24th Annual Trusts & Estates: New York Conference

Robert M. Harper
Partner, Uniondale

Robert Harper is a seasoned estates, trusts, and guardianship litigator who advises individuals, families, charities, and corporate fiduciaries. Appearing before the Surrogate’s Court and the Supreme Court, Rob handles a wide range of proceedings including will and trust contests, contested accounting proceedings, contested guardianship proceedings, marital agreement challenges, fiduciary removal applications and surcharges, kinship proceedings, asset turnover proceedings, and more. He also has experience as a court-appointed guardian ad litem and mediator in Surrogate’s Court proceedings. Rob provides practical and smart advice aimed at helping clients negotiate outside of the courts if possible, but if litigation is unavoidable, he adeptly sees them through the entire process, including trial, with care.

In addition to his work with Farrell Fritz, Rob is a special professor of law at Hofstra University School of Law and coaches Hofstra’s moot court teams. With a vast background as a practitioner and professor, Rob is a frequent lecturer on trusts and estates topics and a contributor to the firm’s New York Trusts & Estates Litigation blog.

Bruce Stone
Goldman, Felcoski & Stone P.A.

Bruce Stone is a shareholder of the firm. His practice consists primarily of estate planning for both domestic and foreign clients. A significant portion of his practice involves disputed or complex problem situations in which he is retained to find creative planning solutions or to serve as expert witness, mediator or arbitrator. Bruce is admitted to practice in Florida. He is a lifelong resident of Florida. He graduated from the University of Florida with high honors in 1971 and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He graduated from the Florida State University College of Law with highest honors in 1973, where he was first in his class and editor in chief of the law review.

Bruce is a Fellow and Past President of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel. He is a past chair of the Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section of The Florida Bar. Bruce is chair of the Joint Editorial Board for Uniform Trust and Estate Acts, which monitors and recommends updates to the Uniform Probate Code, the Uniform Trust Code, and all other trust and estate related uniform laws on a nationwide basis. He is a member of the Advisory Committee of the Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning. He is an Academician in the International Academy of Estate and Trust Law. He is rated AV Preeminent by Martindale, has been listed in every edition of Best Lawyers of America since 1987, and is rated by Chambers USA in Band 1 for Tax: Estate Planning. He has been inducted into the Estate Planning Hall of Fame by the National Association of Estate Planners & Councils. In 2001 he received the first ever Friend of the Trust Industry award from the Florida Bankers Association. He was the principal drafter of Florida’s legislation in 2000 authorizing dynasty trusts and allowing modification and reformation of irrevocable trusts, and a 2010 statute governing planning for homestead property through the use of irrevocable inter vivos trusts. He has been extensively involved in the drafting of Florida legislation concerning elective share rights of surviving spouses and the administration of trusts.

In addition to his practice, Bruce is an adjunct professor at the University of Miami School of Law, where he teaches in the graduate masters program in estate planning. He is a frequent lecturer for organizations such as the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, the American Bar Association, ALI-CLE, the Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning, and the Florida Bar.