The world is your oyster, and the Estate Planning Institute is the pearl for understanding the latest changes in estate planning and news. For 30 years, the Institute has featured leading experts and financial professionals that provide valuable gems of knowledge about new rules and tax legislation. Whether you choose to attend in person or online, you’ll leave with all the pearls of wisdom you can imagine!
Click here to register, sponsor, or donate to this year’s EPI!
Being held at our NEW PERMANENT LOCATION:
2640 El Paseo Rd., Las Cruces, NM.
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The Estate Planning Institute is designed for attorneys, accountants, bankers, investment advisors, estate planning and tax practitioners, financial planners, and anyone that needs to provide effective estate planning for their clients. Reserve your space TODAY!
There are no qualifications or prerequisites to participate in and benefit from this program.
Continuing Professional Education Credits
This program will be submitted to qualify in New Mexico and Texas for up to:
15.6 continuing education credits based on a 50-minute hour
13 continuing education credits based on a 60-minute hour
2 MCLE credits of Ethics/Professionalism
Registration Rates
The registration rates listed below vary for the time of the registrant’s payment. Each registrant will receive one reserved spot to attend our Estate Planning Institute for both days and includes an electronic PDF file of the 2022 Speaker Manual. If you would like to have a printed copy of the 2022 Speaker Manual it will be an additional $40.00 per manual.
In-Person: $350
Online: $200
Includes PDF of speaker manual
Rate after October 7, 2022 is $400 for in-person
Payment Information
The Community Foundation of Southern New Mexico accepts credit card and check payments. Credit or debit card payments can be made online, or through the phone. Check payments need to be made out to “The Community Foundation of Southern New Mexico” and should be mailed-in to our CFSNM office location. Our office location address is as follows:
2640 El Paseo Road
Las Cruces, NM 88001
Online Payment
Payments can be made online with a credit card by clicking the link directly below.
Pay Online
Company Invoice
If you will be attending on behalf of a business and they will need to be billed an invoice please email info@cfsnm.org or call our office number listed below.
Phone Payment
Call 575-521-4794 to pay over the phone with a CFSNM team member.
Cancellation Policy
You may cancel by October 29th with a $25 cancellation fee;$100 thereafter.
Testimonial
“This is the two-day event I look forward to every year! The Estate Planning Institute offers many experienced, professional speakers that are wellversed in a wide range of subjects that help me keep up-to-date in my field. It’s also great to have an opportunity to network with other professionals in law, accounting, and finance and better understand their experiences. It’s very worthwhile, educational, and fun too!”
Bridget L. Mullins, Attorney — Pregenzer, Baysinger, Wideman & Sale PC
Schedule:
Speakers:
Gregory E. Martin, J.D., LL.M. – Of Counsel
Stubbeman, McRae, Sealy, Laughlin & Browder, Inc.
Presentation Topic: Consideration When Making Planned Gifts to Charity
Gregory E. Martin is a member of the firm’s Estate Planning and Probate Section. He is board-certified in Estate Planning and Probate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and is licensed to practice law in Texas and New Mexico.
Gregory’s practice focuses primarily on estate planning, probate, and entity formation and governance (for-profit and non-profit) in Texas and New Mexico.
Gene Wolf, CIMA – Partner
Kemp Smith LLP
Presentation Topic: The Power to Appoint and Disappoint: Anatomy of Powers of Appointment
Gene Wolf is a native El Pasoan. He earned his B.B.A. from Baylor University in 1988 and his J.D. from Baylor School of Law in 1991. He began practicing law at Kemp Smith LLP as an associate in 1991 and has been a partner since 1997. Gene is a member of the Business Department with practice emphasis on tax, corporate, estate and business planning, is a member of the firm’s Management Committee, and is currently serving as Managing Partner. Since 2012, Gene has served on the Board of Directors of Hunt Companies, Inc. and as chair of the Governance and Nominating and Ethics Committee. In 2017, Gene began serving on the Board of Directors of EP Holdings, Inc. Gene is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC) and is Board Certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization in Estate Planning and Probate Law. Gene is currently serving as the President of the Texas Federal Tax Institute. Gene is a member of the American Bar Association Section of Taxation, the State Bar of Texas and the El Paso Bar Association. Gene is Past Chair of the State Bar of Texas Tax Section and Past Editor of the Texas Tax Lawyer. Gene has been recognized since 2006 as one of the “The Best Lawyers in America” in the sections of Tax Law and Trusts and Estates. In 2012, Gene was honored with the distinction of El Paso Best Lawyers “Tax Law Lawyer of the Year.” He is qualified to practice in Texas, New Mexico, the Supreme Court of Texas, the United States District Court (Western District of Texas), and the United States Tax Court.
Gene’s community affiliations include Rotary Club of El Paso (since 1992), Rotary Club of El Paso Foundation (since 2001), El Paso Estate Planning Council (since 1995), Member of Texas Tech University Health Services Center El Paso President’s Development Council (since 2018), El Paso Chapter of Financial Service Professionals (2000-2006), El Paso Lighthouse for the Blind (2002-2006), Greater El Paso Chamber of Commerce Foundation (2002-2005), Junior League of El Paso Endowment Fund (2002- 2010), El Paso Club (2007-2014), the Paso del Norte Group (2005-2012), the Borderplex Bi-National Economic Alliance (since 2012), Family Endeavors Foundation (since 2022), American Red Cross, El Paso Chapter (1994-1997), Kids Excel El Paso, Inc. (since 2017), Junior Achievement of the Desert Southwest (2010-2014), Yucca Council, Boy Scouts of America (2010-2014) and a member of First Baptist Church of El Paso. Gene is married to Sherri and they have three children, Tyler, Kayla and Clint.
Anne L. Taylor – Chief Disciplinary Counsel (Ethics and Professionalism MCLE)
Disciplinary Board of the New Mexico Supreme Court
Presentation Topic: Overview of Disciplinary System and Rule 16-119 (The Disciplinary Board of the New Mexico Supreme Court – Ethics and Professionalism MCLE)
Anne L. Taylor is Chief Disciplinary Counsel for the Office of Disciplinary Counsel of the New Mexico Supreme Court Disciplinary Board where she has worked since January 2002 as both Assistant and Deputy Disciplinary Counsel, before being appointed Chief in November 2020. She serves as the Disciplinary Counsel liaison to the New Mexico Client Protection Fund.
Anne has a J.D. from Vanderbilt University School of Law in Nashville, Tennessee.
Jane Gagne – Assistant Disciplinary Counsel (Ethics and Professionalism MCLE)
Disciplinary Board of the New Mexico Supreme Court
Presentation Topic: Notable Estate Planning Disciplinary Cases (The Disciplinary Board of the New Mexico Supreme Court – Ethics and Professionalism MCLE)
Jane Gagne joined the Disciplinary Board in 2011. After working years in the computer field and bicycle-racing professionally, Jane decided to change careers and went to law school. Graduating from The University of New Mexico School of Law in 1994, Jane spent a decade practicing plaintiff’s employment and civil rights law.
Skyler Wildenstein, President
Empire Trust Inc.
Presentation Topic: Property & Prudence: Managing Real Estate Held in Trust
Skyler’s greatest strength is communication. He is the President of Empire Trust. He is responsible for all client-facing duties and is accountable for all aspects of trust administration for Empire Trust. He oversees the tasks of trust operations and develops & monitors processes for their recurring responsibilities. He takes the most pride in the company delivering on its promises and hitting its deadlines. Skyler holds a Bachelor of Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from the R.O. Anderson School of Management at the University of New Mexico and prior to helping the co-founders of Empire Trust start the company, he began his professional career in corporate finance. He is married with three beautiful daughters. He serves on the board of Junior Achievement of New Mexico and the Parker Center for Family Business.
John Attwood, VP – Trust Officer and NCG
First American Bank
Presentation Topic: Selecting a Fiduciary…Let’s Look Beyond the Fees
A graduate of Oklahoma Wesleyan University, the American Bankers Association National & Graduate Trust Schools, and is credentialed as a National Certified Guardian since 2006.
John has worked in the fields of social and fiduciary services for more than 20 years. In his new position, John is responsible for the institutional operations and business development of Envision Private Care. This includes day to day operations, client referrals, marketing, and exploration of new market territory.
He relocated in 2004 from Seattle to New Mexico to serve as his mother’s primary care giver. He approaches professional caregiving in his current position as if each caregiver were to take care of his own mother.
John has been involved as a medical and placement decision-maker for those with developmental disabilities, and as a corporate trust officer with a New Mexico bank and a New Mexico trust company. He specialized in administering trusts and conservatorships to enhance the lives of the elderly, quadriplegic, paraplegic, traumatic brain injured and those challenged with mental illness on the full scale of the spectrum.
Throughout his fiduciary and guardianship career, he has developed a passion for his clients.
John currently serves on the New Mexico Estate Planning Council board of directors, The Arc of New Mexico board as treasurer, and the New Mexico Planned Giving Roundtable leadership group. He is also a member of the Santa Fe Estate Planning Council.
He was former board chair for the New Mexico Guardianship Association. John also served as board chair for the New Mexico Alzheimer’s Association and has served on the UNM Anderson, School of Business board of directors. In addition, he has served on the board for both the Parker Center for Family Business and Mandy’s Farm, (a non-profit that assists individuals with developmental disabilities in a farm setting).
In John’s free time he enjoys fishing the Chama River in Northern New Mexico, rooting for the Dodgers, Chiefs, Sooner football, Jayhawk basketball and spoiling his five adorable grandchildren.
Jon Barela, President
Borderplex Alliance
Presentation Topic: China, Reshoring and the Borderplex
Jon Barela is the Chief Executive Officer of the Borderplex Alliance, the only privately-funded economic development and policy organization representing two countries and three states.
Before being named CEO in 2016, Mr. Barela served as New Mexico’s Economic Development Cabinet Secretary. Under his leadership, New Mexico became the nation’s leader in export growth, with trade quadrupling in three years. More than 16,000 private-sector jobs were created, and the state’s most significant private-sector construction projects began under his tenure. Barela was also instrumental in reforming New Mexico’s tax system, which simplified and reduced taxes on New Mexico’s private sector. He was unanimously confirmed by the State Senate as Cabinet Secretary in 2012 and then unanimously reconfirmed in 2015.
Prior to his service as Cabinet Secretary, Barela ran a successful small business. He also was the Community and Government Affairs Manager for Intel. An attorney by training, Barela worked at New Mexico’s largest law firm and specialized in civil litigation. He also served as New Mexico’s Assistant Attorney General and Director of the Civil Division, during which time he was widely recognized for his unprecedented commitment to public records and open meetings law enforcement. Barela is knowledgeable about the legislative process in the nation’s capital, having served on the Professional Staff for the House Appropriations Committee in Washington, DC. He also worked his way through college, serving as New Mexico Congressman Joe Skeen’s Legislative Assistant while on Capitol Hill.
Barela’s commitment to community service has deep roots as he has successfully led and served on dozens of non-profit and public governing Boards of Directors. He served on the Albuquerque Public Schools Board of Education, chaired the New Mexico Border Authority, and co-chaired the state’s Workforce Development Board. His numerous recognitions include Intel’s highest employee honor, the NAACP “Martin Luther King, Jr. Award,” and the El Paso Hispanic Chamber of Commerce ”Moving Forward Award,” among many others.
Barela is a sought-after speaker and commentator on border issues. He has been featured in dozens of broadcast and print outlets, including the CBS Evening News, Dateline NBC, National Public Radio, PBS, the BBC, and The Wall Street Journal.
A native of Las Cruces, New Mexico, Barela earned a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs with honors from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in Washington, DC, and is a graduate of Georgetown’s law school. He is an avid runner and has completed more than 20 full marathons.
Chief Justice Bacon
Supreme Court of New Mexico
Presentation Topic: The Continued Evolution of Adult Guardianship Proceedings in the State of New Mexico
Chief Justice Bacon was appointed to the New Mexico Supreme Court on January 25, 2019 after being recommended by a nonpartisan Judicial Nominating Commission. She took the oath of office on February 4, 2019. Prior to her appointment, Justice Bacon served as a district court judge on the Second Judicial District Court and as the Presiding Civil Judge. While serving on the district court, Justice Bacon presided over thousands of cases spanning complex civil litigation, class actions, adult guardianship and conservatorship cases, real estate and contract disputes, election issues, domestic and children’s court cases and appeals. Justice Bacon was also the Bernalillo County Water and Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District Judge.
Justice Bacon currently serves on the New Mexico Supreme Court’s Equity and Justice Commission, the New Mexico Access to Justice Commission, the New Mexico Working Interdisciplinary Networks of Guardianship Stakeholders, and the National Judicial College Dividing the Waters. Prior to joining the Supreme Court, Justice Bacon served on numerous commissions and committees. She served on the New Mexico Supreme Court Adult Guardianship and Conservatorship Steering Committee (Chair) and Rules Committee, the Access to Justice Commission, the Bernalillo County Pro Bono Committee (Co-chair), the Supreme Court Personnel Rules Committee (Chair), the Supreme Court Rules of Evidence Committee (Chair), and the District and Metropolitan Judges Association (President). Justice Bacon has also served on non-profit boards that address the needs of youth experiencing homelessness for more than a decade.
Barak Wolff and MaryKay Brady
End of Life Options
Presentation Topic: Medical Aid in Dying: Our New Law and What It Means for Your Clients
Barak is a mostly retired, long-time public health leader in NM working In Rural Primary Care, EMS and Trauma Systems, and as the Director of the Public Health Division in the NM Department of Health. Barak has served as an analyst for the Senate Health and Public Affairs Committee for the last seventeen years when they are in session. For the last nine years, Barak has been deeply involved with end-of-life issues and is on the founding Board of Directors for the newly created non-profit, End of Life Options New Mexico. He is grateful for this opportunity to help improve our care systems and support New Mexicans in their end-of-life decisions, now including medical aid in dying.
MaryKay Brady is retired from a 30-year career in banking. She moved to Las Cruces from Deming, where she was an active volunteer in the community: she was founder of Friends of Rockhound State Park, trained as Master Gardener with NMSU, served as president of her home-owners association, to name just a few. Her move to Las Cruces has her even busier, as the traumatic experiences with the deaths of her mother and her husband gave her the firm conviction that “There’s got to be a better way!”
An ardent believer in lifelong learning, MaryKay’s research led her to New Mexico End of Life Coalition, a statewide advocacy group working to authorize medical aid in dying in New Mexico. MaryKay became the team leader for the Coalition’s Las Cruces Action Team, which became End of Life Options New Mexico when the Legislature passed the medical aid in dying law, which became effective in June of 2021. She currently serves on the non-profit’s board as Secretary/Treasurer. She also completed the intensive training course as an end of life doula, and it is her desire to share her knowledge, guidance—and most of all, compassion—with all New Mexicans.
Pete Davis
Presentation Topic: Washington Update 2022
Pete Davis advises Wall Street money managers on Washington policy developments that affect the financial markets. President of his own consulting firm since 1992, Davis Capital Investment Ideas, he draws on 11 years of experience as a Capitol Hill economist with the Joint Committee on Taxation (1974-1981), the Senate Budget Committee (1981-1983), and Senator Robert C. Byrd (1992). He worked in the House and Senate, and for Republicans and Democrats. He brought the first computer policy model, the Treasury Individual Income Tax Model, to Capitol Hill in early 1974, when he became a revenue estimator on the Joint Committee on Taxation. He formulated the 1975 rebate, the earned income tax credit, the 1976 estate tax rates, the 1978 marginal tax rates, and the Roth-Kemp tax cut.
He left Capitol Hill in 1983 for the Washington Research Office of Prudential-Bache Securities, where he advised investors for seven years
Kenneth C. Leach
Law Offices of Kenneth C. Leach & Associates, P.C.
Presentation Topic: Designing the Best Vehicles To own and manage Real Estate?
Kenneth C. Leach completed his education through the University of New Mexico with his B.A. in History in 1972, and his JD in Law in 1975. He was then admitted to the bar by the New Mexico and U.S. District Court in 1975. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC), and has been listed on Martindale-Hubbell’s Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers. He is a member of the University of New Mexico Law School Alumni Association, the Albuquerque Bar Association, the New Mexico Estate Planning Council and Southern New Mexico Estate Council, and a Trustee on the Board of Trustees of the Albuquerque Community Foundation. Kenneth previously served on the New Mexico Board of Legal Specialization, An Agency of the Supreme Court of New Mexico Estate Planning, Trusts & Probate Law Specialty Committee, Hie is presently serving on the San Juan College Foundation Board (and served as President from 2019-2022). Mr. Leach served on the University of New Mexico Foundation Board (from 1995-2003), and as the Chairman of the Gift Acceptance Committee for the UNM Foundation. Kenneth has been listed in the prestigious “The Best Lawyers in America” publication in the Trust & Estates section for 26 consecutive years (1996-2022). He was the Community Foundation of Southern New Mexico advisor for the year of 2013, and he received the Excellence in Charitable Gift Planning Award for 2006 by the Albuquerque Community Foundation.
Joseph A. Schremmer
Associate Professor of Law Judge Leon Karelitz Oil & Gas Law Professor
Presentation Topic: Estate Planning Considerations for Oil and Gas Interest
Joseph A. Schremmer is an associate professor of law and the Judge Leon Karelitz Oil and Gas Law Professor at the University of New Mexico School of Law. He teaches courses on oil and gas law, environmental regulation of the oil and gas industry, natural resources, property law, contracts, business associations, and secured transactions. Joe has written extensively on oil and gas law and regulation and subsurface property rights. Before entering teaching, Joe practiced oil and gas law, among other areas, as a partner with Depew Gillen Rathbun & McInteer, LC in Wichita, Kansas.
Alan Gluth
Law Offices of Kenneth C. Leach & Associates, P.C.
Presentation Topic: Ancillary Documents: Comprehensive Planning in a Non-Tax Environment
After working several years in a large and a mid-size law firm, Alan D. Gluth opened Gluth Law, LLC on January 1, 2010. Mr. Gluth received his law degree from The University of Texas at Austin in 1998. His practice principally involves estate planning, gift and estate taxation, probate and trust matters, and tax-exempt organization matters in Southern New Mexico and West Texas.
Mr. Gluth was designated as a certified specialist in estate planning, trusts, and probate law by the New Mexico Board of Legal Specialization of the State Bar of New Mexico for several years until the board certification program ended at the end of 2019. Mr. Gluth is also board certified in estate planning and probate law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization of the State Bar of Texas. Mr. Gluth was selected to the 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017, 2022 “Super Lawyers” list for the State of New Mexico and Texas. Mr. Gluth has also been selected by his peers for inclusion in Best Lawyers in America every year since 2012 in the area of Trusts and Estates.
Mr. Gluth is married to JoAnn and they have four sons: Collin, Braden, Preston and Peyton. Mr. Gluth and his family reside in La Union, New Mexico and volunteer for various youth charitable organizations in the El Paso/Las Cruces area. In his spare time, Mr. Gluth enjoys hiking and camping in the Gila wilderness and coaching youth baseball.