Free EPLS Practice Questions

Question 1

A proposed testamentary trust will pay all income annually to a U.S. citizen spouse for life, then pass the remainder to the decedent’s children. It will hold only vacant investment land. Under the instrument and applicable state law, the trustee may retain the land indefinitely without making it productive or providing substitute payments, and the spouse cannot compel either. No trust property may benefit anyone other than the spouse during the spouse’s life. Which revision addresses the obstacle to QTIP qualification while preserving the children’s remainder?

Accepted Answer

Let the spouse compel the trustee to make the land productive.

Answer

Require the trustee to distribute every dollar of income quarterly instead of annually.

Answer

Require the executor to elect QTIP treatment for all trust assets.

Answer

Permit the spouse to appoint the remainder among the children.

Question 2

The signature card for a Florida deposit account names Ellen and Rob as the only account parties, provides a right of survivorship, and names Rob’s adult daughter as payable-on-death (POD) beneficiary. Ellen dies in 2026, survived by Rob, his daughter, and Ellen’s son. Her will leaves the residue to her son. No conflicting account term or creditor claim applies. Who owns the deposit immediately after Ellen’s death?

Accepted Answer

Rob owns the account; the daughter’s POD designation gives her no ownership while an account party survives.

Answer

Rob’s daughter owns the account; Ellen’s death activates the POD designation ahead of both survivorship and the will.

Answer

Rob and his daughter own equal shares; the first account party’s death activates the daughter’s POD interest.

Answer

Rob and Ellen’s son own equal shares; Ellen’s residuary devise controls her share of the deposit account.

Question 3

In 2026, Nora gives stock to her husband Luis. Both are U.S. citizens. Nora’s adjusted basis is $120,000, and the stock is then worth $80,000. Luis later makes a separate outright gift of the stock to their adult daughter when it is worth $100,000. The daughter sells it for $90,000 net. No gift tax was paid, and there are no other basis adjustments. What gain or loss does the daughter recognize?

Accepted Answer

$10,000 loss

Answer

$10,000 gain

Answer

$30,000 loss

Answer

No gain or loss

Question 4

Marisol’s engagement letter names her as the sole estate-planning client. Her adult son, a beneficiary under her plan, offers to pay the fees. After the lawyer privately explains the material risks and alternatives, Marisol gives informed consent. The son agrees not to direct the work or receive confidential information, and no materially limiting conflict exists. Under ABA Model Rule 1.8(f), may the lawyer accept this arrangement?

Accepted Answer

Yes, while keeping Marisol as the sole client and preserving confidentiality.

Answer

No, unless Marisol first retains separate counsel to approve the payment arrangement.

Answer

No; payment by an expected beneficiary creates a conflict that informed consent cannot cure.

Answer

Yes, but only if the son becomes a joint client in the estate-planning engagement.

Question 5

In 2026, Leah, age 42 and disabled, receives an outright inheritance and becomes its legal owner. She receives SSI and Medicaid. Her mother proposes transferring the inheritance into a supplemental-needs trust that the mother will sign, omitting Medicaid payback because a parent is creating it. Counsel is evaluating the individual special-needs trust exception in 42 U.S.C. §1396p(d)(4)(A), not a pooled trust. Which correction is essential?

Accepted Answer

Treat the inheritance as Leah’s own assets; changing the signer does not remove the exception’s required Medicaid-payback provision.

Answer

Add Medicaid payback only for assistance received after the trust is funded; earlier benefits need not be reimbursed.

Answer

Obtain a court order creating the trust; a disabled adult’s parent cannot establish a trust that uses the adult’s own assets.

Answer

Make the trust irrevocable; irrevocability alone permits family remainder beneficiaries to take before Medicaid is reimbursed.

Question 6

Six years before his death in 2026, an insured transferred a life-insurance policy to an irrevocable trust for his children. He could no longer change beneficiaries, surrender the policy, or assign it. However, he retained an enforceable personal right to borrow against its cash surrender value, which he never exercised. The death proceeds are payable only to the trust. How should the executor treat the proceeds for federal estate-tax purposes?

Accepted Answer

Include the death proceeds because a borrowing right remained at death.

Answer

Exclude them because the transfer occurred more than three years before death.

Answer

Include only the cash surrender value that the insured could have borrowed.

Answer

Exclude them because the beneficiary designation was irrevocable at death.

Question 7

Avery, age 48, inherits her parents’ separate traditional IRAs as sole beneficiary. Both parents die in 2026: her father after his required beginning date and her mother before hers. Avery is not an eligible designated beneficiary. Any owner-level distributions due for 2026 have been paid, and neither account accelerates the federal deadlines. She will retain a balance in both accounts until December 31, 2036. From which account must Avery take annual required minimum distributions (RMDs) during 2027-2035?

Accepted Answer

Only the father’s account, because its annual-distribution requirement continues.

Answer

Both accounts; each parent’s death begins an annual beneficiary-distribution requirement.

Answer

Neither account; the ten-year deadline replaces annual RMDs from both accounts.

Answer

Only the mother’s account, because death before the required beginning date accelerates annual distributions.

Question 8

Maya acquired an interest in her aunt’s testamentary trust at age 17. At age 21 years and seven months, she delivers a state-valid, irrevocable written refusal to the trustee. Neither Maya nor anyone acting for her has accepted the interest or its benefits, and the trust terms automatically pass the interest to her brother without her direction. Has the federal nine-month disclaimer period expired?

Accepted Answer

No; it runs from Maya’s twenty-first birthday in these circumstances.

Answer

Yes; it began when her aunt’s death created the interest.

Answer

Yes; it began when Maya first reached age eighteen.

Answer

No; it begins only when the trustee offers a distribution.

Question 9

A domestic nongrantor trust for a widow with no disability requires all fiduciary-accounting income to be distributed currently and contains no charitable provision. In 2026 the trustee pays her all that income and makes an additional, authorized principal distribution for home repairs. How should the trust be classified for that year, and what federal income-tax personal exemption applies?

Accepted Answer

A complex trust with a $300 exemption

Answer

A complex trust with a $100 exemption

Answer

A simple trust with a $600 exemption

Answer

A simple trust with a $300 exemption

Question 10

During an estate-planning meeting, a lawyer learns that her client is about to wire her retirement savings to an impostor. Even with appropriate supports, the client cannot understand the deception or its consequences and cannot protect herself. The lawyer reasonably expects substantial financial loss unless someone intervenes. The client’s bank can lawfully pause the wire long enough to arrange further protection. The client cannot give informed consent to disclosure. Under ABA Model Rule 1.14 as revised in February 2026, what authority does the lawyer have?

Accepted Answer

The lawyer may request a temporary hold with limited protective disclosure.

Answer

Express client consent is required before disclosure, even if the transfer occurs meanwhile.

Answer

The planned wire transfer bars disclosure until a court adjudicates the client incapacitated.

Answer

An emergency guardianship order must be obtained before the lawyer alerts the bank.

Free EPLS Practice Questions

Domain 1: Estate and gift tax

Question 1

Question 2

Question 3

Question 4

Question 5

Domain 2: Planning

Question 6

Question 7

Question 8

Domain 3: Ethics

Question 9

Question 10

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