Certificate in Estate Planning
The Certificate in Estate Planning focuses on providing essential technical and client-relations skills in the area of private wealth transfer, including traditional estate and gift tax planning.
The Certificate consists of three technical classes in the fall semester and an intensive workshop in the spring semester. The spring workshop requires students to work in teams to prepare and explain a detailed plan for a hypothetical client.
The requirements for the Certificate in Estate Planning are:
- Successful completion of 10 academic credits, consisting of the following required courses:
- Estate Planning: Income Taxation of Trusts, Estates and Beneficiaries (2 credits)
- Estate Planning: Estate and Gift Tax (2 credits)
- Estate Planning: Special Topics in Transfer Tax (2 credits)
- Advanced Private Wealth Planning Seminar (4 credits)
- A minimum grade point average of “B-” or higher in the courses that are counted toward the Certificate requirements.
Students must successfully complete:
- A basic federal income taxation course in prior study, or the Foundations of Federal Income Taxation course during the fall semester as part of their LL.M. degree program study, and
- The Decedents Estates course, its equivalent in prior study, or enrollment in the Wills & Trustscourse during their LL.M. degree program study.
- The Certificate in Estate Planning is open to U.S.-trained lawyers, and can be pursued in-person or online, in conjunction with theLL.M. in Taxationdegree.
- The Certificate in Estate Planning may generally not be completed by foreign-trained lawyers who do not hold a J.D. degree.
- J.D. students are not eligible to pursue the Certificate in Estate Planning as part of their J.D. degree studies.
- Students cannot be admitted into the Certificate in Estate Planning program on a standalone basis.
- Students who wish to apply for the Certificate should do so by notifying their LL.M. Program Director no later than the last day of add/drop activity in the last semester before their graduation.
- Online students must attend all class sessions live via Zoom videoconferencingat the scheduled class times.
Refer to the Curriculum Guide for the current list of course offerings for the Certificate in Estate Planning. In the Curriculum Guide Search Options menu, select Estate Planning Certificate as the option under Courses in a Graduate Program drop down option. Alternatively, direct links for each estate planning course offering can be found below.
- Estate Planning: Income Taxation of Trusts, Estates and Beneficiaries
- Estate Planning: Estate and Gift Tax
- Estate Planning: Special Topics in Transfer Tax
- Advanced Private Wealth Planning Seminar
Descriptions for courses currently or previously offered to satisfy requirements for the Certificate can be found on the Certificate in Estate Planning Curriculum Essays page.
Georgetown Law is a member of the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA), which allows online programs that demonstrate compliance with their home state’s authorization requirements to enjoy reciprocal authorization in all other SARA states, which include the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and all U.S. states except California. Georgetown is also authorized separately to deliver online education to students residing in California. For more information on state authorization, including state complaint processes and refund policies the university is required to comply with, please visit the Georgetown Office of Compliance and EthicsDistance Educationpage.
For more information on SARA, please visit theNational Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreementswebsite.
Georgetown Law’s online degree and certificate programs will not lead to professional licensure and will not qualify a student to sit for any state bar exam.
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