This Just In... National Estate Planning Awareness Week is here! The 46th Annual Conference is Just Around the Corner! Reach out to your clients with valuable information and a free seminar today. See NAEPC Foundation Report November 11 – 13, 2009 is fast approaching. Register today! See 46th Annual Conference Information Message from the President Kathleen J. Belmonte, CTFA, AEP® Sabal Trust Company Tampa, FL Welcome to the current issue of NAEPC News. The NAEPC is the nation's premier, multi-disciplinary estate planning association and through The NAEPC Foundation we are committed to providing estate planning professionals with timely, pertinent education materials that will be useful to all members of our affiliated local estate planning councils, as well as individual members who are located in areas where local council membership is not available. Fall is in the air, which means that National Estate Planning Awareness Week is almost here. We hope that your Council is planning an event during the week of October 19-25. The NAEPC Foundation has developed materials for your Council's use, which can be found at NAEPC.org. Please check out more details in this publication. If you have not yet registered for the 46th Annual Conference at the Amelia Island Plantation from November 11-13, now is the time to do so. Our first day is devoted to local council leaders, followed by two full days of quality CE. Please see all of the details about the conference, as well as the volunteer event scheduled for Saturday, November 14, in this issue or on our website. The weather in Florida is fabulous in November. I look forward to seeing you in Amelia Island. Very truly yours,

In This Issue OCT 2009 Message from the President 46th Annual Conference Information Member Benefits, Programs & Services The NAEPC Foundation Report Upcoming Seminars NAEPC Council Relations Committee Happenings NAEPC Administered Designation Programs Subscription Options NAEPC National Website {ADDRESS_2}

46th Annual Conference, November 11 – 13, 2009

Join us on Amelia Island for the NAEPC/The NAEPC Foundation 46th Annual Conference! While the Wednesday, November 11th sessions are devoted to council leadership development, the two full days of technical education that follow are appropriate for every practitioner. The 2009 line up of speakers is fabulous and should not be missed.

Continuing education credit has been requested for attorneys, insurance professionals, accountants and CFP®, CTFA and PACE designees.  16 hours of AEP® credit has also been awarded. Registrants and potential attendees can monitor the approval status in their home state here. Use "naepc" as the password.

The conference is located at the Amelia Island Plantation. The resort is a AAA-Four Diamond, 1350 acre property with four 18-hole championship golf courses & 23 clay tennis courts located just 30 miles North of Jacksonville. The Amelia Island Plantation also features a health and fitness center, award-winning youth programs, fine shops, a full service spa and excellent dining options.

Online conference, resort and rental car reservations, along with the event brochure, are now available.

NAEPC would like to thank Coventry for their support of the 46th Annual Conference.  A complete sponsor kit is available and opportunities are limited – register today!

Member Benefits, Programs & Services

Robert G. Alexander, JD, LL.M., AEP®, EPLS Alexander Law Offices, S.C. Milwaukee, WI The Professional Development & Education Committee focuses their efforts on offering high quality products, services and educational opportunities at value pricing for our entire membership of councils and council members. We diligently look for opportunities that will enhance the significance of your membership and make your individual practice more efficient. See a complete list of benefits.

Featured Benefit

Confidant - Innovative Tool Deepens Client Relationships
Newly added to the stable of NAEPC member benefits is a novel service called Confidant. Estate planners long accustomed to having clients fill out a list of personal accounts, legal documents, key contacts and other critical information will recognize the core value of Confidant. However, Confidant's novel twist is the additional technology-enabled features that can assist estate planners in building their practices while improving how clients can make use of the information. Confidant's secure intuitive web interface enables estate planners to interact more proactively and easily with clients; it invites discussion about who a client's "confidants" are; and it provides clients with a simple and powerful tool to share select information with close family members, professional advisors and other "confidants" via secure access permissions. In a recent promotion which coupled Confidant with an offer of professional services, more than 55% of offer recipients responded to the sponsoring organization, creating opportunities for the sponsors to discuss whether respondents might benefit from additional services as well as from organizing and maintaining information in Confidant. Further details about the features and benefits of Confidant, and its application to an estate planning practice, are available in the member benefits section of the NAEPC website, or at www.beconfidant.com/naepc. NAEPC members and their clients pay just $19.95 (a 20% discount from the $24.95 annual single-subscription price), in addition to which special bulk license pricing is available.

Other benefits available to you include...

NAEPC 46th Annual Conference member rate Webinars with InterActive Legal NAEPC Journal of Estate & Tax Planning A Parent's Guide to Wills & Trusts Acquire Direct Marketing (seminar marketing) Amicus Creative Media Boot Camp for Advisors Business Week magazine CCH, a Wolters Kluwer business Civicom Audio Conferencing & Dial-a-Note Transcription Confidant DocuBank		Estate ++ Family Foundation Advisor & Journal of Taxation of Investments Florida Domicile Handbook Kettley Publishing Software Klark Proposal Software Konica / Minolta National Center for Family Philanthropy Private Wealth magazine Retirement Snapshot Trusts & Estates magazine Wealth Management Business magazine Wealth Transfer Planning software

The NAEPC Foundation Report

Upcoming Seminars NAEPC and The NAEPC Foundation 46th Annual Conference November 11 – 13, 2009 October 2009 Web Seminars hosted with InterActive Legal Why 2009 Is So Important for Financial and Estate Planning: Reviews You Should Do Now! (public seminar) October 19, 2009 – 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm ET Presenters: Sidney Kess, CPA, JD, LL.M., AEP® Distinguished, Steven Siegel, JD, LL.M., Martin M. Shenkman, CPA, PFS, MBA, JD, Jacqueline Patterson, CPA, JD, MBT and Daniel L. Daniels, JD National Estate Planning Awareness Week is taking place from October 19 – 25, 2009 – is your financial plan in order? This comprehensive two-hour presentation will focus on the basic, multi-disciplinary elements of an estate plan:   elder law planning financial planning insurance investments retirement planning wills common mistakes & consequences of improper planning Invite your clients to join us for this presentation by forwarding them the registration information to participate on their own computers or invite them into your office to participate with you (Important note: only one person needs to register if you choose to view the event together or as a group). Register for this web seminar now!

Council Relations Committee Happenings

Joanna Averett, MBA, CFP®, CIF®, AEP® First American Trust San Bernardino, CA The Council Relations Committee has been very busy contacting affiliated local councils, meeting and talking with unaffiliated councils, and reconnecting with councils who have formerly been members of NAEPC, but had not renewed membership in the last few years. Our committee is pleased to have many new member benefits and initiatives to discuss with all of these folks! I encourage you to review the information found within the member benefits section regularly! As a local leader and volunteer, choosing the right website for your council can be a daunting experience. It can be difficult to know which company is the most reliable and if the pricing is competitive. Since 2000, the NAEPC has been offering websites to its affiliated councils that are easy to use, economical and continuously enhanced. By subscribing to a NAEPC website, your council will be able to; create a "custom" home page, provide links to sponsor and member web sites, send meeting announcements, receive RSVPs, post a calendar of events, list current officers and maintain a membership directory with photos. NAEPC is extending a special 50% discount on the first year of service for any new or upgraded website! Don't miss this fantastic opportunity for your council!

NAEPC Administered Designation Information

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. This designation program has grown steadily since its inception, averages 5% growth per year is on target to exceed that percentage for 2009! We’re also proud to report that the AEP® designation program is truly multi-disciplinary. 22% of our active designees are attorneys, 29% are in the financial planning arena (CFP® or ChFC designees), 31% are primarily insurance professionals, 13% are CPAs and 5% are CTFA designees (facts current as of January 1, 2008).

NEW! Alternative Coursework Eligible for AEP® Designation Education Requirement

As an alternative to successfully completing two graduate level courses through The American College, applicants may satisfy the educational coursework requirement by taking graduate courses offered through other colleges, universities and schools of law, as part of a master’s or doctoral degree program, provided the following criteria are met. For graduate courses through a school of business that are part of an MBA degree, or part of an MS degree in accounting or taxation, we require accreditation by AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business). For graduate courses through a school or department of a college or university that are part of a M.S. or Ph.D. in financial planning or financial services degree, we require that the graduate or Ph.D. program be a Registered Program with the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards. For any courses though a School of Law as part of an LL.M. or J.S.D. degree, we require accreditation of the law school by the American Bar Association. These graduate courses must be similar and equivalent in both content and length to the courses we now approve through The American College. Applicants must provide a copy of the official transcript and a detailed description/syllabus of the course(s) taken and must have earned a letter grade of "B" or better. Courses earned toward securing one of our underlying "gateway" designations or degrees may not qualify for the AEP® designation coursework requirement.

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.

See more information about both of these designations.

NAEPC is proud to announce that the following individuals have obtained their AEP® designation since the last publication of this newsletter:

National Association of Estate Planners & Councils  1120 Chester Avenue, Suite 470  Cleveland, OH   44114
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