The Law Firm of Stone & Associates, LLP, periodically hosts seminars. These seminars cover a variety of topics including the following: The Fundamentals of Estate Planning and Probate Click here to see an outline (PDF)>>> .

Fundamentals of Probate, Trusts, and Estate Planning
Tom Stone teaches a periodic seminar on estate planning, probate, and trusts. The seminar offers continuing education credit for certified public accountants, financial planners, and insurance agents. The seminar focuses on testamentary and nontestamentary dispositions of property, intestate succession, community and separate property, and federal estate and gift tax planning.

The seminar addresses commonly asked questions such as

(1) "Does your client need a Will?";
(2) "Who inherits property when there is no Will?"; and
(3) "Does the surviving spouse need to probate the deceased spouse's Will that provides all the deceased spouse's estate and property to the surviving spouse?"

The seminar places special emphasis on estate planning strategies such as the use of marital and bypass trusts for married clients and the use of life insurance trusts and life insurance to replace wealth that is lost to estate taxes. Also discussed in the seminars are such topics as revocable living trusts, medical and general powers of attorney, and directives to physicians.

Life Insurance-The Lynchpin of Estate and Business Planning
Tom Stone also teaches a periodic seminar devoted exclusively to life insurance issues in estate and business planning.

This seminar will address the use of first-to-die life insurance policies and survivorship policies in estate planning and the need to use insurance trusts to save estate tax. The seminar will also focus on exit strategies for owners of business through the use of Buy-Sell Agreements and life insurance to fund the purchase of a deceased owner's share of the business.

Finally, split-dollar life insurance arrangements are discussed. A split-dollar life insurance arrangement is an agreement between the owner of the policy and a non-owner to divide the burdens of paying the insurance premium and the benefits of the death benefit payment and access to cash value between the parties. The seminar will address key planning strategies in the areas of employment, business owner, and estate planning contexts.