(October 2026) The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina’s 34th Annual Professional Seminar featuring attorneys Carl L. King and Rebecca Smitherman will take place Tuesday, November 17, at the Hilton Asheville Biltmore Park. The presentation will address Estate Tax and Income Tax Planning Considerations for Carolinians in a High-Exemption World.
Registration, breakfast, and networking begin at 8 a.m.; the seminar takes place from 9 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Register online; cost is $110 per person before November 9 and $120 after. Three hours of continuing education credit are available. Attendees are encouraged to register by November 16.
Rebecca Smitherman, Craige Jenkins Liipfert & Walker LLP, is licensed to practice law in North Carolina and is a Board Certified Specialist in Estate Planning and Probate Law by the North Carolina State Bar Board of Legal Specialization. Her practice areas include estate planning, estate administration, trust administration, and corporate law. Rebecca is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel. Fellows are leading members of the trust and estate profession who have made substantial contributions to and demonstrated exceptional skill in the field of trusts and estates. Rebecca is also an adjunct professor at Wake Forest University School of Law.
Carl L. King is a partner in Womble Bond Dickinson’s Private Wealth Sector. He helps clients achieve their family, financial, and estate planning goals while minimizing potential estate, gift, and income tax liabilities. He also represents foundations and public charities as an ongoing part of his practice and has extensive experience implementing intergenerational wealth transfers using charitable entities, closely held business interests, and life insurance strategies. He has drafted and implemented hundreds of complex gift and estate tax strategies, including generation-skipping trusts, family limited liability companies, installment sales to grantor trusts, grantor retained annuity trusts (GRATS), and various charitable entities.
The Community Foundation works with families, businesses, and nonprofits to strengthen communities through the creation of charitable funds and strategic grantmaking. A permanent charitable resource, the Foundation manages over 1,300 funds and has facilitated more than $494 million in philanthropy since its founding in 1978.