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.
By:
Jordan S. Simon (Venture West Group),
Joseph Mashinski,
Joseph Mashinski
Imprint: For Dummies
Country of Publication: United States
Edition: 2nd edition
Dimensions:
Height: 234mm,
Width: 188mm,
Spine: 31mm
Weight: 522g
ISBN: 9781394158546
ISBN 10: 1394158548
Pages: 400
Publication Date: 06 April 2023
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Introduction 1 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
Jordan S. Simon is a partner at the Venture West Group and coauthored the first edition of Estate Planning For Dummies. Joseph Mashinski is an attorney and consultant with more than 19 years’ experience in estate planning, insurance, employee benefits, and ERISA compliance.
