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Overview
Learn How to Handle Assets, Taxes, Personal Representatives, and More!
This step-by-step practical instruction offers essential knowledge of probate processes and best practices for handling each unique case effectively. Learn how to tackle crucial first steps; handle the personal executive; gather, value, and distribute all assets; and successfully complete the final accounting and tax returns. Arm yourself with the foundational knowledge and best practices you need to ensure a smooth administration from start to finish. Register today!
- Don't overlook anything important: confidently navigate critical first steps.
- Understand executor powers, duties, responsibilities, and compensation guidelines.
- Learn how to effectively marshal and inventory all assets.
- Pick up tips for validating, prioritizing, and satisfying creditor claims.
- Get practical guidance for post-mortem planning, trust administration, and tax hurdles.
- Put the decedent's affairs to rest by making distributions, filing the final tax return, and completing the final accounting.
- Discover how to litigate deed contests, lost or contested wills, fiduciary misconduct, and more.
Abbreviated Agenda
- Opening the Estate
- Preparing the Personal Representatives for the Job
- Managing the Estate: Valuations, Spousal Share, and More
- Addressing Creditor Claims
- Post-Mortem Tax Planning, Distributions, and Trust Administration
- Handling Estate Closing, Final Accounting, and Tax Returns
- Maintaining an Ethical Practice
- Resolving Disputes and Navigating Probate Litigation
Credit Details
Credits Available
| Credit | Status | Total | Until |
|---|---|---|---|
| Florida CLE |
|
7 Total | 03-31-2027 |
Select Jurisdiction
CLE
Agenda
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Opening the Estate
- What to Do in the First 48 Hours
- Obtaining the Will and Getting it Admitted
- Locating and Notifying the Beneficiaries
- Determining if the Estate Qualifies for a Small Estate Administration
- The Estate Timeline - What Must be Done When
- Filing the Initial Petition With the Probate Court: Forms and Procedures
- Sending Initial Notices to the Public and to State Agencies
- Closing the Decedent's Accounts
- Obtaining the Estate Tax ID
- Laws of Intestacy
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Preparing the Personal Representatives for the Job
- Educating PRs on Their Duties, Powers, and Responsibilities
- Compiling Personal Representative Guide/Instructions
- Clarifying Executor Compensation
- Advising PRs on Potential Problems and Liability
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Managing the Estate: Valuations, Spousal Share, and More
- Marshalling and Valuing Decedent's Assets
- Initial Inventory
- Maintenance and Management
- Determining Elective Share and Homestead Allowance
- Spousal Rights: Electing vs. Disclaiming the Share
- Claiming Homestead Allowance
- Portability Rules; Claiming Unused Lifetime Exclusion
- Estate Expenses: Payment and Record-Keeping
- What to Do With the Income the Estate is Producing
-
Addressing Creditor Claims
- Issuing Notices to Creditors: What Works Best
- Validating Claims
- Determining the Priority of Creditor Rights
- Selling Property to Satisfy Claims: What to Sell, How to Do it, and How to Properly Record it
- Satisfying Tax Claims and Liens
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Post-Mortem Tax Planning, Distributions, and Trust Administration
- Managing the Tax Consequences of Elections and Receipt of Non-Probate Assets (e.g. IRA Distributions)
- Tax Implications of Transfers
- Creating Trusts and Subtrusts for Multiple Beneficiaries to Receive Their Shares of the Estate
- What to Do With Bequests and Trust Distributions to Minors
- Post-Mortem Tax Planning Approaches: How Much Maneuver Room is Left?
- How to Calculate the Omitted Spouse Share or Omitted Child Share
- Guarding Disabled Adult Beneficiaries' Benefits Eligibility
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Handling Estate Closing, Final Accounting, and Tax Returns
- Tax Returns and Deadlines - Estate and Income, State and Federal, Decedent's and the Estate's
- Informal Closing by Statement of Personal Representative
- Compiling and Balancing the Final Account
- Final Distributions to Beneficiaries and Liability of Distributees
- Closing the Estate and Discharging the Fiduciary
-
Maintaining an Ethical Practice
- Whom do You Represent? Conflicts of Interest
- Protecting Client Confidentiality
- Attorney Fees
- Practicing Law in More Than One State
-
Resolving Disputes and Navigating Probate Litigation
- Will Contests, Deed Contests, Allegations of Undue Influence and Other Causes of Action
- Obtaining Court Guidance for Proposed Actions Regarding the Estate Administration
- Probate Litigation Rules, Procedures, and Evidentiary Provisions
- Fiduciary Misconduct, Liability, Disputes with Beneficiaries
- Effective Approaches to Resolving Disputes Without Going to Court
Who Should Attend
This basic level online seminar is designed for attorneys, accountants, tax professionals, trust officers, executors and other fiduciaries and paralegals.
Speakers
Speaker bio
Alexander Gil
is the founder of Alexander Gil, PLLC. He was admitted to The Florida Bar in September of 2014. Mr. Gil's focus is primarily in the areas of estate planning, special needs planning, asset protection planning, guardianship administration, and probate administration. He graduated, magna cum laude, from the University of Miami School of Law in 2014. In addition to his law degree, Mr. Gil earned a Masters in Taxation from the University of Miami School of Law Joint Degree Program. He was a staff editor for the Inter-American Law Review.
Speaker bio
Taso M. Milonas
is admitted to practice before all courts in Florida and the U.S. Tax Court. He received his LL.M. degree in taxation from the University of Florida Frederic G. Levin College of Law and his J.D. degree from Stetson University College of Law. Mr. Milonas has been qualified and testified as a subject-matter expert in state and federal courts in a number of areas, including estate planning, undue influence, breach of fiduciary duty, fiduciary accounting, Florida Probate Code, Florida Trust Code, Florida Uniform Principal and Income Act, federal income, gift and estate tax, and legal ethics. A significant portion of his practice is devoted to will and trust disputes in complex litigation throughout Florida, representing both fiduciaries and beneficiaries. Mr. Milonas is a Florida Bar board-certified tax lawyer, and was recently appointed by the president of The Florida Bar to serve as a member of the Tax Law Certification Committee. Currently, less than 5% of all attorneys admitted to practice in Florida are board-certified. He serves individual clients and their advisors on a wide-range of legal matters in a variety of capacities, including lead counsel, co-counsel, special counsel and subject-matter expert. Mr. Milonas currently serves on the Executive Council of The Florida Bar Tax Section; and has served in various leadership roles, including director of its Federal Tax Division, chair of the Estate & Gift Tax Committee and editor of Tax Section articles for the Florida Bar Journal. He has published numerous articles, and is a frequent lecturer before professional groups on tax, estate planning and probate litigation.
Speaker bio
Matthew D. Pineda
is an attorney with Pineda Law PLLC. He practices in the areas of probate and estates and entrepreneurship. Mr. Pineda is licensed to practice in the state courts of Florida and North Carolina; United States Tax Court; Federal District Courts of the Middle, Northern and Southern districts of Florida; Federal District Court of the Eastern and Middle districst of North Carolina; and the Cherokee Supreme Court. He earned his B.A. degree from the University of Miami; his J.D. degree from Nova Southeastern University, Shepard Broad College of Law; his LL.M. degree in taxation Law from the University of Miami School of Law; and his LL.M. degree in law and entrepreneurship from Duke University School of Law.
Speaker bio
Aislynn Thomas-McDonald
is the founder and managing attorney of Kelley Kronenberg. She focuses her practice in the areas of family law, trial and appellate practice, divorce, child custody/time-sharing, marital agreements, adoption and surrogacy law, collaborative divorce/family law (certified training completed March 2017), probate administration and litigation, wills and trusts, guardianship and elder law, and family mediation. She is a member of various professional organizations, some include the Dade County Bar Association, Monroe County Bar Association, Duval County Bar Association, Florida Association of Women Lawyers, and the Dean's Alumni Circle, FIU College of Law. She earned her B.A. degree from American University of Paris, her M.S. degree from Mississippi College and her J.D. degree from Florida International University.
Speaker bio
Leah A. Foertsch
is office managing partner with Pannone Lopes Devereaux & O'Gara LLC, and a member of the estate and trust planning, administration and litigation team. Her practice focuses on advising individuals and families in all areas of trust and estate planning, and probate administration. In addition, Ms. Foertsch has extensive experience in representing individuals and businesses in asset protection, wealth management, and tax strategies, and has managed multi-million dollar real estate transactions, including structuring deals and providing title insurance for both commercial and residential properties. She also works with businesses on their succession planning strategies and has advised clients regarding the best structure to meet their needs and goals. Previously, Ms. Foertsch managed the estate planning and real estate practice for the Palm Beach Gardens office of a multi-state law firm, where she also handled the representation of fiduciaries in all aspects of probate administration. She earned her J.D. degree from St. Thomas University School of Law, her Master of Laws in taxation from the University of Miami School of Law, and her undergraduate degree in sociology from Washington and Jefferson College in Pennsylvania. Ms. Foertsch is licensed to practice in Florida, and is a member of The Florida Bar, Tax and Real Property, Probate and Trust sections.
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