William Finestone

Shareholder, Officer, Director
wfinestone@frlawcorp.com and bill@stone.net
Phone: (310) 575-0800 x 2680
Fax: (310) 575-0170

Nature of Practices

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.

Accounting.

Dispute resolution

Taxation

Taxation, 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.

Other Professional Experience

Mr. Finestone, a founding member of the Firm, is a State Bar Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law.  He is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (member, Charitable Tax Planning and Exempt Organizations Committee), and is a frequent lecturer at continuing education and other programs, including American and California State Bar Associations, ACTEC, USC Tax Institute, UCLA/CEB Estate Planning Institute, National Committee on Planned Giving, and several Planned Giving Round Tables in California and elsewhere. 

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

Activities & Honors

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 30 years as of June 2006.

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.

Instructor, Tax Aspects of Real Estate Investments, UCLA Extension (1977-1997).

Academic Honors

Beta Gamma Sigma.

Order of the Coif.