AARP Crash Course in Estate Planning : The Essential Guide to Wills, Trusts, and Your Personal Legacy

AARP Crash Course in Estate Planning : The Essential Guide to Wills, Trusts, and Your Personal Legacy

Scrutinized for accuracy by AARP’s legal specialists, this indispensable volume covers every aspect of planning an estate and creating a will. A crash course in one handy volume, the book walks readers through the entire process, from understanding the distinction between probate and nonprobate property to delegating a durable power of attorney, and from resolving possible tax issues ahead of time to safeguarding your assets.

In these pages you will find:
• comparisons of wills and simple living trusts;
• advice on guardianship and advance medical directives;
• explanations of the role and powers of a trustee—and what steps to take in the case of suspected misconduct;
• a primer on marshaling and protecting retirement assets;
• help in planning for children with disabilities;
• ideas for making sure your money stays in the family in case a spouse remarries; and much, much more.

The Fight over Taxing Inherited Wealth

Death by a Thousand Cuts: The Fight over Taxing Inherited Wealth
by Michael Graetz and Ian Shapiro

The politics of taxation can sometimes be gripping for a nation’s citizens, but not often: the arguments tend to be too technical when they are true, and too obviously bogus when they are false, to sustain public interest for long. By extension, the politics of another country’s tax system is unlikely to be of much interest to anyone with any sort of normal life. Listening to the ins and outs of other people’s fiscal battles can be like listening to other people’s dreams: interminable and almost completely unreal. Death by a Thousand Cuts is something different. It tells the story of the campaign to repeal the estate tax (what we would call inheritance tax) in the United States, which culminated in the inclusion of the measure in George Bush’s massive tax-cutting legislation of 2001.

Tax Breaks for Rich Murderers
David Runciman
London Review of Books
Vol. 27 No. 11 dated 2 June 2005

The New Reverse Mortgage Formula: How to Convert Home Equity into Tax-Free Income

The New Reverse Mortgage Formula: How to Convert Home Equity into Tax-Free Income
By Tom Kelly

Many seniors have trouble making ends meet after retirement. Often their homes are their most valuable assets, but they can’t access the equity they’ve accrued unless they sell. If you find yourself in this position, you might face the dilemma of having to sell your home. Thankfully, the reverse mortgage offers seniors the option of remaining in their homes with no mortgage payments.

Reverse mortgages permit seniors to convert part of their home equity into tax-free income-even if they’re still paying on the mortgage. Designed specifically for seniors, these specialized loans let you tap into your equity and use the money for any purpose. Safe and legal, these loans can never cost more than the value of the home, and the loan doesn’t have to be repaid until you, or an heir, sell the home.

The Reverse Mortgage Handbook: A Consumer’s Guide for Senior Homeowners
by T. E. Ballman

Top Ten Things to Know if You’re Interested in a Reverse Mortgage

Reverse Mortgages are becoming popular in America. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) created one of the first. HUD’s Reverse Mortgage is a federally-insured private loan, and it’s a safe plan that can give older Americans greater financial security. Many seniors use it to supplement social security, meet unexpected medical expenses, make home improvements, and more. You can receive free information about reverse mortgages by calling AARP at: 1-800-209-8085, toll-free. Since your home is probably your largest single investment, it’s smart to know more about reverse mortgages, and decide if one is right for you!

1. What is a reverse mortgage?

A reverse mortgage is a special type of home loan that lets a homeowner convert a portion of the equity in his or her home into cash. The equity built up over years of home mortgage payments can be paid to you. But unlike a traditional home equity loan or second mortgage, no repayment is required until the borrower(s) no longer use the home as their principal residence. HUD’s reverse mortgage provides these benefits, and it is federally-insured as well.

Continue reading about reverse mortgages

Negotiating the terms of your death

In a significant shift, doctors and hospitals are working to give patients more autonomy at the end of life, offering them more options to decide how, where and sometimes even when they die.

Medical advances have helped make this autonomy possible. In the past, many terminally ill patients were faced with the stark choice of dying either in pain or in a morphine-induced haze, barely aware of their surrounding. But progress in treating pain and other common end-of-life symptoms, from respiratory problems and nausea to depression, means that dying patients today have many more choices about how their symptoms are controlled and how conscious and alert they want to be at the very end.

Tuesday, May 10, 2005
By Andrea Petersen
The Wall Street Journal

Who’s Preying on Your Grandparents?

Back in February, Jose and Gloria Aquino received a flier in the mail inviting them to a free seminar on one of their favorite topics: protecting their financial assets. As retirees, they were always on the lookout for safe investment strategies as well as tips on how to make sure they didn’t outlive their savings. Besides, the flier promised a free lunch for anyone attending the workshop, so what did they have to lose?

By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
New York Times
Published: May 15, 2005

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Suze Orman’s Protection Portfolio: Will & Trust Kit

Suze Orman’s Protection Portfolio: Will & Trust Kit. The Forms You Need Today to Protect Your Tomorrows
by Suze Orman

Suze Orman’s Protection Portfolio contains everything you need to create your own Will and Revocable Living Trust and many more essential documents. Both PC and Machintosh compatible. The package includes a CD-ROM with more than 40 easy-to-use forms and documents, valid in all 50 states; 2 instructional CD’s; a comprehensive guidebook; and emergency contact cards.

The Protection Portfolio comes with more than 40 forms and Website links that cover practically every important aspect of your financial life — whether you’re married, single, in a domestic partnership, or just living together — from a will and a revocable living trust to home ownership, credit card debt, and replacing your birth certificate. The forms can be easily personalized over and over so your friends and family members can also benefit.

Here is just a few of the forms contained within the Protection Portfolio:

* Will
* Revocable Living Trust
* Financial Power of Attorney
* Cohabitation Agreement
* Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care
* IRA Beneficiary Designation Form
* Request a Credit Report
* Request Removal of Incorrect Information by Creditor
* Birth Certificate Request
* Marriage Certificate Request
* Divorce Decree Request
* Death Certificate Request
* Application for Passport by Mail
* Application for Social Security Card
(New, Replacement, or Name Change)
* Military Records Request
* U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Services Online Catalog of forms
… and many more!

Suze Orman’s Will And Trust Kit: The Ultimate Protection Portfolio

Suze Orman’s Will And Trust Kit: The Ultimate Protection (CD-ROM) Portfolio
by Suze Orman

This is an easy-to-use and fast way for you and other members of your household to create your own advance directive, also known as a living will, durable power of attorney for health care, living revocable trust, and all the other must-have documents you need to protect you and your family. It’s as easy as 1-2-3—simply personalize, print, and protect.

Suze Orman and her own estate trust attorney have created the most state-of-the-art documents found anywhere. There are more than $2,500 worth of estate documents in this kit. Why pay thousands of dollars when you can get the same documents in this kit!

This kit includes:

• More than 50 state-of-the-art documents
• Free automatic on-line updates • Verbal and written instructions taking you step by step through the four must-have documents
• Password protection securing multiple users’ information
• A tutorial that shows you everything you need to know
• 10 electronic books

PC and Macintosh Compatible . . . and good in all 50 states!

How to ask (nicely) for your inheritance

As a wave of baby boomers prepares to receive inheritances from their aging parents, the estate-planning industry is pitching a new twist on an old technique.

The new approach is called an “inheritor’s trust,” and it is part of a growing range of services, seminars and estate-planning strategies designed to capture what is expected to be the largest intergenerational transfer of wealth in history — while reducing the tax hit.

By Rachel Emma Silverman
The Wall Street Journal
May 11, 2005

Quicken Willmaker Plus 2005 With Free eBook

Quicken Willmaker Plus 2005 With Free eBook

In addition to saving you hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars by allowing you to create your own legal will, living trust, financial powers of attorney, health care directive (living will), and documents for your executor, WillMaker 2005 also provides you with invaluable estate-planning documents such as promissory notes, notices to terminate credit cards, pet-care agreements, and dozens of others. Nolo has thought of every possible need you’ll encounter as you begin your planning process, making it as easy as possible for you to plan your will. Take the time and save your family from the burden of having to resolve your various financial and legal issues.

For each document, WillMaker Plus takes you through a step-by-step interview, and your documents will automatically reflect the laws of your state. Once you’ve completed your forms, you can print them directly, or export them to an RTF file which can be opened in any word processor. In addition to the online legal support that’s available, Nolo also offers any expert technical help you might need.