Customer Reviews

Family Trust : How to Avoid Probate, Save Taxes, Protect Your assets, Provide For Your Family (1st Edition)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

In my more than 40 years as a senior executive, I learned that it was very importamnt for me to be as knowledgeable as possible when dealing with experts and specialists so that I could communicate intelligently with them and to be able to evaluate the product that they finally presented to me. When it became reasonable for me to attempt to protect my estate from the grasp of the IRS, I tried to follow the path that I had followed as a corporate executive and went looking for decent reference material that I could use to educate myself. Up until now, I had not found anything that was at all helpful to me as a lay person. Mr. Croke's book, however, is extremely helpful. It puts very complicated material in clear and uncomplicated terms and has given me the first decent basis for my meetings with the "experts". After reading his material, I am comfortable that my advisor and I are communicating in the same language and I am confident that the finished product will be what I want it to be, not what someone else who does not really know me or my needs thinks that it should be. I compliment Mr. Croke on an excellent, well written tool.

This is the best book on trusts I've seen. Found out that my Trust failed to properly provide for my wife and children. Only thing my current Trust provided was a savings on estate taxes but it left my wife an inadequate income from the Trust, less than 3%. Providing my wife with the income she would need from my Trust is more important than just the tax savings. I was able to quickly correct this and several other major errors in my Trust. I learned about Trust options I didn't know I had. And, my attorney never told me about them and neither did the other books on trusts that I've read.

You must state in your Trust what you want to have happen.(FAMILY TRUST). My original Trust gave broad powers to my trustee. But, I found out from Family Trust by Franke Croke and then from my attorneys that state law requires that 50% of my Trust must be invested in Bonds. I did not want bonds because I know they will reduce the value of my Trust. I also discovered that if my wife became ill and wanted our daughter to visit her, travel expenses would not be paid from the Trust unless I authorized it. Needless to say, I revised my Trust, thanks to this book. My trustee is instructed to put my assets in growth stocks, mutual funds and index funds and is instructed to pay the travel expenses of my children and grandchildren to visit my wife. I've now got a Trust document that will be a real help to my family thanks to Frank Croke and his book Family Trust. Sincerley, Robert Schilling

It is possible to create a trust (living or otherwise) that does not do what you expect it to do. If you want to direct how the trustees handle the trust's assets after you are gone, and how much income specific beneficiaries will obtain from the trust, or create a complex trust, this may be the book you want.

If all you want is a living trust that will allow your assets to escape probate, and maximize the estate tax deductions, then forget this book. Read "the Living Trust" by Abts instead

Finally a book that tells the facts. I used to think of a trust as just a way to save estate taxes. Now I've learned that my trust can be a legalized financial plan that fits the needs of my family. It's a straight forward book and has several good worksheets for planning. Would recommend it to anyone who wants more than the cookie cutter approach to protecting their family assets.

It appears that the Winston-Salem attorney (below) may have jumped the gun. Although he has not read the book, I'm not sure why he feels it's his duty to attack the author's credentials. I think the book is professionally written and is a helpful guide for readers who want to think and plan out the needs of their family and communicate those needs to their attorney. Proper planning is a key part of any family trust.

The allegation that the authors lack the proper credentials on the subject matter seems to be without merit. While a "Lexis-Nexis" search is the best way to obtain legal citations, it is not an exhaustive search of business articles, financial filings and can miss information from supplemental "special report" sections of paid journals. Perhaps the reviewer was too busy to refer to his own subscriptions of The Wall Street Journal or Kiplinger's Retirement Report.

Mr. Croke (the author) was cited in both of those journals earlier this year. The April, 2000 issue of Kiplinger's Retirement Report talks positively about his work and his book in a page and a half article and he is quoted several times in the March 7th, 2000 edition of The Wall Street Journal under an article called "Tangled Trusts".

There is some useful information in this book, but the main purpose of the work appears to be an attempt to justify all the sins of omission and commission perpetrated by lawyers in the area of family trusts. The most popular and useful of the trusts is the revocable living trust, to which Croke devotes 5 pages out of 300. Lots of "see your lawyer on this" though. Better to read the book by the Schumachers.

I have read both of Mr. Croke's books and I have found them to be both informative and helpful. In fact, I have given them to most of the senior executives in my company. In virtually every case, they have found data in these books which have led them to meet with their trust advisors and to revise their trusts. My own trust advisor, rated as the best in our area, has reviewed Mr. Croke's books and believes them to be a very helpful addition to the current bibliography. I have also read the review by your customer from Tucson and I have a difficult time understanding his crankiness.

I picked up this book knowing very little about trusts. Its a US book, and I needed to find out about UK tax. So there needs to be a UK edition. Nevertheless it proved very useful in raising potential red flags. It also has white space at the back where I made copious notes and reminders for my family and financial advisor. The book raises lots of questions to ask family members.

In this day and age it's so important to protect your assets. What you have today may not be there tomorrow and you should do what you can to protect your wealth for your family and children's children. I've read and researched a lot on this topic and one thing I loved about this book was it's easy to understand language and lots of areas for notes. Good luck - it's not an easy road to walk on but so important.