So your client wants you to handle a probate case – do you know where to start? Do you know the proper procedures to use, as well as the law? Get detailed, step-by-step information to confidently and ably navigate the system, and gain the confidence you need to reach a favorable outcome for your client when litigating in probate court. Order today!

1. Taking the First Step: Filing an Estate in Probate Court
2. Understanding the Role of the Personal Representative in Probate
3. Managing the Inventory
4. Administering the Estate Effectively
5. Maintaining an Ethical Balance in Probate Practice
6. Uncovering the Laws of Intestacy and How They May Apply
7. Litigating the Case in Probate Court
8. Putting the Case to Rest: Closing the Estate

1. TAKING THE FIRST STEP: FILING AN ESTATE IN PROBATE COURT
   8:30 - 9:15, Sondri Allison
   1. Small Estate - What it is and How to File
   2. Regular Estate
   3. The Estate Timetable - What You Need to Do
   4. Proving the Will
   5. Challenging the Will
2. UNDERSTANDING THE ROLE OF THE PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVEIN PROBATE
   9:15 - 10:00, Sondri Allison
   1. Duties of the Personal Representative
   2. Misconduct and/or Removal
   3. Compensation Guidelines
   4. Special Administration Issues
3. MANAGING THE INVENTORY
   10:15 - 11:05, Sondri Allison
   1. Statutory Requirements and How They Affect Your Case
   2. Notice to Creditors, Beneficiaries and State Agencies - What is Required
   3. Collecting, Maintaining and Managing Assets
   4. Inventory Problems
4. ADMINISTERING THE ESTATEEFFECTIVELY
   11:05 - 12:00, Sondri Allison
   1. How to Respond to Creditors' Claims
   2. Insolvency
   3. Managing the Estate Cash Responsibly
   4. Disclaimers
   5. Partial Distributions
5. MAINTAINING AN ETHICAL BALANCE IN PROBATE PRACTICE
   1:00 - 2:00, Thomas J. Murphy
   1. Performing Competent Legal Services
   2. Identifying the Client
   3. Avoiding Conflicts of Interest
   4. Distinguishing Between Privileged and Non-Privileged Communication
   5. Establishing Reasonable Attorneys’ Fees
6. UNCOVERING THE LAWS OF INTESTACY AND HOW THEY MAY APPLY
   2:00 - 2:45, Thomas J. Murphy
7. LITIGATING THE CASE IN PROBATE COURT
   3:00 - 3:50, Thomas J. Murphy
   1. Explanation of Rules of Probate Procedure
   2. Declaratory Judgment
   3. How to Conduct Discovery
   4. What to Do on Appeal
8. PUTTING THE CASE TO REST: CLOSING THE ESTATE
   3:50 - 4:40, Thomas J. Murphy
   1. Final Accounting
   2. Distribution of Estate to Beneficiaries
   3. Discharge of Fiduciary
   4. Tax Returns - What Needs to be Filed and When

ROGER D. CURLEY is a partner of the Phoenix law firm of Curley & Allison, LLP, where he practices in the areas of estate planning, probate, trusts and taxation. Mr. Curley is a certified specialist in estate and trust law by the Arizona Board of Legal Specialization. Prior to returning to private practice he had been trust counsel for First Interstate Bank of Arizona, N.A., for several years where his principal job responsibility was to advise the bank's Trust and Financial Services Group on legal matters involving probate and other fiduciary accounts. Mr. Curley has presented many seminars on estate planning, tax and trust topics. He earned his A.B. degree, magna cum laude, from Dartmouth College and both his J.D. and LL.M. degrees from New York University. Mr. Curley is a member of the American and Maricopa County bar associations, and the State Bar of Arizona (former chairman, Probate and Trust Law Section).

THOMAS J. MURPHY is an attorney located in the Ahwatukee area of Phoenix. His practice emphasizes estate planning, elder law (to include nursing home issues), all probate matters (to include contested matters and guardianships) and tax controversies. Mr. Murphy has regularly appeared before the Arizona Court of Appeals, litigating many of the cutting-edge appellate cases in probate law. He also is one of the most experienced trial attorneys in the Southwest, having been the sole or lead counsel in more than 100 jury trials. Mr. Murphy has successfully litigated cases in the U.S. Tax Court, the Arizona Tax Court and the Arizona Board of Tax Appeals. He has represented clients before all levels of the Internal Revenue Service and the Arizona Department of Revenue. Mr. Murphy is a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, the State Bar of Arizona (Tax Law, Probate and Trust Law, Mental Health and Elder Law sections) and the Arizona Medicaid Planning Council. He has served on numerous state and county bar association committees, and was selected to be the state bar representative to the Arizona Supreme Court's Committee on Reform of Lower Jurisdiction Courts. Mr. Murphy has testified as an expert witness in cases before the Maricopa County Probate Court regarding probate practices in Arizona. He serves on the advisory board of the Phoenix Tax Workshop and the editorial board of NAELA News. Mr. Murphy has been published in many national, state and local professional journals, writing on a wide variety of legal and tax matters. His articles on the impact of the new HIPAA regulations on health care powers of attorney and related documents have garnered him wide recognition as one of the nation's foremost authorities in this field, and he has been invited to speak before many organizations. Mr. Murphy graduated from Tufts University, with honors, and he earned his law degree from Suffolk University Law School.

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