8 Ways to Avoid Probate

Probate can drag on for years, and the costs -- including lawyer's fees, appraisal fees, court fees -- can easily eat up thousands of dollars that would otherwise go to your family.

With the help of this book you'll find 8 easy-to-do, but often-overlooked, strategies for avoiding probate. Includes how to set up a payable-upon-death account, how to name a beneficiary for a retirement account, naming a beneficiary for stocks and bonds, naming a beneficiary for vehicles, changing property to joint ownership, creating a living trust, taking advantage of special procedures for small estates, and making gifts as a way to avoid probate.

Written in plain English by a lawyer who walks you through each step of the probate-avoidance process. 224 pages, 8 x 10, $19.95

Contents

Introduction: Thinking About Probate Avoidance
Why it's Worth Your While to Avoid Probate
What Probate Avoidance Can't Change
Comparing Probate-Avoidance Methods
A Lick of Common Sense

1: Set Up Payable-On-Death Accounts
The Paperwork
Adding a P.O.D. Designation to a Joint Account
Choosing Beneficiaries
If a Beneficiary Dies Before You Do
If You Change Your Mind
Claiming the Money

2: Choosing a Beneficiary
Required Withdrawals From Retirement Accounts

3: Name a Beneficiary for Stocks and Bonds
Transfer-On-Death Registration
Registration of Government Bonds and Notes

4: Name a Beneficiary for Your Vehicles
Transfer-On-Death Registration
Joint Ownership With the Right of Survivorship
Special Transfer Procedures for Vehicles

5: Hold Property in Joint Ownership
Kinds of Joint Ownership That Avoid Probate
Joint Tenancy
Tenancy by the Entirety
Community Property
Alternatives to Joint Ownership

6: Create a Living Trust
How a Living Trust Avoids Probate
Other Advantages of a Living Trust
Why You Still Need a Will
Do You Really Need a Living Trust?
Creating a Valid Living Trust
What Property to Put in a Trust
Taxes and Record keeping
Amending or Revoking a Living Trust Document

7: Take Advantages of Special Procedures for Small Estates
Why Even Large Estates May Qualify
Claiming Wages With an Affidavits
Simplified Court Procedures

8: Make Gifts
The Federal Gift Tax
Making Tax-Free Gifts
Gifts That Could Land You in Tax Trouble
What to Give
Gifts to Children
Thinking Before You Give

9: Using the Eight Ways
Alice and Frank: A Simple Life
Maria: Dealing With Widowhood
Mike: Mid-life Concerns
Jim and Terry: an Unmarried Couple
Esther and Mark: New Love, Old Money
Linda and Thomas: Comfortable

Glossary

Index

Out of Print!

We recommend ordering Estate Planning Basics which is in stock and contains practically the same information.