Living Trusts for Everyone
Why a Will Is Not the Way to Avoid Probate, Protect Heirs, and Settle Estates (Second Edition)
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4.7 • 11 Ratings
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
Readers say it best: "Very informative." "Saved me a lot of money and headaches!" "Recommend it for everyone who has to plan estates for their elderly parents"
Living Trusts for Everyone is the best resource for setting up a living trust. Explaining in specific terms what benefits a trust will have, Ronald Farrington Sharp gives the tools necessary to set up a loved one’s trust with no lawyers and no expense.
Wills benefit lawyers. Trusts benefit the clients. Too often lawyers sell wills to clients only to sit back and wait to sell their probate services to their clients’ heirs. Ronald Farrington Sharp describes the best way to handle modern estate planning and details the many advantages trusts have over wills in not only eliminating probate but in also protecting your assets for your heirs. Sharp explains why legal services are not needed to do the clerical work in settling a trust after death. This updated edition includes new information on an array of subjects, including:
• Elimination of the federal estate tax for most estates due to increased exemption amounts
• Online assets
• The use of passwords, usernames, and websites
• Keeping trustees honest and the process of removing trustees for malfeasance
• Forms for simplifying the planning process
• Strategies to lower attorneys’ fees
With no legal jargon, just step-by-step instructions and sample form letters, Living Trusts for Everyone takes the mystery out of the process of setting up a trust.
Customer Reviews
Most important book I ever read
Anything I’ve read in the past about wills and trusts always seemed so confusing because of the numerous circumstances to consider and my lack of direct experience with either document/process. But now both my parents are deceased and we sons had to settle the estate which included life insurance policies, clearing out the house, selling the real estate, notifying the VA and SSN, the final tax returns, working with the lawyer to file the will and managing through courts/probate, finalizing the funeral arrangements, paying bills, the newspaper death notices, maintaining the house until sold, friends/family outreach, sibling drama, and more. The book explains clearly the pros/cons of both the probate process and the living trust process in a way that I could understand why one would be chosen over the other. Lawyers fees ($5,000), PA inheritance taxes ($5,400), real estate buyers/sellers agents ($8,200), transfer tax ($1,400) were the major costs as money just flew out the door for our modest estate (well under $200,00). But also we found life insurance policies that contributed an unexpected $45,000 to the estate just like in the book. Now that I’m planning my own estate details the information in this book is a great start to feeling comfortable with living trusts and that’s why I say it’s the most important book I’ve ever read!