Table of Contents

	Acknowledgments	p. ix
	Introduction	p. xiii
	Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010	p. 1
	Marginal Ordinary Income Tax Rates	p. 2
	Capital Gains Tax Rates	p. 3
	Educational Provisions	p. 3
	Business and Corporate Tax Relief	p. 8
	Estate, Gift, and Generation-Skipping Transfers	p. 8
	Estate Planning: You Need It-Here's Why	p. 13
	What Is Estate Planning?	p. 13
	The Benefits of Estate Planning	p. 15
	The Nightmares of Poor Planning	p. 16
	The Myths of Estate Planning	p. 17
	Guidelines for Successful Estate Planning	p. 18
	The Estate Tax System: How Much Are You Really Worth?	p. 21
	Determining Your Estate Net Worth	p. 21
	Understanding the Estate Tax System	p. 21
	Your Estate Tax Picture	p. 27
	Your Future Estate	p. 30
	Overview of Estate Planning Strategies	p. 30
	Investment Strategies for Maximizing Estate Growth	p. 32
	Growth Strategy with a Safety Net	p. 33
	Prioritizing Your Investment Dollars	p. 37
	Retirement Planning: Choosing the Best Investment Environments	p. 38
	Some Final Thoughts on Investing	p. 46
	Retire with Dignity: How Much Is Enough?	p. 47
	Your Retirement Requirements	p. 47
	You Don't Have a Will? Big Trouble!	p. 60
	Property Transfers at Death	p. 61
	Transfers via Probate	p. 61
	Direct Transfers by Title	p. 64
	Other Methods of Property Ownership	p. 68
	Choosing the Best Methods of Ownership	p. 69
	Setting Estate Planning Goals	p. 70
	Where There's a Will, There's Your Way!	p. 72
	What Is a Will?	p. 72
	Types of Wills	p. 72
	Advantages and Disadvantages of Wills	p. 74
	Intelligent Decisions Concerning Your Will's Basic Provisions	p. 76
	Executing Your Will	p. 86
	Where to Store Your Will	p. 86
	Other Important Documents	p. 87
	Working with Your Attorney	p. 90
	When to Review Your Estate Plan	p. 95
	Using Trusts in Your Estate Plan	p. 98
	The Credit Shelter Trust Will	p. 99
	Disclaimers	p. 103
	Marital Trusts	p. 104
	Spendthrift Trust	p. 108
	Standby Trust	p. 109
	Other Trusts	p. 109
	Understanding the Living Trust	p. 110
	Advantages of Living Trusts	p. 110
	Disadvantages of Living Trusts	p. 112
	How a Living Trust Operates	p. 113
	Transferring Property into Your Living Trust	p. 115
	Types of Property Likely to Be Transferred	p. 118
	Living Trust Myths	p. 120
	Transacting Business with Your Trust	p. 122
	Using Insurance in Your Estate Plan	p. 123
	Life Insurance	p. 123
	Using Life Insurance to Replace Income	p. 125
	How Much Life Insurance Do You Need?	p. 126
	What Type of Life Insurance Is Best for You?	p. 129
	Insurance on a Homemaker	p. 129
	Insurance on Adult Children	p. 129
	How to Get the Best Deal on Term Life Insurance	p. 130
	Insurance Warnings!	p. 130
	Using Life Insurance for Estate Liquidity	p. 131
	How Much Is Enough?	p. 132
	What Type of Life Insurance Is Best for Estate Liquidity?	p. 132
	The Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust	p. 134
	Getting Your Life Insurance into Your Trust	p. 135
	Using Life Insurance to Leverage Your Estate	p. 137
	About Your Cash Values	p. 139
	Long-Term Care Insurance	p. 141
	Smart Strategies for Gifting Assets to Family Members	p. 144
	The Annual Gift Tax Exclusion	p. 144
	Unintended Gifts	p. 145
	Filing a Gift Tax Return	p. 146
	The Lifetime Applicable Exclusion Amount	p. 147
	Outright Gifts	p. 147
	When the Donee Is a Minor	p. 149
	Other Tax-Free Gifts	p. 152
	Family Gifts Utilizing Trusts	p. 152
	Grantor Retained Annuity Trust	p. 153
	Grantor Retained Unitrust	p. 154
	Qualified Personal Residence Trust	p. 154
	Taking Advantage of Generation Skipping Transfers	p. 159
	Sales to Family Members	p. 161
	Loans to Family Members	p. 164
	The Legacy Trust	p. 164
	Strategic Planning with Charities	p. 173
	Outright Gifts to Charities	p. 174
	Testamentary Gifts to Charities	p. 176
	Gifts Using Charitable Trusts	p. 176
	Using Your Charitable Trust for Retirement Planning	p. 179
	The Private Foundation	p. 182
	Family Limited Partnerships	p. 186
	General Structure of the Family Limited Partnership	p. 186
	Family Limited Partnership Rules	p. 191
	Succession Planning for the Family Business or Farm	p. 197
	Special Estate Tax Benefits for Farmers and Closely Held Business Owners	p. 199
	Valuing Your Business or Farm	p. 200
	Succession or Sale?	p. 201
	Succession Planning: Keeping the Family Business in the Family	p. 201
	Maximizing Your Business's Value through a Sale	p. 202
	Structuring Your Buy-Sell Agreement	p. 203
	Types of Buy-Sell Agreements	p. 204
	Funding the Buy-Sell Agreement	p. 205
	One Final Strategy-The Employee Stock Ownership Plan	p. 206
	Asset Protection Strategies	p. 208
	The Concept of Fraudulent Transfers	p. 209
	A Word about Jointly Held Property	p. 212
	Retirement Plans	p. 212
	Life Insurance	p. 214
	Using Trusts to Protect Assets	p. 214
	Using Limited Liability Entities to Protect Assets	p. 216
	Use of Multiple Limited Liability Entities	p. 218
	Foreign Asset Protection Trusts	p. 219
	Domestic Asset Protection Trusts	p. 221
	Personal Business Planning Issues	p. 223
	Choosing the Right Entity for Your Business	p. 223
	Closing Thoughts	p. 233
	Importance of a Business Plan	p. 235
	Epilogue-Dealing with Parents and Their Money	p. 237
	Professional Advisors	p. 239
	Estate Planning Terms	p. 243
	IRS Life Expectancy Table	p. 248
	Index	p. 251