To ensure a successful outcome in settling an estate for your clients, you need to have a thorough understanding of the probate process. How does your knowledge stack up? Get the solid foundation you need to thrive in the probate arena with this complete guide. Examine the nuts and bolts of the probate process so you'll be better prepared to handle decedents' estates. Order today!

1. Initiating the Probate Process
2. Spouse's Rights and Family Maintenance
3. Basic Tax Matters
4. Closing the Estate
5. Ethics in Probate Practice
6. Common Probate Problems and How to Solve Them

1. INITIATING THE PROBATE PROCESS
   8:30 - 9:30, Michael A. Friedman
   1. Interviewing and Determining the Personal Representative
   2. Evaluating the Estate to Minimize Costs and Expenses -- The High Cost of Dying
   3. Locating, Collecting and Taking Inventory of the Decedent's Assets -- Probate vs. Nonprobate
   4. Determining Which Types of Administration are Right for You -- Informal or Formal
   5. Elections and Filings
   6. Handling Claims Against the Estate
   7. Using Renunciation and Disclaimers as a Post-Mortem Planning Device
2. SPOUSE'S RIGHTS AND FAMILY MAINTENANCE
   9:30 - 10:15, Mark E. House
   1. Determining the Existence or Nonexistence of a Will
   2. Duties of the Personal Representative
   3. Homestead and Exempt Property -- What is Legally Your Client's, Regardless of Value
   4. Effect of Prenuptial and Postnuptial Agreements
   5. The Surviving Spouse's Elective Share
   6. What are the Family Allowances That Can be Taken?
3. BASIC TAX MATTERS
   10:30 - 12:00, Mark E. House
   1. Overview of Tax Compliance and Post-Mortem Planning
   2. Coordinating and Filing the Estate Tax and Fiduciary Income Tax Return
   3. Planning for an Estate Tax Audit
   4. Generation-Skipping Transfer Taxes
   5. Disclaimers
   6. Reverse QTIP Elections
4. CLOSING THE ESTATE
   1:00 - 2:30, Mark A. Bregman
   1. Timing of Distributions
   2. Transfer of Probate and Nonprobate Assets
   3. Distributions to Minors and Trusts
   4. Preparing the Final Account
   5. Petition for Complete Settlement
   6. Obtaining Discharge of the Personal Representative
5. ETHICS IN PROBATE PRACTICE
   2:45 - 3:45, Mark A. Bregman, Michael A. Friedman and Mark E. House
   1. Performing Competent Legal Services
   2. Identifying the Client
   3. Avoiding Conflicts of Interest
   4. Distinguishing Privileged and Non-Privileged Communication
   5. Keeping the Client Informed
   6. Establishing Attorneys' Fees
6. COMMON PROBATE PROBLEMS AND HOW TO SOLVE THEM
   3:45 - 4:40, Michael A. Friedman
   1. What to do When the Decedent Has Property in More Than One State -- Multiple Domiciles
   2. Inter Vivos and Testamentary Trusts
   3. Intestate Administration
   4. Lost/Withheld Wills

MARK A. BREGMAN is managing partner in the Scottsdale law firm of Bregman & Burt Lawyers. His areas of practice include estate and asset protection planning, probate and trust administration and litigation, and related special situations involving real estate and business transactions. Mr. Bregman frequently lectures to various professional groups on topics pertaining to his areas of practice. He has published "Charitable Remainder Trusts: How Many Objectives Can One Strategy Satisfy," May/June 2001, Planned Giving , the newsletter of the Arizona Community Foundation, and an article on the changes to individual retirement accounts in the Maricopa Lawyer (2002). Mr. Bregman is a former superior court pro tempore (civil and family courts). He earned his B.A. degree from Virginia Tech and his J.D. degree from Arizona State University. Mr. Bregman is a member of the Scottsdale Bar Association (past president, past director) and the State Bar of Arizona (member, Fee Arbitration Committee). He was a lead attorney in In real estate of Pilafas, 172 Ariz. 207, 836 P.2d 420 (1992) which distinguishes the revocation of living trusts and wills. He also was the attorney in the recent bankruptcy case, Gaughan v. The Edward Dittlof Revocable Trust, et al (In re Costas, 346 B.R. 198 (2006); presently on appeal to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals; pre-petition disclaimers effective in bankruptcy cases. He has recently presented seminars on the following topics: Preparing 706 Estate, Gift, and Generation Skipping Tax Returns, Drafting Effective Arizona Trusts, Estate Planning and Recovery for Elderly Clients, Protecting Personal Assets and Minimizing Estate Taxes at Death, Disclaimers and Arizona Probate.

MICHAEL A. FRIEDMAN practices in the law firm of Trompeter Schiffman Petrovits Friedman & Hulse LLP, where he handles estate planning, wills, trusts, probates, guardianships, conservatorships and elder law. He has practiced law in Arizona for more than 30 years and is certified by the State Bar of Arizona as a specialist in estate and trust law. Mr. Friedman has served as a judge pro tem for the Maricopa County Superior Court. He is authorized to practice law before the U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, U.S. District Court for Arizona, U.S. Tax Court and the Supreme Court of Arizona. Mr. Friedman has obtained permanent Arizona Community College certification as a professor in business and law. He has presented at several estate planning and probate seminars for National Business Institute and has taught courses in estate planning and probate law in the Phoenix College Paralegal Program. Mr. Friedman is a member of the State Bar of Arizona (member, Probate and Elder Law sections), the Arizona Bar Foundation, the Volunteer Lawyers Program, the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and the College of Estate Planning Attorneys.  He has served both on the Executive Council of the State Bar Section on Elder Law and the Executive Board of the Arizona Chapter of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys. Mr. Friedman graduated from Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, with degrees from the College of Arts and Sciences, the Graduate School of Business Administration and the School of Law.

MARK E. HOUSE is a partner at Becker & House, PLLC. His primary focus is on trust and estate litigation. This includes will contests, financial exploitation, fiduciary litigation and most other contested matters involving an estate or trust. Mr. House speaks regularly on topics ranging from drafting to avoid litigation, to the income tax issues of trust funding. He also guest lectures at the Arizona State University College of Law. Mr. House has written several articles including “Big Savings on Campus, 529 Plans Open College Gates” 38 Arizona Attorney 20 (2001) and “Exempting the Charitable Share: Equitable Apportionment in Arizona” Giving Counsel, May - June 2004. He earned his B.S.B.A. degree in business economics from Northern Arizona University and his J.D. degree, with distinction, from Emory University School of Law in Atlanta, Georgia. Mr. House is a member of the State Bar of Arizona, and the American and Maricopa County bar associations. He also is a member and former director of the Central Arizona Estate Planning Counsel and a founding member of the Scottsdale Young Estate Planners.

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