Product Description

This new Quick & Legal book presents nine major methods people can use to avoid, or reduce, Federal estate taxes. These are the taxes that kick in when an individual's estate, or a couple's combined estate, exceeds $625,000. And the taxes are steep--rates start at 37% and go up to 55%.

In clear, concise terms the book explains how you can save your family money by:

making gifts of under $10,000 making gifts for tuition or medical expenses giving or leaving property to a spouse establishing a Bypass (AB) Trust establishing a QTIP Trust establishing a QDOT Trust contributing to charity transferring ownership of your life insurance policies using disclaimers

Written by two experts in estate planning, 9 Ways to Avoid Estate Taxes can save your family many thousands of dollars. They'll love you forever.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #730315 in Books
• Published on: 1999-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 200 pages

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
From Chapter 1: One of the most popular ways to avoid estate tax is to give away property during your life. If you do so, you'll get more than just the benefit of reducing your survivors' estate tax burden. You'll also get to see the recipients enjoy your gifts.

Currently, you can make an unlimited number of $10,000 gifts of cash or other property each year, completely tax-free. If you made these same gifts after your death and they were subject to estate tax, the recipients would see their gifts shrink by at least 37%, the lowest estate tax rate now in effect. To ensure these tax savings, you need only remember that no individual recipient can receive more than $10,000 in a calendar year.

If you're comfortable giving away some of your wealth while you're alive, making $10,000 gifts is a fine way to remove property from your taxable estate. If you start soon enough, structure your gifts properly and watch the calendar, you can probably give away as much money or property as you want without worrying about tax.

Like all estate planning strategies, however, the decisions you must make about gift-giving are fundamentally personal. This chapter helps you evaluate whether giving away property is right for you and--if you decide to proceed--explains how to create a sound gift-giving program of your own.

Customer Reviews

Good Overview
I bought this and two other books on the same subject. This is the one I read first. It covers 9 different aspects of the subject so you only have to read the chapters that are applicable to your situation. Very readable. A good place to start.