Wills, Probate, and Inheritance Tax For Dummies (eBook)

Julian Knight is the Money Editor at The Independent on Sunday. Previously he worked as a personal finance reporter for BBC News, writing regularly for the BBC News website and contributing to Radio Five Live. Julian has written about personal finance for a variety of magazines, national newspapers and websites. He is the author of Retiring Wealthy For Dummies and The British Citizenship Test For Dummies.

Introduction 1

Part I: Planning Your Will 7

Chapter 1: Preparing for the Inevitable 9

Chapter 2: Recognising the Benefits of Making a Will 19

Chapter 3: Totting Up the Value of Your Estate 35

Chapter 4: Deciding Who Gets What 51

Chapter 5: Leaving Your Home in Your Will 63

Part II: Writing Your Will 75

Chapter 6: Choosing the Right People to Follow Your Wishes 77

Chapter 7: Getting It in Writing: Drawing Up Your Will 93

Chapter 8: Fine-Tuning Your Will 103

Chapter 9: Ringing the Changes: When and How to Change a Will 119

Chapter 10: Making Clear Your Funeral Wishes 135

Part III: Managing Probate 143

Chapter 11: What To Do When Someone Dies 145

Chapter 12: Pro-what? The Basics of the Probate Process 153

Chapter 13: Dealing with the Estate: First Steps 163

Chapter 14: Distributing the Estate 175

Part IV: Taxing Times: Inheritance Planning 197

Chapter 15: Introducing Inheritance Tax 199

Chapter 16: Simple Steps to Reduce Inheritance Tax 207

Chapter 17: Rolling Out the Big Guns: Understanding Trusts 223

Chapter 18: Using Trusts to Help Your Family 241

Chapter 19: Taking Care of Business: Inheritance Tax and Your Firm 251

Part V: The Part of Tens 261

Chapter 20: Ten Items to Keep with Your Will 263

Chapter 21: Ten Problem Wills to Avoid 269

Chapter 22: Ten Tips for Getting Your Estate into Tax-Saving Shape 275

Appendix 283

Index 287