Minutes of the Fraser Valley Estate Planning Council Directors Meeting
May 13, 2008 @ 8:30 AM
at Manthorpe Law Offices
Present: Rosalyn Manthorpe, Charlene Taylor, Karl Maier, Carey Vanderberg, and Richard Wenner
Regrets: Anne George and Pam Prior
Presidents Report
Nominating committee report: Nick Cheng has consented to act as Vice President, and Kam Lidder to act as program chair. Should be a well-rounded group for next year.
Vice President’s Report
Nothing to report.
Treasurer’s Report
There is enough money to cover the expenses for the year. Administration costs have dropped. We made more money and spent less than last year. New board will start the year with $5000.00 in the bank. This year there is a surplus of $1000 as opposed to a deficit last year of approximately $1800. The new board will have to set the 2008/9 fees at their next meeting.
Membership Report
There are currently 62 members broken down approximately as follows: 16 lawyers, 22 financial planners, 7 insurance people, 8 accountants, 3 trust officers, one bank manager, one actuary and 4 not-for-profit.
We discussed the assigned/shuffled seating idea. It was agreed that some but not all of the meetings will be assigned/shuffled – likely the first meeting of the year and/or the joint meeting with Canadian Association of Gift Planners (“GAGP”)
Continuing Education Credit: there was a request to show the “number of credits” on our certificates. We decided to show the time, i.e., one hour, on future certificates, and to issue replacement certificates showing the time on request.
Program Committee Report
Carey Vandenberg confirmed the list of speakers for 2008/9:
September Barry LaValley will present on “transitioning into a retirement lifestyle”
November David Ingram will present on cross border issues. We will propose it as a joint meeting with the Abbotsford Estate Planning Council
January Ian Baker and Pam Prior will discuss the merits of Individual Pension Plans and Retirement Compensation Agreements
March Chistopher Richardson will give an update and analysis on “Donor Advised Funds”. We will propose it as a joint meeting with the CAGP.
May Dan Muzyka, the Dean of the Sauder School of Business at UBC, will present on a topic yet to be agreed with him.
It was decided to postpone a speaker on alter-ego and joint partner trusts (previously scheduled for January 2008) until the 2009/10 program year.
Membership Renewal:
We decided to encourage early membership renewal, and to again have early bird renewal at a discounted rate.
Next year’s venue is yet to be decided. The cost of the current venue will increase and this will have some bearing upon the cost of next year’s annual membership fee. It was agreed to table these issues to the first meeting of the new Board of Directors, in June.
We will ask Laurie to communicate our concerns to Coyote Creek with the object of improving the service and quality of the meals.
New Business:
We adopted Bruce Fraser’s suggestion that the board divide up the membership list and phone to encourage them to attend the AGM, especially as it follows a long weekend.
The next meeting will be on June 17, 2008 at 8:30 AM at the office of Rosalyn Manthorpe. This meeting is scheduled to last 90 minutes, as we will be deciding on the 2008/9 venue, menu, and membership fees.
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 9:45 AM