Plan Your Estate
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Plan Your Estate

Plan Your Estate

by Denis Clifford Attorney

Overview

Protect your family with solid estate planning


Estate planning sounds difficult—but most people just need a few basic documents. Let Plan Your Estate show you how to protect your loved ones from legal hassles and financial uncertainty after your death.

Learn about:

  • wills and living trusts
  • avoiding probate
  • bypass (AB) trusts
  • naming guardians for children
  • leaving property to children
  • estate, gift, and inheritance taxes
  • strategies for business owners
  • leaving property to charity
  • health care directives, and
  • financial powers of attorney.

The 15th edition of Plan Your Estate is completely updated to reflect the latest state and federal laws.
Applies in all U.S. states except Louisiana.

(Note: This book contains no estate planning forms, but it does tell you how to get the forms you need.)

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781413327786
Publisher: NOLO
Publication date: 04/28/2020
Edition description: Fifteenth Edition
Pages: 528
Sales rank: 161,556
Product dimensions: 6.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.10(d)

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, Make Your Own Living Trust and Plan Your Estate and coauthor of 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.

Table of Contents

Part I: Setting Your Goals



1. Selecting Your Estate Planning Goals



2. Personal Concerns and Estate Planning



Part II: Laying the Groundwork



3. Special Property Ownership Rules for Married People



4. Inventorying Your Property



5. Your Beneficiaries



Part III: Children



6. Children



Part IV: Wills



7. Wills



Part V: Probate and How to Avoid It



8. Probate and Why You Want to Avoid It



9. Living Trusts



10. Joint Tenancy and Tenancy by the Entirety



11. Pay-on-Death Designations, Regristrations, and Deeds



12. Life Insurance



13. Retirement Benefits



14. State Law Exemptions From Normal Probate



Part VI: Understanding Estate and Gift Taxes



15. Estate Taxes



16. Gifts and Taxes



Part VII: Reducing or Eliminating Estate Taxes



17. An Overview of Ongoing Trusts



18. AB Disclaimer Trusts



19. Other Estate Tax–Saving Marital Trusts



20. Charitable Trusts



21. Other Estate Tax–Saving Trusts



22. Disclaimers: After-Death Estate Tax Planning



23. Combining Estate Tax–Saving Trusts



Part VIII: Imposing Controls Over Property



24. Property Control Trusts for Second or Subsequent Marriages



25. Trust and Other Devices for Imposing Controls Over Property



Part IX: Taking Care of Personal Issues



26. Incapacity: Making Medical and Financial Decisions



27. Body and Organ Donation, Funerals, and Burials



Part X: Family Business Estate Planning



28. Family Business Estate Planning



Part XI: Going Further



29. Using Lawyers



30. After You Complete Your Estate Plan



31. After a Death Occurs



Part XII: Sample Estate Plans



32. Some Estate Plans



Glossary



Index

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