Understanding Living Trusts: How You Can Avoid Probate, Save Taxes and Enjoy Peace of Mind

I've recently had the privilage to read this fifth installment about estate planning from Jim and Vickie Schumacher, and I can honestly say it's the best they've turned out yet. Ever since their first edition (originally titled A Will is not the Way), these two have been giving us clear and concise information about the estate planning world in everyday, conversational English. This tradition is continued in their newest edition. What makes the fifth edition a must have, however, is all the new information they've included. Five months ago, President Clinton signed the Taxpayers Relief Act of 1997, seriously changing the "rules" on estate and capital gains taxes. Not only have the Schumacher's already incorporated this new information into their book and translated it from Washington's "legelese" into English I can understand, they've even told me how these changes pratically apply to my estate planning situation. This alone would make the book worth buying, but when you couple it with the state-specific estate planning information they've included (as a direct response from reader's requests), you've got a real steal.

This book fully explaines it all. I got a trust through a lawyer and it was just as this book says. There are diagrams to show and the language is very easy to understand.

My in-laws had been putting off estate planning, which would put the family business at jeopardy at their death. The first chapter gives examples of what happens without planning, and after reading it, they started the process of a living trust and most importantly finished it!
The book also showed my husband and I why we needed a living trust to protect our young son (so he would not inherit wealth, without strings, at a naive 18), and why my widowed sister needed a trust to protect her children receiving an inheritance if she died after remarriage -- without a trust her inheritance would go to husband #2, and not her children.
The book helps.

IF YOU ARE PLANNING TO DO LIVING TRUST YOU SHOULD READ PRIOR TO SEEKING LEGAL HELP. IT WILL MAKE YOUR TASK A LOT SMOOTHER.

Vickie and Jim Schumacher have done a wonderful job in taking a complex subject like estate planning and make it real for the rest of us. I know now what I need to do, in order to protect my estate from probate and legal fees