Plan Your Estate: Everything You Need to Know to Protect Your Loved Ones, Property & Finances [Paperback]

Denis Clifford (Author), Cora Jordan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 10, 2006

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 8th 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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"An exhaustive guide, explaining everything from simple wills to complex trusts. Particularly helpful how estate plans canbenefit various individuals andfamilies." -- The Wall Street Journal

"Following Clifford's advice in this laymen’s guide can save your heirs a bundle." -- Money Magazine

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

"If Clifford's Estate Planning Basics was the appetizer, this is the main course." -- Library Journal

"Probably one of the most comprehensive estate-planning books available to mature adults." -- Washington Times

REVIEW: "An excellent source of information on wills and estate planning." -- The New York Times

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, Nolo's Simple 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.

Cora Miner Jordan earned her law degree at the University of Mississippi. A trained mediator, she is the author of Neighbor Law: Fences, Trees, Boundaries and Noise and co-author of Plan Your Estate.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 455 pages
• Publisher: NOLO; 8 edition (March 10, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1413304060
• ISBN-13: 978-1413304060
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,071,925 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
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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.