What stage serves as the starting point in exception handling in code?

The starting point for handling exceptions in Java is the try block. Inside try, code that might throw an exception is placed. If an exception occurs within this block, control is transferred to the corresponding catch block, where the error can be handled.

Example:

try {
    int result = 10 / 0; // may throw ArithmeticException
} catch (ArithmeticException e) {
    System.out.println("Division by zero!");
}

Thus, try is the initial point where exception monitoring begins, and catch is the place for handling them. A finally block can also be used for code that should execute regardless.