TULSA ESTATE PLANNING FORUM

Greetings From the Tulsa Estate Planning Forum Board!

This summer I was reminded of the importance and power of what we do when in one week my mother-in-law and my best friend’s father passed away. Walking through that loss and the grieving that followed was made much easier by the fact that both had an estate plan. The survivors were free to grieve and heal and not worry about how to implement the estate plan. This clarity and lack of fear about the future is made possible by the members of our Forum who serve their clients well.

It is my honor to serve as the 49th president of the Tulsa Estate Planning Forum. The Tulsa Estate Planning Forum was established in 1975 and we have been going strong for almost 50 years. We are looking forward to another great year with incredible speakers coming to Tulsa to educate us on current estate planning topics and with lots of networking opportunities. I hope you will renew your membership and encourage other estate planning professionals to join as a member.

We have a tremendous board who has done a fabulous job of putting together a great lineup of speakers. Led by our Pillar of institutional knowledge, Michael Noland, we have a speaker lineup that you will not want to miss. We will start out the year on September 9th with Susan Rounds, JD, CPA, LL.M. , AEP® who will share Transition By Design: Successful Succession. On October 14th we will have Jamie Mendelsohn, who is with the Ashar Group, and she will be speaking about Life Settlements & Valuations. On November 4, Leslie Amann, JD, AEP® is sharing a talk titled, “Shakespeare, Succession & Estate Planning”. On December 3rd we will have our second annual Breakfast at The Summit, which is sponsored by our past presidents.

We will start of 2025 with a bang on January 13 with an Economic Update from Michael Abboud, CFA® of the Trust Company of Oklahoma. February 10 will feature a fascinating talk by Stacy Singer, JD, CPWA, ACTEC on Religion & Diversity in Estate Planning. On March 10, my dear friend, Riley Kern, JD will share about Advising for the Sunset. One April 21 Paul Hood, JD, LL.M. is speaking about Is Your Buy/Sell Agreement up to Snuff? We will finish the year with our Annual Meeting will be held on May 13, and will feature Sam Donaldson, JD, LL.M. AEP® who will be sharing about Recent Tax Developments and Their Impact on Contemporary Estate Planning. You are not going to want to miss any of these powerful meetings!

All of our regular monthly meetings for 2024-2025 will be held at the Downtown Double Tree Hotel. Our December Breakfast at The Summit be at the Summit Club. We will not offer the Zoom option this year and hope everyone can attend in person.

Our board is also working on special events for our young professionals as well as the April social to celebrate the completion of tax season. These are a great opportunity to invite potential members as well as networking with each other.

We want to say a big thank you to our website and business sponsors and the annual meeting sponsors, all who provide generous sponsorships that allow us to offer great speakers and special events while keeping our dues to a minimum. A big thank you to all of our sponsors. Please be sure to thank our sponsors when you see them at our meetings.

Our board has done a tremendous job of stewarding the resources entrusted to us and are in a healthy place financially. That being said we are not immune to the impact of inflation. We have seen the cost of renting rooms, speaker costs, and meals increase. When looking at the numbers a $50 annual increase was merited but the board voted to only increase dues to by $25 to $275 this year. We will continue to monitor costs and are committed to being healthy as an organization and providing low annual dues.

I also appreciate all of our members. Because of you, the Tulsa Estate Planning Forum has remained a strong organization for almost 50 years. Thank you for supporting the Tulsa Estate Planning Forum and attending our lunches. We look forward to 50 more years together. Please help us to stay strong and to grow by renewing your membership and encouraging other professionals to join the Tulsa Estate Planning Forum. The benefits we receive are numerous and invaluable.

There are also plenty of opportunities to become more engaged with the Tulsa Estate Planning Forum through committee involvement. If you are interested, please contact me at (918) 978-0815 or lars.gwartney@nm.com or you can contact any board member as well.

I look forward to seeing everyone at our first meeting on September 9, 2024.

Sincerely,

Lars Gwartney MSFP, CFP®, CLU®, ChFC®, RICP®, CASL®, AEP®, CAP®, ChSNC®