Product Description

The most comprehensive-- yet easy to read -- guide to estate planning on the market!

Plan Your Estate covers everything from the basics of wills and living trusts to sophisticated tax-saving strategies. The authors give you straightforward, plain-English explanations of every significant estate-planning option available, so you can make the best decisions for you and those you love.

The book covers:

*wills

*probate and how to avoid it

*living trusts

*property-control trusts

*naming guardians for children

*leaving property to children

*estate taxes and how to reduce them

*living wills (health care directives)

*financial powers of attorney

*final arrangements

*strategies for business owners

*and much more.

The 8th edition is completely updated with the latest federal and state laws, and now covers ethical wills -- a new way to pass on values, beliefs and important personal experiences. Good for all states except Louisiana.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #545721 in Books
• Published on: 2006-03-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 455 pages

Review
"An exhaustive guide, explaining everything from simple wills to complex trusts. Particularly helpful how estate plans canbenefit various individuals andfamilies." -- The Wall Street Journal

"Following Clifford's advice in this laymen’s guide can save your heirs a bundle." -- Money Magazine

"How to protect your family and make an orderly exit even if your estate is small." -- U.S. News & World Report

"If Clifford's Estate Planning Basics was the appetizer, this is the main course." -- Library Journal

"Probably one of the most comprehensive estate-planning books available to mature adults." -- Washington Times

REVIEW: "An excellent source of information on wills and estate planning." -- The New York Times

About the Author
Denis Clifford, a graduate of Columbia Law School, where he was an editor of The Law Review, is a lawyer who specializes in estate planning. He is the author of many Nolo titles including Quick and Legal Will Book, Nolo's Simple Will Book and Make Your Own Living Trust and co-author of Plan Your Estate and A Legal Guide for Lesbian and Gay Couples. He has been interviewed by such major media as The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Money Magazine.

Cora Miner Jordan earned her law degree at the University of Mississippi. A trained mediator, she is the author of Neighbor Law: Fences, Trees, Boundaries and Noise and co-author of Plan Your Estate.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Chapter 1:

Selecting Your Estate Planning Goals
Introduction

There are a number of ways to leave property to those you want to have it after your death. The peculiarities of our system of inheritance mean that substantial amounts of money and time can often be saved if property is labeled and transferred by certain legal methods rather than others. But to choose wisely among these methods, you must first clearly define your estate planning goals.

This book is divided into 12 parts; each part covers a different estate planning goal or purpose. This chapter gives you an overview of each goal, so you can select the ones that matter to you. It also presents a sample estate plan of a couple in their 50s, so you can get a feel for what kinds of decisions you may have to make, and what types of documents you may end up with.

We urge you to read all chapters of every part that concerns you before you actually begin to formulate your own estate plan. Different aspects of estate planning are often intertwined. For example, it just doesn't make sense to decide what property should pass under your will -- and so go through probate -- until you understand whether some of it might be better left by other probate-avoidance methods. Similarly, if you have a good-sized estate, you'll need to understand how estate taxes work before you can determine the wisest ways to transfer property to your loved ones. The point is that you need a good overview of all the parts of estate planning that concern you before you begin to make your plan.

Customer Reviews

Outstanding and comprehensive coverage of estate planning.
The book is so clearly written, with explanations followed by simple examples. It covers every aspect I could think of, with occasional advice that you could do this yourself, or sometimes that you really need a lawyer. If you have a substantial estate you will probably want to have an expert do the work. But you should read this book so you know what the expert is doing (or you could pay the expert $200-300 an hour to educate you on basics). Simply the best book I have read all year.

Plan Your Estate 8th Edition
Excellent resource for estate planning. Readable (plain English) , concise and to the point. Covers many areas of estate planning that most other estate planning books fail to mention

Nearly useless if you have retirement accounts
I bought this book prior to seeing an attorney to set up a will/trust so that I would be reasonably knowledgeable about the issues to consider before the meter started running. In particular, I, like many others have much of my net worth in IRAs and other tax advantaged retirement accounts and was concerned about how best to pass on these accounts. To my utter astonishment (and disgust), this book for all practical purposes provides no help with IRAs, 401Ks, etc. For heavens sake, after a home, retirement accounts are the major assets of most people and an estate planning book of 443 pages ought to be able to squeeze in basic advice on this topic.

Actually, I'm exagerating; they do provide two pieces of advice on IRAs. Their advice on page 179 is to buy a separate book from Nolo Press (whose title I will NOT cite) and on page 181 they suggest you download publications 560 and 590 from the IRS. Gee thanks. You don't suppose they intentionally omitted retirement accounts so you'd have to buy another one of their publications? Could I be getting cynical in my old age?

If you don't have IRAs this book is pretty good (reason for two stars), otherwise you 're flying blind.