Don't have a will? You're in good company
58%
of American adults do not have a will
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Virtual Wills Week Conference
University of Maryland College Park, University of Maryland, Baltimore, and the University of Maryland Alumni Association are hosting a free estate planning conference.
Register nowFor anyone who is a parent, has a significant other, or owns assets, creating a will is important. And yet, a majority of American adults (58 percent) do not have one. You do not want to leave your legacy to someone who doesn’t know you. If you do not have a will that designates your executor or leaves instructions for the dissemination of your estate, the courts will make those decisions for you. A will provides a blueprint for your family and the court, so they know how to proceed with your wishes.
The Wills Week Conference offers free and useful estate planning information designed to help you get the process started. Held in conjunction with National Estate Planning Awareness Week and hosted by the Office of Gift Planning at UMD, Office of Planned Giving at UMB and the University of Maryland Alumni Association, the conference consists of four informational sessions presented by experts in their field.
2023 Sessions and Schedule
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Welcome and Opening Remarks
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Estate Planning Basics: The fundamental things you should know to properly plan for succession and transfer of your estate, presented by Shari Fleming, Attorney & Accredited Estate Planner®, The Law Office of Shari Fleming
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Assessing your needs, presented by Elena Sallitto, Esq.Partner, Stavely & Sallitto Elder Law, LLC
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Lunch
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Planning For Your Future: What Is An Estate Plan & Why You Need One, presented by Christopher B. Walter, Attorney, Davis, Agnor, Rapaport & Skalny, LLC
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Revisiting and Refining: The Final Important Steps to Enhance the Estate Planning Process, presented by Paul Caspersen, CFP®, MS, AEP, President & Founder, Planned Giving Interactive
Presenters
Paul Caspersen, CFP®, MS, AEP
President & Founder, Planned Giving Interactive
Paul Caspersen brings complex financial thinking to the charitable planning field. As a Certified Financial Planner, Paul has 26 years of financial, estate, and charitable planning experience. Between 2012-2022, he served as Assistant Vice President and Sr. Philanthropic Advisor at the University of Florida, where his Gift Planning team closed $1.25 billion (of the Campaigns $4 billion total) in deferred gifts and outright gifts of complex assets. Prior to his position at the University of Florida, he led the Gift Planning program at Iowa State University. Before specializing in planned giving, Paul spent a decade working in financial services.
Paul is the founder of Planned Giving Interactive (PGI), a charitable planning software & consulting organization. PGI is an affiliate organization to Charitable Solutions LLC, the largest national consulting firm that provides charities with risk management solutions for non-cash donations and charitable gift annuities. He is also a national board member of The National Association of Estate Planners & Councils (NAEPC), which has over 270-member estate planning councils and provides services to their estimated 30,000 individual members.
Elena Sallitto, Esq.
Partner, Stavely & Sallitto Elder Law, LLC
Ms. Sallitto is a principal with Stavely & Sallitto Elder Law, LLC, in Annapolis, where she focuses her practice exclusively on elder law. She routinely provides counsel on long-term care planning, Medicaid planning, nursing home involuntary discharge issues, nursing home and assisted living quality of care concerns; guardianship; financial exploitation; powers of attorney; special needs planning as well as wills, trusts and probate.
Ms. Sallitto is a Certified Elder Law Attorney (CELA) through the National Elder Law Foundation. She is the current President of the MD/DC Chapter of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and serves on the State Advisory Council for Quality of Care at End of Life. She is also past-chair of the Maryland State Bar Association Elder Law and Disability Rights Section. Ms. Sallitto is an adjunct professor at the University of Baltimore Law School and at the University of Maryland School of Law where she teaches Elder Law. She is a coauthor of the Elder Law Section of the Maryland State Bar Practice Manual, and is the editor of the Elder Law in Maryland treatise by Jason Frank, published by Lexis-Nexis. Ms. Sallitto frequently testifies before the Maryland legislature on matters affecting seniors.
She earned her JD at Catholic University Columbus School of Law and is licensed to practice in Maryland, Washington, DC, Connecticut and New York.
Shari Fleming
Attorney & Accredited Estate Planner®
The Law Office of Shari Fleming
Shari Fleming is an attorney and Accredited Estate Planner® focused on helping individuals and businesses build, protect, and preserve their wealth and legacy. She is Principal of the Law Office of Shari Fleming, and her areas of legal practice include business organizations, real estate, estate planning, and estate administration. She also serves as Planned Giving Officer for Bowie State University and is responsible for cultivation, solicitation, and administration of gifts involving estates, trusts, and other gifts that reflect deferred giving opportunities. Shari is a graduate of Lincoln University (PA) and the University of Maryland School of Law, and was named one of The Daily Record’s 2021 Leadership in Law Generation J.D. honorees, due to her dedication to the practice of law and for advancing the concepts of ownership, wealth maintenance, and wealth retention, specifically within communities of color.
Christopher B. Walter
Attorney, Davis, Agnor, Rapaport & Skalny, LLC
Christopher B. Walter is an attorney with Davis, Agnor, Rapaport & Skalny, LLC and leads the Firm’s Estate Planning Practice Group. His practice focuses on estate planning to help his clients prepare for the unexpected, and estate administration, to help make sure a loved one’s wishes are carried out. Chris realizes that estate planning is the easiest thing in the world to put off, and that’s why he’s committed to making the process comfortable, easy, and accessible. Whether it’s making sure the right people are in charge of caring for your children, drafting trusts for special needs beneficiaries, engaging in complex estate tax planning, or crafting documents to account for any number of unique circumstances, Chris has worked with thousands of Maryland individuals and families to put together the right plan for them.
Chris earned his B.A. from the University of Maryland, College Park and his J.D. from the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law. He has been admitted to the Bar in the state of Maryland, and is active with the Maryland State Bar Association, Howard County Estate Planning Council, and Baltimore County Estate Planning Council. A long-time resident of Howard County, Chris is proud to give back to his community, serving on the Community Foundation of Howard County Board of Trustees and the fundraising committee of Ohana Howard County.