Practical Guide to Estate Planning, 2018 Edition

Book excerpt: Practical Guide to Estate Planning provides an overview of estate planning, offering the widest discussion on planning principles and tools from the simple to the sophisticated. This book is not lacking in detail, as witnessed by its well-annotated collection of forms that will appeal to many experienced estate planners. The layout of this book reflects its emphasis on simplicity and clarity. Its scope includes a general overview of the estate planning process. It then addresses the rules involved in estate planning and the various ways in which estates may be structured to achieve desired tax effects. It goes on to discuss gifts, and some of the more specialized areas of estate planning, including generation-skipping transfer tax rules and charitable planning, which encompass the use of private foundations and split-interest trusts. Finally, Practical Guide to Estate Planning contains a set of estate planning forms. Included are a living trust, an irrevocable life insurance trust, an annual exclusion trust, a pour-over will, a will with outright dispositions, a codicil, a living will, a charitable remainder unitrust, a durable power of attorney, a health care proxy, a qualified personal residence trust (QPRT) and a Grantor Retained Annuity Trust (GRAT). The authors provide alternative drafting options as well as comprehensive annotations that can be used as quick references that explain why and how these devices operate.