Street Smart Estate Planning

An all-you-need-to-know introduction to ensuring that your wealth and wishes are protected and preserved for family and loved ones Smart Ways to determine what you are worth with a smart and easy step-by-step process Smart Advice on life insurance, power of attorney for health care and finances, long-term care insurance, and appointing a personal guardian for your children Smart Strategies on avoiding probate and how trusts can help you and your loved ones avoid costly legal fees and devastating estate taxes Smart Tips on what you should know when creating a will, deciding on a living will, and taking a hand in planning your funeral Quick reading and easy referencing with a comprehensive index and loads of sidebars and tables Smart Guides take readers seriously. They satisfy even the most curious person's desire to know the essentials about any of a wide range of topics—from vitamins to mutual funds to stress relief. It's all about good reading and expert information. The choice is yours.

Discover the ins and outs of planning your own or your loved one’s last wishes with this easy-to-understand guide to estate planning. No one likes to talk about death, but being prepared for any unexpected tragedy can help your loved ones navigate your loss more easily in the long run. From creating your advanced medical directives to designating your beneficiaries, estate planning can ensure that your wishes are carried out when you are no longer around. With Estate Planning 101, you can get your affairs in order before any unfortunate incident occurs. This easy-to-understand guide comes with detailed information on what needs to be done to protect your estate. With information on creating a living will, minimizing estate taxes, choosing an executor, and more, you will be prepared for the future, no matter what it brings. Estate Planning 101 offers you step-by-step instructions and checklists to keep you organized for whatever life throws your way.

Let’s face it: you can't avoid death or taxes. But you can create an estate plan that will make both a whole lot easier for your loved ones and put you in control of how your assets will get passed to your heirs. Here, Wall Street Journal personal-finance reporter Rachel Emma Silverman walks you step-by-step through the process. Chock-full of clear and solid advice on how to get the most out of the main estate planning tools - including wills, trusts, life insurance, guardianship papers, and powers-of-attorney documents - the Wall Street Journal Complete Estate-Planning Guidebook will help make your estate-planning process as simple, smooth, and unintimidating as possible. This book will help you: · Clarify your estate-planning goals, such as dividing up property for heirs, reducing taxes or leaving money for charity · Understand the key estate-planning documents you’ll need, including wills, beneficiary-designation forms, powers-of-attorney and health-care advance directives · Decode the technical jargon that estate planners often use, so you feel comfortable discussing QTIPs and QPRTs when you sit down with your lawyer. · Reduce possible estate, gift or generation-skipping taxes and legal and probate fees – decreasing what goes to the tax man and increasing what goes to your heirs · Learn strategies to divide money and personal property among your heirs, and reduce the possibility of family fights · Discuss sensitive estate-planning issues with your family · Maintain your estate-plan over time, including how to store and when to update your documents With completely up-to-date information on how to navigate the new 2011 estate tax legislation, and thoughtful advice on how to handle your estate in complicated situations – like if you’re single, in a same-sex relationship, or wish to provide for children with special needs - this is the estae-planning guide for today’s messy and complicated world. One of the biggest estate planning mistakes people make, says Silverman, is waiting too long to start. Which is why the Wall Street Journal Complete Estate-Planning Guidebook isn’t just for those planning for retirement or their golden years. It’s for anyone, of any age, who wants the peace of mind of knowing that your wishes will be respected and your hard-earned money will get passed on as you would like.

Money issues are a frequent source of conflict in all marriages. But blended families are a monetary minefield. Debts, bills, and child support payments from previous relationships often influence the finances of a blended family. And planning for college expenses, retirement, and inheritance gets even more complicated in remarriage. These issues can explode couple unity and blow up developing family harmony. However, proper blended family money management can make money an asset to your relationship, not a liability. The authors use over 50 years of combined financial planning and blended family educational experience to help you envision your combined financial future and plan for how you'll get there. You'll discover practical ways to merge your current financial realities and protect your marriage while doing so. Get real-world financial advice specific to unique blended family legal and relational matters so you can provide for your family both now and in the future.

"This best-selling book for baby boomers and their parents covers all the ramifications of the 2010 estate tax overhaul" (Publishers).

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.

This is the third printing of the 4th edition, with revised back matter and therefore fewer pages

The complexities of planning and administering an estate are clearly explained in this up-to-date and authoritative guide. This new edition covers the best techniques for transferring property through Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts, gifting programs, paying grandchildren's medical and tuition expenses, and more. From wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and health care directives to probate and administering an estate, it's all here in easy-to-read, plain English. A five-step planning process details how to create and implement a sound estate plan.