Your plain-English guide to administering an estate and/or trust As more and more of the population reach senior ages—including baby boomers, many of whom do not have wills—an increasing number of people are being thrust into the role of executor, administrator, personal representative of an estate, or trustee of a trust after the death of a loved one. This updated edition of Estate & Trust Administration For Dummiesguides you through the confusing process of administering an estate and/or trust. Settling an estate and administering a trust can be complicated, messy, and time-consuming for individuals named as executor or trustee, most of whom have no previous experience with such matters. Estate & Trust Administration For Dummies shows you how to make sound decisions for your unique circumstances. Guides you through the confusing process of administering an estate and/or trust Provides expert advice on unfamiliar estate and trust tax law Gives you a practical checklist to follow for all of your estate and trust administration questions and concerns Whether you're looking for guidance on how to navigate the probate process and estate taxes, settle debts and bequests, fund a trust, comply with tax regulations, or anything in between, this hands-on, friendly guide takes away the mystery and provides detailed answers to all of your estate and trust administration questions.

Planning for your family's future made easy! If you’re like most people, you want to be sure that, once you’ve passed on, no more of your property and money will be lost to the government than is absolutely necessary. You want to know that you’ll be leaving your heirs your assets and not your debts. You want to be absolutely certain that your will is ship-shape, your insurance policies are structured properly, and that every conceivable hole in your estate plan has been filled. And most of all, you’d like to do all of this without driving yourself crazy trying to make sense of the complicated jargon, jumble of paperwork, and welter of state and federal laws involved in the estate planning process. Written by two estate planning pros, this simple, easy-to-use guide takes the pain out of planning for your ultimate financial future. In plain English, the authors walk you step-by-step through everything you need to know to: Put your estate into order Minimize estate taxes Write a proper will Deal with probate Set up trusts Make sure your insurance policies are structured properly Plan for special situations, like becoming incompetent and pet care Craft a solid estate plan and keep it up-to-date Don’t leave the final disposition of your estate up to chance and the whims of bureaucrats. Estate Planning For Dummies gives you the complete lowdown on: Figuring out what you're really worth Mastering the basics of wills and probate Using will substitutes and dodging probate taxes Setting up protective trusts, charitable trusts, living trusts and more Making sense of state and federal inheritance taxes Avoiding the generation skipping transfer tax Minimizing all your estate-related taxes Estate planning for family businesses Creating a comprehensive estate plan Straightforward, reader-friendly, easy-to-use, Estate Planning For Dummies is the ultimate guide to planning your family’s future.

Written in clear, conversational English, this book can help anyone understand how a living trust avoids the complications, expenses, and delays of probate at times of incapacity and death.

A do-it-yourself manual for making your own living trust, with checklists, step-by-step procedures, worksheets, and forms.

This practice-oriented forms book contains everything necessary to understand, present & implement a living revocable or irrevocable trust. 1 Volume; Looseleaf; updated with annual revision.

The Model Rules of Professional Conduct provides an up-to-date resource for information on legal ethics. Federal, state and local courts in all jurisdictions look to the Rules for guidance in solving lawyer malpractice cases, disciplinary actions, disqualification issues, sanctions questions and much more. In this volume, black-letter Rules of Professional Conduct are followed by numbered Comments that explain each Rule's purpose and provide suggestions for its practical application. The Rules will help you identify proper conduct in a variety of given situations, review those instances where discretionary action is possible, and define the nature of the relationship between you and your clients, colleagues and the courts.

A living trust is a trust used for the purpose of avoiding the delays and costs associated with probate. They are easy to set up and simply involve completing and signing a trust agreement in which you name yourself as both grantor (creator of the trust) and trustee (manager of the trust assets). Once set up, you transfer some or all your assets to the trust. As trustee, you then take over management of the trust assets. When you die, the assets are distributed to the beneficiaries named in the trust agreement. However, as the assets are held in the trust's name rather than in your personal name, they will not need to go through probate. This allows for the assets to be distributed quickly after your death, and without the probate fees. This self-help kit provides you with step-by-step instructions, detailed information and all the legal forms necessary to help you create your own revocable living trust and avoid probate. ✔ Prepare a living trust quickly and easily. ✔ Avoid the costs and delays of probate. ✔ Protect yourself and your assets during incapacity. ✔ Make gifts to your loved ones. ✔ Create trusts for young beneficiaries.

Understand the essential elements of both a single life policy irrevocable life insurance trust and survivorship policy irrevocable life insurance trust in order to meet your clients' estate planning needs. This concise primer offers a step-by-step guide to these trusts and includes sample trust forms and documents to adapt for your practice. Includes sample forms for a both types of irrevocable life insurance trusts along with notes to the drafter for each type of trust; forms also on CD-ROM.