Suze Orman's Protection Portfolio: Will & Trust Kit. The Forms You Need Today to Protect Your Tomorrows [Box set] [Paperback]

Suze Orman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 30, 2002

Suze Orman's Financial Package is a systematic approach for organising your essential documents. The Financial Package is very different from any other product of this type, because Suze has included three CDs that actually include the forms and instructions to create your own advanced directive with durable power of attorney for health care, financial power of attorney, will, and a trust.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Suze Orman is the author of three consecutive New York Times bestsellers, The Road to Wealth, The Courage to Be Rich, ISBN: 1-57322-125-2, and The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom; ISBN: 0-609-80186-4; and the national best seller, You've Earned It, Don't Lose It. Her newest book, The Laws of Money, The Lessons of Life: Keep What You Have and Create What You Deserve, will be published by the Free Press in March 2003. A new PBS-TV special based on the book will air March 1-16, 2003. The personal finance editor on CNBC, Suze hosts her own national CNBC-TV show. She is also contributing editor to O: The Oprah Magazine. Suze wrote, co-produced and hosted three PBS pledge shows based on her best-selling books, which are among the most successful fundraisers in the history of Public Television. Suze has appeared numerous times on Oprah, Good Morning America, CNN, CNNfn, and CNBC.

Product Details

• Paperback: 169 pages
• Publisher: Hay House (December 30, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401901786
• ISBN-13: 978-1401901783
• Product Dimensions: 11.6 x 9.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (99 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #152,119 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #14 in Books > Education & Reference > Encyclopedias > Business

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

169 of 174 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Functionally worked, but everything is online, including your SSAN, May 26, 2008

By 

John Schaffer (Blacklick, OH) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Suze Orman's Will & Trust Kit: The Ultimate Protection Portfolio (CD-ROM)

This software installed easily on my MacBookPro with OS v10.4.11. Then the application started and explained that ALL the information, including social security numbers, dates of birth, etc., etc. are stored somewhere online. You have the option of exempting certain information but you then have to re-enter it each time. As with any end-of-life planning, there is highly detailed personal information about financials, property, etc. that I am completely uncomfortable about storing in the ethers regardless of assurances of complete security. I was hoping this was a piece of software fully contained on the laptop and used the internet solely to update forms and push changes to the laptop. Further, the fact that all this personal data is stored somewhere online is not explained anywhere on the outside of the box or on any of the paper inside. Had I been aware, I would not have made this purchase. Supposedly there is a way to replicate the online stuff to the laptop but even this is only a disconnected version of what is already online. Not at all happy.

165 of 171 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Get the Suze Orman Will & Trust kit instead, March 9, 2005

By 

Suze Orman - See all my reviews

This review is from: Suze Orman's Protection Portfolio: Will & Trust Kit. The Forms You Need Today to Protect Your Tomorrows (Paperback)

Dear Amazon Customers: Are you surprised that I myself have given my own product a one star rating? Dont be for you know I am always honest with you. Please be aware that at the time when this product was created (which was years ago now) that at that time it was great! It was the best the technology could offer at a price that everyone could afford. However since that time I have totally been able to 1000% improve it with the latest version which is under the title Suze Orman's Will and Trust Kit. I do not want you to waste your hard earned money on this version when for the same amount of money you can have the latest and the greatest. The new Will and Trust Kit answers all the criticisms in the reviews on this page and even more that needed to be addressed. This old version is browser based so you cannot save your information for security reasons, the new version on the WILL and TRUST KIT is on a CD ROM that can be downloaded onto your computer. This allows you to then give the disc to a friend or family member for them to download etc. So one kit can serve the entire family. The Will and Trust Kit not only has the CD ROM but it also has ten electronic books on the CD itself along with automatic updates of all the forms, so when changes happen you can for free get what you need to know. The new kit allows you to simply answer questions and it picks the forms you most likely should have and then fills in the information from your answers directly into those forms. The old version does not do any of this. The Will and Trust kit has the trust lawyer Janet Dobrovolny ( my trust lawyer who created this kit) verbally taking you through your forms via the audio format and you also can print out the directions and or read and listen to them on screen. There are over 50 forms on the new version, over 90 weblinks and 15 calculators. Please note: You DO NEED internet access to make the most of the updating process of the new Will and Trust Kit. I could go on and on, but the bottom line is I want you to get the most for your money and this old version of the Protection Portfolio, the page you are currently on, will not give you that but Suze Ormans Will and Trust Kit will. I would love if Amazon took this old version off all together and we have asked and asked them to do so, but that is not how they work so what to do, but now you know what I think. Thank you for taking time to read this. Suze Orman

137 of 143 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars RESPONSE FROM SUZE'S TRUST ATTORNEY, JANET DOBROVOLNY, REGARDING USERS CONCERNS, August 1, 2005

By 

Janet Dobrovolny "Suze Orman's trust attorney" (Emeryville, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Suze Orman Will & Trust Kit (CD-ROM)

Hello, I am the Trust and Wills attorney that worked with Suze Orman to create the Suze Orman Will and Trust kit. I appreciate the opportunity to respond to a user whom posted concerns here.


* He expressed concern that there is a lack of clarity in a section of the will that could cause confusion. The sentence in question is:

"I nominate Mary Smith to act as my executor. If Mary Smith cannot serve then John Smith is to serve as the executor of my will."

The questions is whether the second sentence requires the insertion of a comma to avoid any confusion. This section, as written, is clear and correct. There is no confusion about who is being named as executor. And that is the guiding principle for the courts; is the intention of the person making the will clear to the reader. As written this program I believe you the reader can see that it is absolutely clear.

The poster also pointed out a grammar error in an instruction letter. We thanked the fellow for pointing out that there is a change of tense in the letter. This has been corrected and recently posted in a free update that is included with the program. But rest assured the letter's intent was clear even with the tense issue; I have complete confidence in the content of the letter. The cover letter provided in the program is a courtesy letter, much like a fax cover sheet and has no legal significance. To view the letter please go to: www.suzeorman.com/drletter/

* The same person expressed concern in his original post to the help website, about the use of what he called "boiler plate" language and the inability to delete text from the will document. The specific concerns were two passages dealing with children and minors. The specific wording and inability for users to alter the text was a very deliberate decision I encouraged Suze to make. After much research and consultation, I decided the language with respect to children and minors is absolutely necessary to protect the users of this program. After reviewing countless wills people created using other programs I saw so many errors and omissions due to the changes and additions made by the program users. By making changes, inconsistencies and errors were written into the documents. Those mistakes were enough to make the will invalid. To protect users of Suze's program, and to ensure that the final will that is created would be judged valid, we created a program where the user made selections and answered certain questions that then automatically inserted the correct legal language in their will.

That is why when you select "no children" in the user profile, your document will nonetheless include the sentence: "I intentionally leave nothing to anyone claiming to be child of mine regardless of the validity of their claim." Without such a sentence, if you had a child you did not know about, then that child would be able to take a large part, or even all of your estate upon your death. Sound far-fetched? Well, there have indeed been many famous cases where unknown children have surfaced and made successful claims on estates. I realize this will not pertain to most users, but Suze's focus was to create a program that gives everyone the best legal protection; so that is why it is included.

* There was also concern about the inclusion of a phrase addressing the right for the executor to retain the inheritance of a young person in a custodianship UTMA account. This phrase can save an estate a great deal of time and money. Because of this phrase, the executor will not need to create a guardianship for the minor in the courts which can easily cost $5,000. The provision allows the executor to protect a young person beyond age 18, in some states covering up to age 25. Even if you don't name a minor child as a beneficiary, this phrase can be important. If one of your beneficiaries dies before you, or with you, that person's child or children will often become the beneficiary as a result of the death. Because of this, I encouraged Suze to include the phrase in the program. Again, our goal is to protect everyone from as many possible scenarios based on our extensive real life experience.

I thank you for your concern. Please know that I worked with Suze for months creating and vetting this program to make sure it would truly deliver a valid will to all users. The issues you raise were indeed discussed during the development of this program. The wording we chose was very intentional to ensure that all users had the utmost protections, and that there was no possibility that any user would inadvertently make a change that could render the document invalid.