Creating an estate plan for the first time does not need to be difficult.
Estate Planning Basics will give you all the information you need to get started on your estate plan. You don’t have to spend hours wading through endless options that make it sound much more complicated than it is. Attorney Denis Clifford gives you the reliable, plain-English answers you need, whether you're doling out the family heirlooms or trying to steer clear of estate taxes. The 6th edition is completely updated to reflect the latest information including new estate and gift law taxes.
“Will be appreciated by those with modest estates who want a quick overview.” - Library Journal
“One of the simplest and best overviews of the estate-planning process.” - The Wall Street Journal
“ A search of more than a dozen books in my reference library uncovered a mention of the stepped-up basis in all, but only Estate Planning Basics…makes it clear that the basis of inherited property is adjusted up or down.” - Florida Sun-Sentinel
Denis Clifford, a graduate of Columbia Law School, where he was an editor of The Law Review, is a practicing 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 a 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.
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Your Estate Planning Legal Companion
1. A First Look at Estate Planning
Evaluating Your Personal Situation
Choosing Your Beneficiaries
Providing for Young Children
Planning for Incapacity
Transferring Your Property After You Die
Estate Taxes
Making Changes
More Estate Planning Resources From Nolo
2. Your Beneficiaries
Direct Beneficiaries
Alternate Beneficiaries
Beneficiary Complexities
Disinheritance
Talking It Over
3. Children
Naming Someone to Care for Young Children
Naming Someone to Manage Your Child's Property
Choosing How Your Children's Property Should Be Managed
Naming Children as Beneficiaries of Life Insurance
Tax-Saving Educational Investment Plans
Leaving Property to Adult Children
Leaving Property to Other People's Children
4. Planning for Incapacity: Medical Care and Finances
Medical Decisions
Financial Decisions
5. Wills
Will Requirements
Types of Wills
Probate
Using a Will in Your Estate Planning
Preparing Your Will
Challenges to Your Will
6. Living Trusts
How a Living Trust Works
Do You Need a Living Trust?
Living Trusts and Taxes
Living Trusts and Young Children
Shared Living Trusts for Couples
Making Key Decisions About Your Living Trust
Preparing Your Living Trust Documents
7. Other Probate-Avoidance Methods
Pay-on-Death Bank Accounts
Transfer-on-Death Accounts for Securities
Transfer-on-Death Car Registration
Transfer-on-Death Deeds for Real Estate
Joint Tenancy
Tenancy by the Entirety
Community Property With Right of Survivorship
Simplified Probate Proceedings
Life Insurance
Gifts
8. Retirement Plans as Estate Planning Devices
Individual Retirement Programs
Pensions
Choosing Beneficiaries for Individual Retirement Programs
Retirement Plans and Taxes
9. Estate Tax
Federal Estate Tax Exemptions
State Estate and Inheritance Tax
Gift Tax
The Federal Income-Tax Basis of Inherited Property
10. Reducing Federal Estate Taxes
Making Gifts During Life
The AB Trust
Other Tax-Saving Trusts
Disclaiming Gifts
11. Property Control Trusts
Marital Property Control Trusts for Second or Subsequent Marriages
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