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Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Part 1: Getting Started with Estate Planning 5
Chapter 1: Congratulations: You Have an Estate! 7
Chapter 2: Bean Counting: Figuring Out What You’re Worth 33
Part 2: Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way 45
Chapter 3: Understanding the Basics of Wills 47
Chapter 4: Tied Hands and Helping Hands: What You Can and Can’t Do with Your Will 69
Chapter 5: Probate: Top of the Ninth Inning for Your Estate 83
Chapter 6: Dodging Probate: Saving Time and Money with a Will Substitute 101
Part 3: Matters of Trust 119
Chapter 7: Understanding Trusts 121
Chapter 8: Trusts You May Want to Trust — or Not 137
Chapter 9: Working a Trust into Your Estate Plan 149
Part 4: Life, Death, and Taxes 159
Chapter 10: Preparing for the Tug-of-War with the Taxman 161
Chapter 11: The Gift Tax: Isn’t Giving a Gift Enough? 171
Chapter 12: Skipping around the Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax 187
Chapter 13: Paying or Not Paying the Death Tax: That’s the Question 197
Chapter 14: Planning to Minimize All Your Estate-Related Taxes 211
Part 5: Estate Planning for Family Businesses 229
Chapter 15: Grasping the Basics of Estate Planning for Family Businesses 231
Chapter 16: Transferring Ownership and Paying Estate Taxes in a Family Business 251
Part 6: Crafting a Comprehensive Estate Plan 267
Chapter 17: Factoring Insurance into Your Estate Plan 269
Chapter 18: Connecting Your Retirement Funds to Your Estate Plans 293
Chapter 19: Estate Planning in Exceptional Situations 313
Part 7: The Part of Tens 337
Chapter 20: Ten Questions to Get You Rolling on Your Estate Plan 339
Chapter 21: Avoiding Ten Common Mistakes and Problems in Your Will 345
Chapter 22: Ten Crucial Estate-Planning Questions 351
Index 359
