Estate Planning For Dummies, 2nd Edition

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.

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