Estate Planning For Dummies

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