Customer Reviews

Basic Wills, Trusts, and Estates for Paralegals, 2nd Edition

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book was OK. As I read it I got the feeling that it was a compilation of a community college instructor's notes he threw together to teach a course on estate administration to paralegal students. The key word in that last sentence was "threw." Although the author asserts early in the book that its purpose is to provide a basic understanding of the legal principles involved in estate work, the words used are just too sloppy and sometimes inaccurate to accomplish this goal. As a result, someone not already knowlegable about the subject matter of this book might be mislead or get the wrong impression of what estate work is about.

This book is about estate work a paralegal might be expected to do while working for an attorney who offers estate planning and estate administration services. This book talks a little about financial planning, retirement planning, estate planning, and estate administration.

In my humble opinion this book mischaracterizes financial planning and retirement planning as being related to estate planning and estate administration. Financial planning involves planning your finances while you are alive so you will accumulate assets. Retirement planning involves planning so your accumulated assets will support you after you retire. Estate planning involves planning how to transfer your wealth to others either during your life or after your death in such a way as to minimize paying wealth transfer taxes (gift, estate, and inheritance taxes). And estate administration involves legally transferring a decedent's wealth after his death and paying any wealth transfer taxes due. Law work has nothing to do with financial planning and very little to do with retirement planning.

This book seems to be written under the belief that lawyers must be a part of estate planning and estate administration. Nothing could be further from the truth! While it is true that many executors seek the help of a law firm to administer an estate, and that the law firm usually takes over the executor's duties in administering an estate, this is not a requirement. If it were, then why have an executor involved in the first place? Or why not just make lawyers executors in the first place?

Another problem I had with the book was the way probate was intertwined with the definition of estate administration. Everyone has an estate. And every estate has to be administered. But not all estates have to go through probate. There is such a thing as estate administration WITHOUT probate. And after reading this book I wouldn't know this fact.

If you are interested in reading a book about estate work a paralegal usually does, then you would do yourself a favor to read this book. This book documents how a paralegal usually does his work, but it DOES NOT document how estate work has to be done. This is probably my biggest gripe with this book. Most of what a paralegal does can be delegated back to the executor if the paralegal knew how to coach the executor. But then the law firm wouldn't be able to bill as many hours to the estate. Oh well.

I would have liked the book better if Chapter 4 regarding trusts had been more accurate and complete. And I would have liked the book better if Chapter 6 regarding Estate Planning for theElderly had been omitted. I also found it strange that the book asserted that paralegals don't usually calculate the taxes due by the estate. It's my understanding they regularly complete the tax returns and in doing so they calculate the taxes due. 3 stars!

It's a text book and depending on your instructor it may be sufficient. Don't get it if you want in depth coverage of any topic whatsoever. Also don't get it if you are annoyed by typos. It's like a third grader edited this thing, which is equal parts amusing and irritating.

While Jeffrey A. Helewitz is a well respected legal educator and textbook author, I found this particular textbook to oversimplify legal topics to the point that his definitions become inaccurate. In defining concepts in the simplest manner possible, he creates his own definitions for terms. Unfortunately, on occasion, his definitions are not consistent with legal authority and Black's Law Dictionary.

I would not recommend this textbook.

The book is typical textbook but the company that I purchased it from gave me excellent customer service! Shipping was fast and the staff were very friendly.