Authors: Joseph R. Hearn. Niel D. Nielsen.
Paperback, 120 pages
Publisher: Provisio Publishing, LLC
Publication Date: 2004-09


Reviews :

    If Something Happens To Me is a detailed workbook that allows families to not only organize their financial, legal and insurance information, but also gives step-by-step guidance as to what actions need to be taken after losing a loved one. In short, it is one of the most comprehensive, relevant tools available to ensure that families are prepared for the unexpected....

Authors: Martin M. Shenkman.
Paperback, 320 pages
Publisher: Wiley
Publication Date: 2002-04-12
Edition: 3

Reviews :

    A new, updated edition of the ultimate guide to trusts

Trusts are powerful and flexible financial planning tools, and this new edition of The Complete Book of Trusts covers everything you need to know to protect your hard-earned assets from taxes, creditors, and more. This updated Third Edition provides all the latest information on trusts, addressing recent changes due to economic growth and the Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 in such areas as transferring assets, distribution of income, gift and estate tax rules, and many others.

Along with in-depth examinations of sixty different types of trusts, this book also shows you how to:
* Set up a trust to manage assets in the event of disability or death
* Avoid probate
* Minimize or eliminate estate and other transfer taxes
* Financially protect loved ones
* And more


The Complete Book of Trusts, Third Edition is an invaluable resource for anyone with significant assets to protect....

Authors: Angie Epting Morris.
Paperback, 144 pages
Publisher: Voyages Press, Inc.
Publication Date: 2006-01-01


Reviews :

    Dividing an estate fairly may sound easy, but in fact very few people know how to do it. Because of this, an event that should be dedicated to remembering the good times and paying honor to the deceased often becomes a time of strife and divisiveness, resulting in bad feelings that can sometimes last a lifetime. Now, there is a resource that helps to avoid such conflicts. The Settlement Guide provides clear, useful advice about how to divide the family estate of the deceased parents in a fair and peaceful manner....

Authors: Jordan Simon. Brian Caverly.
Paperback, 384 pages
Publisher: For Dummies
Publication Date: 2003-03-07


Reviews :

    Pass on your money and property, not your tax burden

The straightforward, reader-friendly guide to planning for your family’s future

Worried about what will happen to your assets after you’re gone? Don’t want to leave your heirs with a fat tax bill? Relax! Now there’s Estate Planning For Dummies, the simple guide that takes the pain out of planning for the future. It’ll help you minimize estate taxes, write a proper will, keep your plan up-to-date, and much more!

The Dummies Way

• Explanations in plain English
• "Get in, get out" information
• Icons and other navigational aids
• Tear-out cheat sheet
• Top ten lists
• A dash of humor and fun

...

Authors: Ed Slott.
Hardcover, 320 pages
Publisher: Viking Adult
Publication Date: 2004-12-29


Reviews :

    Ed Slott’s book The Retirement Savings Time Bomb . . . and How to Defuse It taught Americans how to protect their hard-earned cash from the IRS’s coffers. Now, "America’s IRA expert" (Mutual Funds Magazine) returns with a bulletproof plan for ensuring your IRA’s continued longevity, tax-favored, for generations.

In Parlay Your IRA, Ed Slott shows you how to make the most out of your retirement plan. Slott's three-step strategy cuts through the tax laws and provides simple, easy-to-follow instructions for managing your IRA and other retirement income. Learn what you can do to parlay it into a fortune during your lifetime, and what you must do now to ensure that your beneficiaries will have all the options available to capitalize on the opportunity you've created for them to keep your money growing.

Packed with strategies, tips, answers to frequently asked questions Parlay Your IRA into a Family Fortune offers real solutions to making the most of your retirement money.

Learn how to:
* Achieve unlimited tax-free income when you retire.
* Pass more assets on to loved ones and other beneficiaries
* Keep retirement assets in the family for decades, even generations, and pay minimal or no taxes
*Protect your retirement account from creditors, divorce, bankruptcy, lawsuits, or other problems that could expose it to loss
*Use a Roth IRA to build a tax-free fortune
* And much, much more
...

Authors: Sandy F. Kraemer.
Paperback, 304 pages
Publisher: AMACOM
Publication Date: 2006-06-12
Edition: 3

Reviews :

    Now in a new edition and thoroughly updated, "60-Minute Estate Planner" simplifies the complicated process of estate planning. Readers will learn what information they need to gather before they begin, and how to communicate with heirs, manage tax considerations associated with estates, provide for the special needs of the old and young, and much more. In addition, the book contains tons of helpful tools such as sample forms and worksheets - everything readers need to ensure that their loved ones are taken care of after they're gone....

Authors: Julia Nissley.
Paperback, 446 pages
Publisher: NOLO
Publication Date: 2008-03
Edition: 19

Reviews :

    Covers the entire California probate process, from deciphering a will to tackling taxes.

If you need to wrap up the affairs of a deceased family member or friend in California, you can save attorney fees by handling the probate process yourself.

How to Probate an Estate in California is the only book that provides all the forms, tips and step-by-step instructions you'll need to settle a loved one's estate. You may even be able to handle the whole process by mail, without setting foot in the courthouse.

Learn how to:

read a will

determine who inherits property if there is no will

handle probate paperwork

collect life insurance and other benefits

transfer community property to a surviving spouse or domestic partner

pay bills and taxes

distribute property left through trusts

Even if you hire a lawyer to do the probate paperwork, this book will help you understand the process so that you can make informed decisions and communicate intelligently with the attorney about the estate. Why spend over $13,000 on a lawyer to probate a $500,000 estate, when you can do almost all of it on your own?

The 19th edition is completely updated with current probate and tax information.

FORMS:

Appendix B: Judicial Council Forms
DE-111 Petition for Probate
DE-120 Notice of Hearing
DE-121 Notice of Petition to Administer Estate
DE-121(MA) Attachment to Notice of Petition to Administer Estate
DE-131 Proof of Subscribing Witness
DE-135 Proof of Holographic Instrument
DE-140 Order for Probate
DE-147 Duties and Liabilities of Personal Representative
DE-147S Confidential Supplement to Duties and Liabilities of Personal Representative
DE-150 Letters
DE-157 Notice of Administration to Creditors
DE-160 Inventory and Appraisal
DE-161 Inventory and Appraisal Attachment
DE-165 Notice of Proposed Action
DE-174 Allowance or Rejection of Creditor's Claim
DE-221 Spousal or Domestic Partner Property Petition
DE-226 Spousal or Domestic Partner Property Order
DE-270 Ex Parte Petition for Authority to Sell Securities and Order
DE-295 Ex Parte Petition for Final Discharge and Order
DE-305 Affidavit re Real Property of Small Value ($20,000 or Less)
DE-310 Petition to Determine Succession to Real Property (Estates of $100,000 or Less)
DE-315 Order Determining Succession to Real Property (Estates of $10,000 of Less)

Appendix C: Non-Judicial Council Forms
Declaration Regarding Property Passing to Decedent's Surviving Spouse or Registered Domestic
Partner Under Probate Code #13500
Who Inherits Under the Will?
Schedule of Assets
Notification by Trustee
Affidavit -- Death of Joint Tenant
Affidavit -- Death of Trustee
Affidavit -- Death of Spouse
Affidavit -- Death of Domestic Partner
Affidavit -- Death of Spouse or Domestic Partner--Survivorship Community Property
Affidavit for Collection of Personal Property Under California Probate Code #13100-13106
Deed to Real Property
Probate Case Cover Sheet-- Certificate of Grounds for Assignment to District (L.A. County)
Application and Order Appointing Probate Referee (L.A. County)
Change in Ownership Statement (Death of Real Property Owner) (L.A. County)
Preliminary Change of Ownership Report...

Authors: Henry K. Hebeler.
Paperback, 267 pages
Publisher: Wiley
Publication Date: 2007-04-27
Edition: 1

Reviews :

    PRE- AND POST-RETIREMENT PLANNING THAT MAKES SENSE

GETTING STARTED IN A FINANCIALLY SECURE RETIREMENT

If you want to make the most of your retirement years, you have to seriously think about the retirement lifestyle you want and the path that will get you there. In order to do this, you need reliable retirement information that will allow you to properly chart your course. Nobody knows this better than author Henry Hebeler, who retired from the corporate world more than fifteen years ago--and quickly discovered that much of the retirement planning advice available wasn't helping people accomplish their goals.

Now, with Getting Started in a Financially Secure Retirement, Hebeler shares his experience in this field with you and reveals what it really takes to achieve the retirement you want. Written in a straightforward and accessible style, Getting Started in a Financially Secure Retirement dismisses the assumptions that many popular retirement planning methods make and addresses some of today's most important retirement issues, including everything from planning with realistic economic inputs to neglected subjects such as replacement budgeting, reverse dollar cost averaging, and the need for resiliency when encountering surprise events.

Filled with in-depth insights, practical advice, and helpful retirement planning tools, Getting Started in a Financially Secure Retirement will allow you to apply Hebeler's proven principles to your own specific situation--whether you're already retired or still working--and make more informed financial decisions as you plan for the years ahead....

Authors: Roy Williams. Vic Preisser.
Hardcover, 181 pages
Publisher: Robert D. Reed Publishers
Publication Date: 2003-04


Reviews :

    Common Sense Approach Looks at Wealth Transition With Insight and Integrity

Are you concerned about the impact of wealth on your heirs? Are your heirs prepared for the responsibilities of wealth? In Preparing Heirs, Roy Williams and Vic Preisser disclose the surprising findings from their research into the legacies of 3,250 wealthy families. With extraordinary insight, they reveal what the relatively small number of successful families had in common—how they achieved and maintained family harmony, and ensured the smooth transition of their wealth to well-adjusted heirs. They also warn of the wide range of factors that cause the majority of wealthy families to fail in their transition.

Preparing Heirs offers clear, concise, well-organized, and easy-to-follow instructions that will enable you to evaluate your plan for transitioning family wealth. Used in conjunction with qualified professionals such as attorneys and accountants, this book can help you develop a plan to transmit the family values underlying the accumulation of wealth and prepare your heirs to be good stewards and thoughtful administrators of that wealth....

Authors: JD, Nicholas C. Misenti.
Paperback, 500 pages
Publisher: Toolkit Media Group
Publication Date: 2003-05-01


Reviews :

    The latest techniques for preserving family wealth and legally avoiding personal liability in the operation of a small business are provided in this guide. Intended for the small business owner, the strategies discussed are equally effective in larger businesses. Taken together, these strategies provide a multilayered approach to asset protection, offering redundant protection and often presenting an insurmountable barrier to creditors. Topics covered include the types of property that are exempt from bankruptcy and legal judgments; and methods for using insurance, asset transfers, and asset protection trusts as a second level of defense. The strategies detailed in this book have been proven effective by actual court cases. Alternatives are contrasted and compared in terms of costs, complexity, and effectiveness, affording owners the opportunity to choose approaches based on their needs....