Protect Your Estate : Definitive Strategies for Estate and Wealth Planning from the Leading Experts

by Esperti, Robert; Peterson, Renno

• ISBN13: 9780071351980
• ISBN10: 0071351981
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-12-08
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill

Summary

Estate planning is more important than ever, and it's no longer just for the very rich.Today's "middle-class millionaires"shy;shy;created by the booming stock and real estate marketsshy;shy;have more assets than they ever believed possible. That unexpected wealth brings with it new concerns about how to protect their money and their heirs. A best-seller in its first edition, this book shows anyone how to implement estate planning into a long-range financial plan. It includes the latest on: Disability planning Living trusts; asset protection through long-term planning Family limited partnershipsWritten by two noted tax attorneys who have revolutionized the estate-planning process with their techniques,Protect Your Estate, Second Edition, enables readers to understand the newest changes in the tax laws and turn them to their own advantage.

Author Biography

Robert A. Esperti and Renno L. Peterson are known internationally for their estate and wealth strategies planning expertise. They live respectively in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and Sarasota, Florida. They are the founders of the National Network of Estate Planning Attorneys and the Esperti Peterson Institute of Estate and Wealth Strategies Planning, and are the publishers of CONSPECTUS CURRENT, The Journal of the Estate and Wealth Strategies Planning Professions.

They are also the senior principals in Esperti Peterson & Cahoone, a National Law Firm and Partnership of Professional Corporations, and Esperti Peterson Consulting, Inc., a wealth strategies design firm specializing in serving the planning needs of the world's affluent families. Widely known to the general public and planning practitioners in the multidisciplinary professions of law, accounting, and financial and insurance planning, Esperti and Peterson are the world's most prolific and creative estate planning authors.

They are the authors of 23 books, including the best-selling Loving Trust, The Living Trust Revolution: Why America Is Abandoning Wills and Probate, The Living Trust Workbook, and a number of multi-volume professional treatises. Esperti and Peterson are dedicated to meeting the estate and wealth strategies planning needs of affluent client families, and are widely sought for their practice and lecture skills as they impart the depth of their unique knowledge.

Table of Contents

What Is Estate Planning?

Title.

Jointly Held Property.

Disability.

No Estate Plan?

Wills.

More on Wills.

Probate.

The Federal Estate Tax.

The Unified System.

The Gift Tax.

The Marital Deduction.

Community Property.

State Death Taxes.

Step-Up in Basis at Death.

Trusts.

The Revocable Living Trust.

Trustees.

Giving Property to Minors.

Planning for Children.

Per Stripes versus Per Capita.

Generation Skipping.

Disinheriting a Spouse.

Planning for a Spouse.

Life Insurance.

Life Insurance: Who Should Own It?

The Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust.

Some Estate Planning Solutions.

Freezing Techniques.

Discounting the Value of Your Estate.

Protecting Your Assets.

Loans to Family Members.

Sales to Family Members.

Private Annuities.

Personal Residence Trusts.

Retirement Planning.

Special Use Valuation.

Qualified Family-Owned Business Interest Exclusion.

Using Assets of a Corporation to Pay Death Costs.

Giving It to Charity.

An Estate Planning Summary.

Appendices:

A: Getting Organized.

B: Federal Estate and Gift Tax Tables.

C: Spouses Have Rights Too.

D: Estate Planning History.