The Best-Selling Trusts eBooks of All Time

You worked hard for your money, so it's only natural that you want some control over what happens to your assets in the event of your death. At the very least, you probably want to minimize or avoid potential hassles and headaches for your loved ones. A living trust, created while you're alive, lets you control the distribution of your estate. You transfer ownership of your property and your assets into the trust. You can serve as the trustee or you can select a person or an institution to be the trustee. If you are the trustee, you will have to name a successor trustee to distribute the assets at your death.

A living trust is probably the best strategy to avoid probate, protect your financial privacy, and provide long-range planning advantages. If you want to protect your assets and make sure they are distributed according to your wishes, you should think about establishing a living trust. It can be designed to manage your investments now and provide broader financial management later to make provisions for a surviving spouse, children, or other family members, and to reduce the impact of estate taxes or avoid probate. What are the advantages of a living trust? Properly drafted and executed, it can avoid probate because the trust owns the assets not the deceased. Only property in the deceased's name must go through probate. The potential downside? Poorly drawn or unfunded trusts can cost you money and endanger your best intentions. Many books on estate planning and living trusts indicate you do not need the services of an attorney, while we highly recommend an attorney versed in this area to assist you. We do not recommend going through the process alone. What this book will do is explain the complicated issues, terminology, and planning strategies of living trusts to the layperson (me and you). When you meet with a qualified attorney you will be well prepared, versed in the language, and ready to discuss issues and strategies that you will be familiar with, saving time, legal fees, and ensuring peace of mind. Get started today with the help of this new book.

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 amountsOnline assetsThe use of passwords, usernames, and websitesKeeping trustees honest and the process of removing trustees for malfeasanceForms for simplifying the planning processStrategies 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.

Everything you need to know to protect your hard-earned assetsThis one-of-a-kind book covers 30 different types of trusts. It shows how to set up a trust to manage assets in the event of disability or death, avoid probate, secure assets from Medicaid and creditors, minimize or eliminate estate and other transfer taxes, financially protect loved ones, and more...all within in the confines of the law. Includes coverage of the new "Disclaimer Credit Shelter Trust", as well as expanded information on GPRTS, GRATS, and GRUTS. MARTIN M.

SHENKMAN, CAP, MBA, JD, (Teaneck, New Jersey) is an attorney specializing in estate planning and personal finance. He is also the author of The Estate Planning Guide and Real Estate After Tax Reform.