Estate Planning For Dummies (eBook)

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 plan-ning, 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