Wills, Trusts & Estates

Here you can create a will or living trust, learn how to avoid probate and estate tax, create a living will and power of attorney, and take care of the rest of your estate planning needs.

• Wills FAQ
• The Simple Will: No Frills, No Fuss, No Anxiety
• What a Will Won't Do
• Make Your Will: A Quick Checklist
• Making a Will in Your State
• Executor FAQ
• Making a Will: Are Lawyers Optional?
• Leaving an Inheritance for Children
• Guardianship for Your Children
• Naming a Guardian for Your Child: Problems and Solutions
• Marriage & Property Ownership: Who Owns What?
• Inheritance Rights
• When to Change Your Will
• Do I Need More Than a Will?

• Living Trust FAQ
• Probate FAQ
• How Living Trusts Avoid Probate
• Tax-Saving AB Trusts
• Make a Living Trust in Your State
• Why You May Not Need a Living Trust
• Making a Living Trust: Are Lawyers Optional?
• How to Avoid Probate
• Why Avoid Probate?
• Avoid Probate: The Small Estate
• Avoid Probate with Transfer-on-Death Accounts and Registrations
• Avoid Probate with Joint Ownership
• Using Roth IRAs to Avoid Probate
• Make a Living Trust: A Quick Checklist
• Avoiding Probate in Your State
• Probate Shortcuts in Your State
• Special Needs Trusts
• Leaving an Inheritance for Children

• The Living Will and Power of Attorney for Health Care: An Overview
• Living Will, Power of Attorney, or Advance Directive?
• What Do My Healthcare Documents Cover?
• Choosing Your Health Care Agent
• Create a Living Will and Health Care Power of Attorney in Your State
• Will Medical Personnel Honor My Health Care Documents?

• Durable Financial Power of Attorney: How it Works
• The Durable Power of Attorney: Health Care and Finances
• Financial Powers of Attorney: Do You Need One?
• Get Your Financial Affairs in Order
• Make a Financial Power of Attorney in Your State
• Preventing Challenges to Your Financial Power of Attorney

• Estate Tax: What on Earth Is Happening in 2010?
• Estate and Gift Tax FAQ
• Estate Tax: Will Your Estate Have to Pay?
• Reduce Estate Tax by Making Gifts
• The Charitable Trust: Do Good and Get Tax Breaks
• A Pooled Charitable Trust: Do Good and Get Tax Breaks on a Budget
• Tax-Saving AB Trusts

• Executor FAQ
• What Does an Executor Do?
• How the Probate Process Works: Information for Executors
• Trusts: Should You Serve as Trustee?
• Advice to Trustees: Get Along With Beneficiaries
• The Trustee's Job: The First Six Months
• How Beneficiaries Can Claim Life Insurance and Social Security Benefits
• Grounds for Challenging a Will
• Should You Accept the Job of Executor to Settle an Estate?
• Settling an Estate: Does The Will Appear Valid?
• Settling an Estate: When Executors Should Take a Second Look at the Will
• How Is an Estate Settled If There's No Will: Intestate Succession
• Claiming Pensions, Veterans, and Other Benefits: Information for Executors and Beneficiaries
• How Joint Owners Can Transfer Survivorship Property After Death
• How Beneficiaries Can Claim Payable-on-Death Assets
• Checklist for Executors
• Probate Shortcuts in Your State

• Final Arrangements FAQ
• Planning Your Funeral or Memorial Service
• Green Funerals: Protect the Planet and Your Pocketbook
• The Prepaid Funeral and its Perils
• Practical Estate Planning: Organize Your Documents
• Help Your Executor: Secured Places and Passwords
• Help Your Family Claim Retirement Benefits
• Donate Your Body to Medicine
• The Organ Donor: A Guide
• Prepare for Deployment: Get Organized
• Disaster-Proofing Your Documents
• Estate Planning and Your Blended Family
• 12 Simple Steps to an Estate Plan: A Checklist
• Get Your Financial Affairs in Order
• Make a Financial Power of Attorney in Your State