 2016. Seth specializes in tax planning, consulting, preparation services, and IRS representation for individuals and businesses, and he has experience working with a wide variety of industries.

Seth is a member of the American Institute of CPAs and the Iowa Society of CPAs. He also serves as co-chair of the Iowa Society of CPAs taxation committee.

Meagan MacBean

Meagan MacBean is an experienced attorney specializing in trust and estate administration, wealth transfer planning, taxation, and fiduciary litigation. She is a summa cum laude graduate of the University of Mississippi School of Law and began her legal career clerking for U.S. District Court Judge Debra M. Brown before practicing estate-related litigation.

Meagan has also served as a Trust Officer at Trustmark National Bank, where she advised high-net-worth clients on estate planning, asset protection, incapacity planning, trust modifications, and fiduciary accounting. She later returned to South Carolina and joined Newsome Law, where her practice includes estate and trust administration, fiduciary disputes, litigation, and tax planning.

She is also an Adjunct Instructor at Cannon Financial Institute’s Trust School, where she trains Trust Officers and wealth professionals on fiduciary law, tax law, and estate planning principles.