I have had the recent honor of co-authoring a nationally published book entitled WealthCounsel Estate Planning Strategies: Collective Wisdom, Proven Techniques. Several attorneys throughout the country contributed to its production. My chapter is devoted to understanding trust administrations.
Often I’m asked to recommend an estate planning book that covers topics my clients are attempting to understand. While many books are devoted to one or two specific and narrow topics, this book covers the gamut. No matter your level of wealth, everyone can utilize the book’s insights to plan not only for death and taxes, but to ensure their wishes are carried out exactly as they desire.
The editors mandated that all authors write in easy to understand language, and I believe that the book accomplishes this mission. Chapters are devoted to estate planning goals, documents, incapacity planning, tax planning, charitable giving, retirement benefit planning, business succession, asset protection planning and estate and trust administration, among other topics. The book not only provides insights and advice to those with large estates, but also offers help to those with very basic estate planning needs.
Many people mistakenly believe their estate is not large enough or complex enough to warrant estate planning. Despite the obvious financial benefits of estate planning – probate avoidance and minimizing taxes may come to mind first – there are many important non-financial reasons to plan. Regular readers of this column note that most of my topics are not really tax related, for example.
Chapters in this book discuss how to determine who is best to handle your legal and financial affairs and who should make medical decisions on your behalf if you should become incapacitated. For those with minor children, consideration as to who should be named as their guardian is important as well. The best plans are designed to enable your loved ones to avoid court processes and intervention. This is all covered in the book.
Other topics covered include:
ü The goals and objectives of estate planning;
ü The basic and advanced documents commonly use;
ü Basic rules for titling assets and property ownership;
ü How today’s changing estate, gift, and income tax rules affect planning;
ü Life insurance strategies and techniques;
ü Retirement Plan principles and rules;
ü Special planning considerations when you have a blended or non-traditional family;
ü Asset protection strategies;
ü Family limited partnerships;
ü Gifting strategies;
ü Special Needs beneficiaries and trusts;
and a host of others.
You can order the book on amazon.com Sometime in the near future I may also have a link on my firm’s web site www.sbshlaw.com as well. As a point of disclosure, I was not paid to write my portion of the book, nor do I receive any share of the profits earned on its sale.
If you’re looking for a complete book on estate planning, I can’t think of one that is more comprehensive than WealthCounsel Estate Planning Strategies, Collective Wisdom Proven Techniques.
©2009 Craig R. Hersch .Learn more at www.sbshlaw.com