WELCOME FROM THE TWIN CITIES ESTATE PLANNING COUNCIL!
Our website is intended to help you find qualified professionals, informative articles and other resources related to estate planning in the Twin Cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota. Please check out our calendar of events, as well as the members section to familiarize yourself with our ogranization.
Inquiries from individuals outside the Twin Cities area are encouraged. We ask that you send any questions or suggestions to: admin@twincitiesepc.org or phone us at 763-208-9119. We look forward to hearing from you!
2022-2023 PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
August 1, 2022
Dear Current and Former Members and Guests of the Council:
We are pleased to announce that we will be going back to in-person meetings this fall! As an organization, we think it’s time to see each other in person, something that we have missed over the past two years of the pandemic. While virtual meetings were necessary and for the most part worked, we believe that the experience was different and not a long-term substitute for in-person learning and networking. We appreciate your continued support over the past two virtual years and hope you will re-join us for in-person meetings this fall!
We will be holding our meetings at Midland Hills Country Club as it is more centrally located and convenient for our members on the east side as well as the west side of the Twin Cities metro area. Our meetings will generally be breakfast meetings on the fourth Tuesday of each month. In October and May we plan on having an afternoon education session followed by a Social at the Midland Hills Country Club. We are in the process of finalizing our educational sessions, so certainly reach out to us if you have ideas or hot topics that you feel we should address.Our first three fall sessions are being finalized but we will have the details on the website shortly.
We remain committed to providing continuing education credits for CFP, Minnesota insurance, and CLE (attorneys). Watch for updates in the invitations on the type of CE being offered for each program.
Very soon we will be emailing out invitations to renew membership for the upcoming 2022-2023 season. While our costs have increased in the past year, we will hold the line and maintain our membership fee at $100. Costs at Midland Hills have increased substantially from two years ago, so our pass-through costs for our meetings have increased. Our in-person breakfast meeting fee will be $30 for members and $35 for guests. Again, this only reflects the additional costs that we are being charged by Midland Hills, which like a lot of businesses has higher costs due to the pandemic.
We are pleased to announce the addition of Greg Carlson, Shannon Law and Kathy Kuehl to the board. At the same time, we will miss Grace Zhu, who has been the treasurer and a mainstay on the board for many years, as she and her family recently moved to Atlanta. We believe that in order to remain relevant as an organization, it is important to bring fresh ideas to the group so that we can thrive and be at the cutting edge of the estate planning world. We remain committed to building our membership base and inviting additional members onto our board on a regular basis. Certainly let us know if you would be interested in joining the board, or perhaps would like to help on projects if joining the board is too big of a commitment for you.
Thank you for being part of our group! We appreciate your continued interest and support and remain committed to meeting your needs. As always, we welcome your input on programs/topics, meeting formats or anything else that is important to your experience.
If you are a past member or guest, please consider joining. We would love to have you back!
Best Regards,
Jonathan Scharlau
TCEPC President
JOSEPH LARKIN
November 29, 1956-December 9, 2019
Our deepest sympathy goes out to the family of Joe Larkin, past president of the Twin Cities Estate Planning Council. Joseph Dominic Larkin passed away peacefully in his sleep on December 9, 2019, in Key West, Florida. Joe was extremely instrumental in the success of the Councils and we are grateful for his many contributions and long-time service.
Joe loved people, flying, sailing, water, travel, and sunsets. He helped many people achieve financial security, and he did so honestly and diligently, with patience and integrity. Family was central to his life, and he was always at the center of planning parties and the annual family reunion, and taking anyone who was interested for a boat ride. He especially loved his two granddaughters. He’ll always be fondly remembered for captaining sunset pontoon boat cruises at every opportunity; for the “big picture” advice he gently gave his children, nephews, nieces, and quite a few of his siblings; and for his willingness to lend a hand when someone needed help. Rest in peace, Joe. We hope you’re sailing in heaven.
Twin Cities Estate Planning Council is affiliated with the National Association of Estate Planners & Councils and joining can fulfill the requirement of belonging to an affiliated local estate planning council to become an Accredited Estate Planner® (AEP®) designee. Please contact the national office at 866-226-2224 to learn more about the Accredited Estate Planner® designation.
