Are you confident that you can carry out the wishes of your client after they have passed? Do you have the skills you need to smoothly and efficiently handle the details of probate administration? Gain the knowledge and skills you need to fulfill your clients' directives and avoid unnecessary obstacles. Order today!

1. Getting Started: Initiating the Probate Process
2. The Spouse's Rights and Family Maintenance Concerns
3. Closing the Estate
4. Ethical Issues in Probate Practice
5. Roadblocks in Probate: How to Deal with Common Challenges

Continuing Education Credits:   

* denotes specialty credits

1. GETTING STARTED: INITIATING THE PROBATE PROCESS
   9:00 - 10:15, Linda Hart Tabory
   1. Determining the Existence or Nonexistence of a Will
   2. Interviewing and Determining the Personal Representative
   3. Duties of the Personal Representative
   4. Evaluating the Estate to Minimize Costs and Expenses - The High Cost of Dying
   5. Locating, Collecting and Taking Inventory of the Decedent's Assets - Probate vs. Nonprobate
   6. Determining Which Types of Administration are Right for You - Informal or Formal
   7. Elections and Filings - Getting Deadlines for the Client
   8. Handling Claims Against the Estate
   9. Using Renunciation and Disclaimers as a Post-Mortem Planning Device
   10. Sample Forms to be Familiar With
   11. Using Checklists to Navigate Your Way Through the Process
   12. Understanding Basic Tax Issues and Concerns in Probate
   13. Hypothetical Case Evaluation - Getting Started in Probate
2. ROADBLOCKS IN PROBATE: HOW TO DEAL WITH COMMON CHALLENGES
   10:30 - 11:45 , Ruth L. Landau Vano
   1. What to Do When the Decedent Has Property in More Than One State - Multiple Domiciles
   2. Dealing With Insolvent Estates
   3. Intestate Administration
   4. Lost/Withheld Wills
   5. Gifts Made By or on Behalf of Someone Who Shortly Thereafter Dies
3. CLOSING THE ESTATE
   12:45 - 2:00, Ruth L. Landau Vano
   1. Timing and Methods of Distributions
   2. Transfer of Probate and Nonprobate Assets
   3. Distributions to Minors and Trusts
   4. Preparing a Final Accounting
   5. Petition for Complete Settlement
   6. Obtaining Discharge of the Personal Representative
   7. Using Checklists to Guide You Through the Process
   8. Hypothetical Case Evaluation - Navigating the Closing Process
4. ETHICAL ISSUES IN PROBATE PRACTICE
   2:00 - 3:00, David R. Alig
   1. Identifying the Client
   2. Avoiding Conflicts of Interest
   3. Distinguishing Privileged and Non-Privileged Communication
   4. Keeping the Client Informed
   5. Establishing Attorney's Fees - Engagement Letters and Local Rules
5. THE SPOUSE'S RIGHTS AND FAMILY MAINTENANCE CONCERNS
   3:15 - 4:30, David R. Alig
   1. Effect of Prenuptial and Postnuptial Agreements
   2. The Surviving Spouse's Elective Share
   3. Homestead and Exempt Property - What is Legally Your Client's, Regardless of Value
   4. What are the Family Allowances That Can Be Taken
   5. Hypothetical Case Evaluation - Evaluating Spouse and Family Maintenance Concerns

DAVID R. ALIG is the founding principal of Alig Law Firm and has practiced law in the greater Kansas City metropolitan area since 1979 since graduating from the University of Tulsa College of Law and the University of Missouri-Columbia. Mr. Alig's practice has always focused in the closely affiliated areas of estate planning, business representation, and estate administration. After beginning his practice of law in Kansas City, Missouri, most of his career he has been in solo practice in Leawood/Overland Park, Kansas at Alig Law Firm. Through the years, Mr. Alig has actively participated in a number of professional collaborative support/development groups, including WealthCounsel, National Network of Estate Planning Attorneys, WealthCounsel Advisers Forum, Johnson County Bench/Bar Probate Committee, National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, the Real Estate, Probate and Trust Section of the Kansas Bar Association, and others. He speaks and writes frequently on the topics of estate planning, business representation, and estate administration for private and professional groups, including National Business Institute.

LINDA HART TABORY is senior counsel to the Hardwick Law Firm, LLC, in Kansas City, Missouri, where she concentrates her practice in the areas of guardianships, special needs trusts, elder law and probate matters. Ms. Tabory began practicing law in Washington, D.C., with the U.S. House of Representatives. She subsequently was a teaching fellow at Georgetown University Law Center and went on to the Office of Chief Counsel of the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Transit Administration. Ms. Tabory went into the private practice of law in 1997 and immediately began concentrating on probate issues. She is a frequent speaker to both professional groups and lay people on probate and elder law issues. Ms. Tabory is a member of the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association, The Missouri Bar and the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys. She is currently on the Board of the Missouri Chapter of the NAELA and is a past co-chairperson of the Nursing Home Committee of the KCMBA. Ms. Tabory earned her B.S. degree from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota and her J.D. degree from Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota, where she was founder and editor-in-chief of the Minnesota Journal of Public Law.

RUTH L. LANDAU VANO is a sole practitioner in Overland Park, Kansas where her areas of practice include probate, family law and other general practice areas. Ms. Landau Vano has been a previous lecturer in her areas of practice. She earned her B.S. degree from Kansas State University and her J.D. degree from Washburn University of Topeka. Ms. Landau Vano is licensed in Kansas and is a member of the Johnson County Bar.

Please refer to Continuing Education Credit FAQ for general information about seeking credit for your participation in one of our continuing education programs.

Additionally, our team of credit specialists are here to answer your specific credit-related questions weekdays 7am - 5pm Central:

Phone: 866-240-1890

Email: credit@nbi-sems.com