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Your Estate Planning Companion | |
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The View From the Mountaintop | |
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What Is Estate Planning? | |
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Your Path to Successful Estate Planning | |
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Keeping It All Together | |
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Identifying Your Goals and Concerns | |
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What Are Your Goals? | |
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What Do You Want to Avoid? | |
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Balancing Your Planning for Spouses, Children, and Stepchildren | |
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Making Your Wishes Clear | |
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How Big Is Your Pie? | |
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Who Gets a Slice of the Pie? | |
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How Big Are the Slices? | |
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Getting Down to the Nitty-Gritty: Specific Assets | |
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Building Relationships With Children and Stepchildren | |
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You and Your Spouse: Talking It Through, Working It Out | |
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Talking About the Tough Stuff | |
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Tips for Resolving Differences | |
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Common Roadblocks-And How to Get Around Them | |
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Taxes | |
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Federal Estate Tax | |
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State Estate Taxes | |
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The Federal Gift Tax | |
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Gift Tax vs. Estate Tax: Why It's Better to Give Now Than Later | |
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The Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax | |
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Tools and Techniques for Blended Families | |
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Understanding Probate and Nonprobate Assets | |
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Will or Trust? Get This Right and Things Start to Fall Into Place | |
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Providing for Your Spouse but Making Sure Your Children Ultimately Get Your Stuff | |
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Providing Cash for Loved Ones With Life Insurance | |
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Sharing the Wealth Now: Making Gifts During Your Life | |
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Other Tax-Saving Tools | |
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Spouses of Unequal Wealth | |
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Talk, Talk, and Keep on Talking | |
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Should You Help Out the Stepchildren? | |
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Good Tools for Spouses of Unequal Means | |
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The May-December Romance | |
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Providing for the Younger Spouse | |
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Providing for the Older Spouse's Children | |
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Providing for Children from the Current Relationship | |
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Family Property | |
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Heirlooms | |
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Real Estate | |
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The Family Farm | |
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A Family Business | |
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Trust Assets | |
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Choosing Executors and Trustees | |
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What Do Executors and Trustees Do? | |
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Potential Candidates for Executor or Trustee | |
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Helping Your Executor and Trustee | |
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Preparing for Disability and End-of-Life Decisions | |
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Premature Disability: How Would You Pay the Bills? | |
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Age-Related Disability | |
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Working With Lawyers | |
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How to Find the Right Lawyer for You | |
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You Are the Client | |
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How Lawyers Advise Couples | |
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How Lawyers Bill | |
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How Much Should It Cost? | |
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The Estate Planning Process | |
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Pulling Together the Information You Need | |
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How to Help Your Lawyer (and Lower Your Bill) | |
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Other Members of the Team: Accountants and Financial Advisers | |
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Keeping Your Plan Current | |
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Where to Keep Your Important Documents | |
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When to Update Your Plan | |
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Selected Glossary | |
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Appendixes | |
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Sample Estate Planning Questionnaire | |
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Sample Estate Plans | |
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Pete and Cynthia: Young Couple of Modest Means | |
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Randy and Andrea: Grandparents Whose House Is Their Primary Asset | |
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Tom and Callie: Young Couple With Wealth | |
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Jack and Lynn: Successful Couple with Age and Wealth Differences | |
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Index | |