I recently enjoyed meeting seminar attendees and presenting on taxes and legal ethics as part of a Kansas probate seminar in Kansas City, hosted by Foxmoore Continuing Education. Courtesy of Foxmoore, I’m pleased to offer complimentary copies of my published articles and Power Point slide decks on taxes and ethics. (Attorneys are required to attend about 12 hours of continuing education (CLEs) seminars each year – including 2 hours of legal ethics training – to maintain state bar licenses. I’ve attended many CLEs, but it was a good learning and growth experience to teach at a CLE seminar.)

The CLE’s tax portion explored final individual and fiduciary income tax returns for decedents, estate taxes, gift taxes, and generation skipping taxes (IRS Forms 1040, 1041, 706, and 709) and the individual and fiduciary Kansas and Missouri counterparts. To make the tax part more useful (and interesting) for folks, we walked through preparing and filing the various tax returns as a group, since serving each client’s legal and tax needs is our top priority. The CLE’s legal ethics portion reviewed the familiar ethics canons, with a focus on probate and estate planning issues and recommended some best practices for attorneys and accountants. We also discussed the IRS’ recent Circular 230 revisions, which makes those (annoying and) ubiquitous accounting and law firm email/blog/website footers optional.

My law firm, Johnson Law KC LLC, is experienced counseling clients from all stages and walks of life on every aspect of estate planning and the probate process. We can help you answer your estate planning and asset protection questions and solve your legal issues with confidence and friendly expertise. If we can serve you or your family with your trust or estate planning questions, please call (913.707.9220) or email us (steve@johnsonlawkc.com) to schedule a free, convenient consultation.

(c) 2015, Stephen M. Johnson, Esq.