Estate Planning For Dummies

Title
 Contents
 Introduction
 Who Needs This Book
 How to Use This Book
 How This Book is Organized
 Icons Used in This Book
 Part I : Estate Planning Fundamentals
 Chapter 1: Congratulations: You Have an Estate!
 What Is an Estate?
 Why You Need to Plan Your Estate
 Why Your Estate-Planning Goals Are Different from Your Neighbors\'
 Why Estate-Planning Lingo Is Not Really a Foreign Language
 The Critical Path Method to Planning Your Estate
 Getting Help with Your Estate Planning
 Chapter 2: Bean Counting --
Figuring Out What You\'re Worth
 Calculating the Value of Your Real Property. Calculating the Value of Everything Else: Your Personal PropertyDead Reckoning: Subtracting Your Debts from Your Assets
 Giving Gifts Throughout Your Life to Reduce Your Estate\'s Value
 Calculating Adjustments in Your Estate\'s Value Due to Life Changes
 Part II : Where There\'s a Will, There\'s a Way
 Chapter 3: Understanding the Basics of Wills
 Planning for Your Will
 Getting to Know the Different Types of Wills
 Choosing Your Will\'s Contents
 Safeguarding Your Will
 Changing, Amending, and Revoking Your Will
 Protecting Your Loved Ones from Your Unloved Ones
 Figuring Out Your Will Status. Chapter 4: Tied Hands and Helping Hands: What You Can and Can\'t Do with Your WillMaking Your Peace with Statutes That Affect Your Will
 Identifying Statutes that Your Will Can Change
 Living (and Dying) with the Laws that Your Will Can\'t Change
 Chapter 5: Probate: Top of the Ninth for Your Estate
 Probing Probate: What You Should Know
 Knowing the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Probate
 Streamlining the Probate Process
 Appointing Your Person In Charge
 Thinking Things Through When Someone Asks You To Be a Personal Rep
 Chapter 6: Dodging Probate: Saving Time and Money with a Will Substitute. Understanding Will SubstitutesSorting through the List of Will Substitutes
 Identifying Some Less Common but Worthy Will Substitutes
 Part III : Matters of Trust
 Chapter 7: Understanding Trusts
 Defining Trusts, Avoiding Hype
 Trust Power --
Making Your Beneficiaries Smile
 Sorting Out Trusts --
from Here to Eternity
 Chapter 8: Trusts You May Want to Trust --
or Not
 Saying \"I Do\" to a Marriage-Oriented Trust
 Considering Charitable Trusts
 Protecting Your Estate With Protective Trusts
 GRAT, GRUT, GRIT: Chewing over the Grantor-Retained Trusts. Sidestepping Estate Taxes with an Irrevocable Life Insurance TrustChapter 9: Working a Trust Into Your Estate Plan
 Linking Your Estate-Related Tax Planning with Your Trust Planning
 Looking at Your Goals and Objectives for Setting up Trusts
 Deciding What Property to Place in Trust
 Linking Your Estate-Planning and Trust Goals with Specific Property
 Stepping Back and Comparing Both Trust and Nontrust Options
 Weighing Trust Tradeoffs
 Finalizing Your Choices --
Dotting I\'s and Crossing T\'s
 Part IV : Life, Death, and Taxes
 Chapter 10: Preparing for the Tug of War with the Taxman.