Plan Your Estate by Denis Clifford, Cora Jordan, Cora Jordan

From the Publisher

The most comprehensive — yet easy to read — guide to estate planning on the market! Plan Your Estate covers everything from the basics of wills and living trusts to sophisticated tax-saving strategies. The authors give you straightforward, plain-English explanations of every significant estate-planning option available, so you can make the best decisions for you and those you love. This book covers wills, probate and how to avoid it, living trusts, property-control trusts, naming guardians for children, leaving property to children, estate taxes and how to reduce them, living wills (health care directives), financial powers of attorney, final arrangements, strategies for business owners and much more. The 8th edition is completely updated with the latest federal and state laws, and now covers ethical wills — a new way to pass on values, beliefs and important personal experiences. Good for all states except Louisiana.

Plan Your Estate is particularly helpful to the layperson... a clear, comprehensive and even charming book.

Los Angeles Times

Plan Your Estate is particularly helpful to the layperson... a clear, comprehensive and even charming book.

Money Magazine

Following Clifford’s advice in this laymen’s guide can save your heirs a bundle.

Washington Times

Probably one of the most comprehensive estate-planning books available to mature adults. It is also written so that everyone can understand new and complex theories, laws, regulations, advantages and disadvantages, with issues ranging from basic estate planning to sophisticated tax-savings strategies.

U.S. News & World Report

How to protect your family and make an orderly exit even if your estate is small.

U.S. News & World Report

How to protect your family and make an orderly exit even if your estate is small.

Wall Street Journal

"Nolo's home page is worth bookmarking."

The New York Times

"...excellent source of information on wills and estate planning."

Los Angeles Times

"Plan Your Estate is particularly helpful to the layperson.. a clear, comprehensive and even charming book."

Parenting Magazine

"From the country's leading publisher of do-it-yourself legal guides...get your affairs in order without any help -- or fees -- from lawyers."

What People Are Saying

Eric Tyson
"Among my favorite resources for explaining trust and other aspects of estate planning...." -- Eric Tyson, syndicated columnist and author of Personal Finance for Dummies

Product Details

• Table of Contents
• Read an Excerpt

Table of Contents

Read an Excerpt

Underlying the creation of any estate plan are profound human concerns: a primal urge for order and the desire to pass on property to loved ones. A good estate plan is an accurate reflection of your deepest personal wishes. Although much of this book is about mechanics, methods and documents, it's important to remember that no matter how well you deal with legal devices, your estate plan won't succeed unless you take human concerns into account, too.

We make no claim to being experts on the psyche. Indeed, we are wary of "experts" (or anyone) who claim precise understanding of something as complex and mysterious as human beings. Happily, you don't need an expert to cope with the human realities that can come up in your estate planning. You do need common sense and candor about the strengths, weaknesses and genuine needs of close family members, and perhaps friends as well. Legal aspects of estate planning are significant, of course (that's why we're here), but should never interfere with what you know in your heart needs to be done.

Many people face no serious personal problems in their estate planning. They know who they want to leave their property to. They do not foresee any possibility of conflict between their beneficiaries, nor threat of a lawsuit by someone claiming they were illegally denied their inheritance. On the human level, these people can, happily, focus on the satisfactions they expect their gifts to bring.

Other people's situations are not so clear and straightforward. They must deal with more difficult human dynamics, such as possibilities of family conflicts, or dividing property unequally between children, or providing care for minor children, or handling complexities arising from second or subsequent marriages.