Estate Planning Basics

Reviews

Rating: 4 / 5
Date: 2010-06-24
Summary: "Good "Basics" book - useful for less-complex situations"

Estate Planning Basics is a good introductory book, on the subject of planning for the inevitable: Death and how you want your affairs (financial, health/funeral, guardianship of children, wills, etc.) handled should you become incapacitated, unable to make decisions for yourself, or die). In the general sense, this book serves as a primer on the types of issues you may face (and maybe a few you hadn't considered) - it's worth a read thru it, even if you are young and don't have kids, for example, because down the line, your situation may change. The book lays out what your priorities might be, at various stages of life, since it will impact your estate planning - getting married, if you have kids/other dependants, have accumulated wealth or assets that will need to be protected/addressed in a will/estate, retirement funds, and the like. While the book touches on all of these subjects, it's really a jumping-off point for further exploration and the reader should consult an attorney as the laws of your state may differ slightly in their treatment of certain items (probate, etc), but the book will be very handy in getting the conceptual basics and perhaps focusing the questions you should ask of your attorney to make sure your estate plan addresses your particular situation.

Overall, an easy-to-understand book that explains the issues and legal concepts that are involved with estate planning. For those who have more complex situations, or wish to go more in-depth on the concepts here, I'd recommend another book in the NOLO series, "Plan Your Estate" (written by the same author - 10th edition), which I have added a link for below. (NOLO press has very good books on a variety of legal-related subjects like small businesses, personal finance and bankruptcy, matrimonial law/divorce, real estate/landlord law, etc so you may want to search under their brand for offerings of interest).

If you have a far more complex situation, such as a family owned business that will have succession issues, or wish to delve into much more detail on such issues as subsequent marriages, issues of incapacity, and more complicated structuring of estate plans, then go for the "Plan Your Estate" volume, which is linked below:

Plan Your Estate

Rating: 4 / 5
Date: 2010-03-08
Summary: "Definitely helps in understanding the basics."

I didn't get this book until AFTER we had been to a professional estate planner - and let me tell you, having had this book beforehand would have made the process a lot easier (at least to me). I consider myself a smart person, but anything legalese just seems to make my head spin. So, sitting in the lawyer's office, I just had a kind of glazed-over look while nodding my head in agreement to everything he said. Because, as with a lot of things, they make sense when you're hearing them and you think you will remember...but you get home and a day later or a month later you can't remember anything.

This is where this book comes in handy. It gave me a quick refresher on just about everything the lawyer covered, and it's great to have as a reference for those times when I do forget something. But this book is just that - a refresher, or for basic informational purposes only. It's not like it's a fill-in-the-blank estate planning book where you can end up with a legal document at the end of it. But it will give you the ins and outs of estate planning to help you make the decision if you need the service. It's a book I'm glad I have in my library.

Rating: 4 / 5
Date: 2010-01-31
Summary: "A very good introduction"

This book is a very good starting point. It is quite easy to follow, and is reasonably comprehensive.

If you are more advanced in this area, or have unusual circumstances, this book may not be as useful. For all others who want a good starting point, it is the best one I read to date.

Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-01-16
Summary: "Another great Nolo book"

I have used and reviewed a number of Nolo books and have yet to find one that I wasn't happy with. Whatever the topic they are covering, they do it in an easy to understand, yet still fairly detailed way.

Estate planning basics will teach you about everything from making your will to naming someone to take care of your children to disinheriting heirs.

As always, it's written by a practicing attorney, in this case Denis Clifford who has written a number of other books on estate planning.

It's very well summed up here. There are detailed examples, there are more resources given where needed and there are even some discussions of particular state laws.

This is a great book. If you're looking into making a will and setting up your estate for the first time, or even the second. Highly recommended.

Rating: 4 / 5
Date: 2010-01-05
Summary: "A very good book to start with"

This interesting little book is a very good book on estate planning basics. It covers all of the things you need to know about what you should do to set up a will, living trust, or whatever you need. Now, as the title suggests this is a book on the basics, so if you have a large or complicated estate that you will definitely need to only start with this book and then move on to more in-depth works. Indeed, probably most people should only start with a book on the "basic."

But, that said, this is a very good book to start with. It will get you on your way with actually organizing your estate for your heirs. I highly recommend this book.