Practice Areas

Estate Planning:

Estate planning, including preparation of wills, revocable and irrevocable private trusts, charitable trusts, durable powers of attorney for financial matters and for health care matters, and business succession planning.

Estate and Trust Administration:

Estate and trust administration involving probate and non-probate procedures, and resolution of disputes involving Wills and Trusts.

Accounting:

Probate Court and private fiduciary current and final accountings, including representation of fiduciaries and beneficiaries in connection therewith.

Taxation:

Tax planning and advice, including United States, California, and international transfer tax planning; corporate, partnership, and individual income tax planning; and sales, use, and property taxation.

Charitable tax planning, including formation and representation of tax-exempt organizations and tax planning for charitable gifts.

Professional Experience

Mr. Finestone is a California State Bar Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law.  He is a Fellow of ACTEC (American College of Trust and Estate Counsel), and a member of its Charitable Tax Planning and Exempt Organizations Committee and a Director of the ACTEC Foundation.  Mr. Finestone is the Chair of the Exempt Organizations Committee of the Taxation Section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association (2012-2013).  Mr. Finestone is a frequent lecturer at continuing education and other programs, including American and California State Bar Associations, ACTEC, the USC Tax Institute, the UCLA/CEB Estate Planning Institute, Partnership for Philanthropic Planning (National Committee on Planned Giving), Western Regional Planned Giving Conference, Western Conference on Tax Exempt Organizations, AFP, several Planned Giving Round Tables in California and elsewhere, and corporate meetings.  Mr. Finestone received B.S., M.B.A., and J.D. degrees from UCLA.

Admitted to Practice

Oregon; California; U.S. Tax Court; U.S. District Court, Central District of California; U.S. Claims Court; U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit; and U.S. Supreme Court.

Education

University of California at Los Angeles (B.S., 1965; M.B.A., 1966; J.D., 1969).

Professional Affiliations

American Bar Association (Sections: Business Law; Real Property, Probate and Trust; Taxation); Los Angeles County Bar Association; Oregon State Bar; The State Bar of California; American College of Trust and Estate Counsel.

Academic Honors

• Beta Gamma Sigma.
• Order of the Coif.

Activities & Honors

• Instructor, Tax Aspects of Real Estate Investments, UCLA Extension (1977-1997).
• Instructor, California State University Los Angeles, College of Extended Studies and International Programs – Accounting and Tax Seminars (1990-present).
• Named a “Southern California Super Lawyer (Estate Planning/Trusts)” by Los Angeles Magazine.
• Included as one of the “Best Lawyers in America” (Trusts and Estates) in that publication.
• Los Angeles Superior Court Alternative Dispute Resolution Neutral.
• Co-manager and senior member of firm for 36 years as of June 2012.
• Clerk to Chief Justice William C. Perry, Supreme Court of Oregon, 1969-1970.

• Passed C.P.A. Exam (1966).

Articles

• “Corporate-Owned Life Insurance and the Estate Tax:  The New Majority Stockholder Rule,” 1 J. Corp. Taxation 261 (Autumn 1974).
• “The Tax Ramifications of Property Ownership,” Real Estate Intelligence Report (October 1979).
• “Are ‘Crummey’ Trusts Better After ERTA?” 1982 Title Ins. & Trust Co. Forum.
• “Charity Begins at Home,” XVI Case Currents (February 1990).
• “Gift Giving Tips and Traps,” 17th Ann. U.S.C. Prob. & Tr. Conf. (1991).
• “Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts,” L.A. County Bar Assoc. 1992 Probate Symposium.
• “Eligibility of Revocable Trust As ‘S Corporation’ Shareholder After Death of Co-Grantor Spouse,” 4 J. S. Corp. Tax 106 (1992).
• “Proposed Charitable Remainder Trust Regulations Shed New Light on Current Issues,” 3 Philanthropy Alert No. 1 (1997).
• “New Section 645 Election,” 25 ACTEC Notes, Summer 1999.
• “Charitable Gift Annuities,” 29 ACTEC Journal, Summer 2003.
• “Charitable Pledges,” 21 Charitable Gift Planning News, July/August 2003.