Meet Stan

+ Stan’s Resume

Practice Concentration & Professional Experience

Stan Miller is one of three partners in ILP + McChain Miller Nissman, an international estate planning law firm based in Little Rock, Arkansas and St Croix, USVI. He is a founder and principal of WealthCounsel, LLC, a leading provider of education and document drafting software to attorneys nationwide. He is also a founder and principal of WealthCounsel Advisors Forum, LLC, a national membership organization created for the purpose of improving the quality of interdisciplinary planning between attorneys, financial advisors, and CPA’s.

Mr. Miller advises clients with respect to a wide range of issues relating to wills and trusts, estate planning, trust administration, corporate and partnership matters, charitable giving, private foundations, supporting organizations, life insurance and taxation. In addition, Mr. Miller counsels clients on matters relating to family owned businesses, including exit and succession planning, governance and control, and the significance of these issues to family relationships.

+ Educational Experience

  • Vanderbilt Law School (J.D., 1975)
  • Arkansas Polytechnic University (B.A., 1971)

+ Licenses & Bar Admissions

Licensed to practice before the United States Tax Court, Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals and before all Arkansas Courts.

+ Professional Affiliations

  • Arkansas Bar Association
  • Member of STEP (Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners)
  • WealthCounsel
  • ElderCounsel
  • The Advisors Forum

+ Published Articles

Mr. Miller is a contributing editor to the Journal of Practical Estate Planning, a CCH publication and author of numerous articles published in that publication, including: “Most Recent Tax Court Cases Provide Roadmap for Designing FLP/FLLC Plans That Work (August-September 2008), “Advanced Planning for the Nontaxable Client, Part III: Solutions with Broad Appeal to the Retiring Baby-Boomer Generation” (April-May 2008), “Advanced Planning for the Nontaxable Client, Part II: Solutions with Broad Appeal to the Retiring Baby Boomer Generation” (December 2007-January 2008) “A Practical Checklist for Partnership Planning in 2007” (August-September 2007) “Advanced Planning for the Nontaxable Client: Solutions with Broad Appeal to the Retiring Baby Boomer Generation, Part I” (April-May 2007) “Harnessing the Power of Trust Protectors” (August –September 2006) “W.E. Kelley Est.: Are We Headed into Calmer Waters in Partnership Valuation” (December 2005-January 2006) “What Was I Thinking? Planning for the Return of Subjective Analysis to Partnership Planning” (August –September 2005) “Tax Burning: An Overlooked Technique for Reducing an Estate” (April-May 2005) “Illiquidity Has Its Benefits” (December 2004-January 2005), “After Kimbell, Does Strangi Matter?” (August-September 2004), “Planning for the Future: The Use of Domestic Trust Protectors” (April-May 2004),“The Private Annuity Sale to a Grantor Trust May Be More Suitable Than a Promissory Note Transaction for Many Clients” (December 2003-January 2004),“Formula Transfers After McCord” (August-September 2003), “Gifting of Limited Partnership Interests to Charity: Obstacles and Opportunities” (April-May 2003), “What do we Do Now That We Have Hackl?” (August-September 2002); “Schauerhamer, Reichardt, Harper, and Now Thompson: Continued Planning with Limited Partnerships” (December 2002-January 2003); “U. S. Virgin Islands Economic Development Program Provides Attractive Income Tax Benefits for Individuals and Small Business Clients” (April-May 2002); “Gifting of Limited Partnership Interests to Charity: Obstacles and Opportunities” (April-May 2003); “Alaska Law Creates New Opportunities for the Use of Life insurance in Estate Planning” (December 2001-January 2002)

Mr. Miller is a co-author of three of the electronic document creation systems that are published by WealthCounsel, LLC including the Family Limited Partnership system, the Revocable Trust system and the Irrevocable Trust system. He is also a frequent presenter on professional topics, some of which include serving as a co-presenter of The Family Wealth System advanced estate planning course, a co-presenter of The Family Limited Partnership a two day course on the fundamentals of limited partnership planning. An abbreviated version of that program was presented quarterly to students in the Professional Mentoring Program.

Mr. Miller has also made a number of presentations to the National Network of Estate Planning Attorneys including “The Joint Living Trust” and a number of topics on limited partnership planning.

+ Stan’s Story

+ Additional Background and Experiences

Mr. Miller served as a Special Justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court and as a member of the Arkansas Commemorative Commission which is the governing body for Arkansas’ first state capitol and the chief administrative authority for the state’s historic preservation program. He has also previously served as an elected member of the Board of Directors of the City of Hot Springs, Arkansas, and as a member of the Board of Directors of St. Joseph’s Regional Health Center, an affiliate hospital of the Sisters of Mercy Health System, St. Louis. Mr. Miller also served as an associate editor of the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, and, prior to law school, was the president of the student body at Arkansas Polytechnic University.

Mr. Miller and his wife Patrice are the parents of two sons, Matthew and Jonathan. The Miller family created the Matt Miller Foundation in honor of their son, Matthew, who was killed in an automobile accident in 2004.

Book: Total Protection

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Strategies to Protect Yourself, Your Family & Your Business or Professional Practice from (almost) Everything

In this book, Stan identifies the risks that are the greatest source of concern for individuals and families as well as business owners and professionals. In layman’s language, he outlines the strategies that can be implemented to protect from these risks. He makes the point in this book that the planning tools that are available are more powerful than has been the case at any time in history. Most people don’t take advantage of them because they don’t know about them. Stan is working on this book now and expects to have it available at Amazon.com by Summer.

Book: Legacy of Virtue

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Powerful Strategies that Instill Lasting Values for Generations

Stan and his wife Patrice are working on this book jointly. In this book, they will describe a process that will give families a roadmap to identify and clarify the values that are important to them—things like integrity, faith and work ethic—and then transfer those values to younger generation family members in ways that are interesting and compelling. This book is intended to be a practical handbook that will stimulate dialogue between generations and culminate in a real action plan within families. Stan & Patrice are testing these ideas in a series of workshops they are offering over the Summer with the intention of having the book published by early Fall of 2015.