Estate Planning for Dummies (Paperback)

If you’re like most people, you want to be sure that, once you’ve passed on, no more of your property and money will be lost to the government than is absolutely necessary. You want to know that you’ll be leaving your heirs your assets and not your debts. You want to be absolutely certain that your will is ship-shape, your insurance policies are structured properly, and that every conceivable hole in your estate plan has been filled. And most of all, you’d like to do all of this without driving yourself crazy trying to make sense of the complicated jargon, jumble of paperwork, and welter of state and federal laws involved in the estate planning process.

Written by two estate planning pros, this simple, easy-to-use guide takes the pain out of planning for your ultimate financial future. In plain English, the authors walk you step-by-step through everything you need to know to:

• Put your estate into order
• Minimize estate taxes
• Write a proper will
• Deal with probate
• Set up trusts
• Make sure your insurance policies are structured properly
• Plan for special situations, like becoming incompetent and pet care 
• Craft a solid estate plan and keep it up-to-date

Don’t leave the final disposition of your estate up to chance and the whims of bureaucrats. Estate Planning For Dummies gives you the complete lowdown on:

• Figuring out what your really worth
• Mastering the basics of wills and probate
• Using will substitutes and dodge probate taxes
• Setting up protective trusts, charitable trusts, living trusts and more
• Making sense of state and federal inheritance taxes
• Avoiding the generation skipping transfer tax
• Minimizing all your estate-related taxes
• Estate planning for family businesses
• Creating a comprehensive estate plan

Straightforward, reade

Author:

Caverly, Brian

ISBN:

9780764555015

Format:

Paperback

Pages:

384

Publish Date:

03/07/2003

Publisher:

For Dummies

Language:

English

Portions copyright 2005 Muze Inc. All rights reserved.