Plan Your Estate, 9th Edition [Paperback]

Denis Clifford Attorney (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 28, 2008

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.

The 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 9th 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. (20080301)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Denis Clifford's Plan Your Estate is an excellent primer on dealing with the financial side of death. (Liz Pulliam Weston 20080201)

"An excellent source of information on wills and estate planning." (The New York Times 20080302)

"Walks you through... provisions you need to consider for your situation." (CBS News 20090101)

"An exhaustive guide, explaining everything from simple wills to complex trusts. Particularly helpful are a series of 'profiles' that illustrate how estate plans can benefit various individuals and families." (The Wall Street Journal 20090101)

Walks you through... provisions you need to consider for your situation. (CBS News 20090101)

A superb book. (Chicago Tribune 20090101)

Comprehensive, up to date and organized to make it easy to find the information you want.... clearly explain the nuts and bolts of estate planning. (Kiplinger's Retirement Report 20090101)

If Clifford's Estate Planning Basics was the appetizer, this is the main course. (Library Journal 20090101)

Plan Your Estate is particularly helpful to the layperson... a clear, comprehensive and even charming book. (Los Angeles Times 20090101)

Following Clifford's advice in this laymen's guide can save your heirs a bundle. (Money Magazine 20090101)

A comprehensive guide that will enable you to put together a plan that's right for you and your family. (Small Business Opportunities 20090101)

An excellent source of information on wills and estate planning. (The New York Times 20090101)

An exhaustive guide, explaining everything from simple wills to complex trusts. Particularly helpful are a series of 'profiles' that illustrate how estate plans can benefit various individuals and families. (The Wall Street Journal 20090101)

How to protect your family and make an orderly exit even if your estate is small. (U.S. News & World Report 20090101)

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. (Washington Times )

Among my favorite resources for explaining trusts and other aspects of estate planning... (Eric Tyson )

About the Author

Denis Clifford, a graduate of Columbia Law School, where he was an editor of The Law Review, is a lawyer who specializes in estate planning. He is the author of many Nolo titles including Quick and Legal Will Book and Make Your Own Living Trust and co-author of Plan Your Estate and A Legal Guide for Lesbian and Gay Couples. He has been interviewed by such major media as The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Money Magazine.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 550 pages
• Publisher: NOLO; 9 edition (April 28, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1413307612
• ISBN-13: 978-1413307610
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.9 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #410,845 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding and comprehensive coverage of estate planning., October 18, 2006

By 

Harold Erickson (NC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Plan Your Estate: Everything You Need to Know to Protect Your Loved Ones, Property & Finances (Paperback)

The book is so clearly written, with explanations followed by simple examples. It covers every aspect I could think of, with occasional advice that you could do this yourself, or sometimes that you really need a lawyer. If you have a substantial estate you will probably want to have an expert do the work. But you should read this book so you know what the expert is doing (or you could pay the expert $200-300 an hour to educate you on basics). Simply the best book I have read all year.

22 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Plan Your Estate 8th Edition, July 31, 2006

By 

Norman G. Zalfa - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Plan Your Estate: Everything You Need to Know to Protect Your Loved Ones, Property & Finances (Paperback)

Excellent resource for estate planning. Readable (plain English) , concise and to the point. Covers many areas of estate planning that most other estate planning books fail to mention

70 of 94 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Nearly useless if you have retirement accounts, February 14, 2007

By 

The Rizzler (Virginia) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Plan Your Estate: Everything You Need to Know to Protect Your Loved Ones, Property & Finances (Paperback)

I bought this book prior to seeing an attorney to set up a will/trust so that I would be reasonably knowledgeable about the issues to consider before the meter started running. In particular, I, like many others have much of my net worth in IRAs and other tax advantaged retirement accounts and was concerned about how best to pass on these accounts. To my utter astonishment (and disgust), this book for all practical purposes provides no help with IRAs, 401Ks, etc. For heavens sake, after a home, retirement accounts are the major assets of most people and an estate planning book of 443 pages ought to be able to squeeze in basic advice on this topic.

Actually, I'm exagerating; they do provide two pieces of advice on IRAs. Their advice on page 179 is to buy a separate book from Nolo Press (whose title I will NOT cite) and on page 181 they suggest you download publications 560 and 590 from the IRS. Gee thanks. You don't suppose they intentionally omitted retirement accounts so you'd have to buy another one of their publications? Could I be getting cynical in my old age?

If you don't have IRAs this book is pretty good (reason for two stars), otherwise you 're flying blind.