Estate Planning For Dummies
2. Edition April 2023
416 Pages, Softcover
Wiley & Sons Ltd
Further versions
Get your arms around wills, trusts, probate, inheritance taxes, and other important estate planning essentials
Estate Planning For Dummies teaches you the ins and outs of estate planning. It's all about drafting wills, dealing with probate, assigning powers of attorney, establishing living trusts, and beyond. Think you don't have enough assets to merit estate planning? Think again. This everyone-friendly guide walks you through building a solid estate plan, whatever your current financial situation. In easy-to-understand language, you'll learn the ins and outs of estate planning, including what happens to your stuff--cash, real estate, businesses, retirement funds, everything--when you pass away. This new edition is updated for the many recent changes in estate taxes and inheritance law. Make sure your assets get into the pockets of your heirs or wherever you want them to go, and learn how to accomplish it the For Dummies way.
* Understand state and federal estate and inheritance taxes
* Build an air-tight will and make sure your heirs get as much as they can
* Protect your estate's privacy even after you're gone
* Plan for the transition of a family business
* Prevent disagreements and uncertainty among your heirs
* Figure out how to pass on your digital assets
This friendly guide is a must for people of any age in the process of drafting their wills and planning where their assets ultimately end up.
Part 1: Getting Started with Estate Planning 5
Chapter 1: Congratulations: You Have an Estate! 7
Chapter 2: Bean Counting: Figuring Out What You're Worth 33
Part 2: Where There's a Will, There's a Way 45
Chapter 3: Understanding the Basics of Wills 47
Chapter 4: Tied Hands and Helping Hands: What You Can and Can't Do with Your Will 69
Chapter 5: Probate: Top of the Ninth Inning for Your Estate 83
Chapter 6: Dodging Probate: Saving Time and Money with a Will Substitute 101
Part 3: Matters of Trust 119
Chapter 7: Understanding Trusts 121
Chapter 8: Trusts You May Want to Trust -- or Not 137
Chapter 9: Working a Trust into Your Estate Plan 149
Part 4: Life, Death, and Taxes 159
Chapter 10: Preparing for the Tug-of-War with the Taxman 161
Chapter 11: The Gift Tax: Isn't Giving a Gift Enough? 171
Chapter 12: Skipping around the Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax 187
Chapter 13: Paying or Not Paying the Death Tax: That's the Question 197
Chapter 14: Planning to Minimize All Your Estate-Related Taxes 211
Part 5: Estate Planning for Family Businesses 229
Chapter 15: Grasping the Basics of Estate Planning for Family Businesses 231
Chapter 16: Transferring Ownership and Paying Estate Taxes in a Family Business 251
Part 6: Crafting a Comprehensive Estate Plan 267
Chapter 17: Factoring Insurance into Your Estate Plan 269
Chapter 18: Connecting Your Retirement Funds to Your Estate Plans 293
Chapter 19: Estate Planning in Exceptional Situations 313
Part 7: The Part of Tens 337
Chapter 20: Ten Questions to Get You Rolling on Your Estate Plan 339
Chapter 21: Avoiding Ten Common Mistakes and Problems in Your Will 345
Chapter 22: Ten Crucial Estate-Planning Questions 351
Index 359
Joseph Mashinski is an attorney and consultant with more than 19 years' experience in estate planning, insurance, employee benefits, and ERISA compliance.
