Family Trusts

by Frank J. Croke and William F. Croke

First and only book that provides the financial options a grantor has for the benefit of their surviving spouse, children and other heirs. Most trust do not provide these financial options which are... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1892879123
• ISBN13: 9781892879127
• Release Date: January 1998
• Publisher: Capital Management Press
• Length: 307 Pages
• Weight: 2.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 8.5" x 10.9"

Customer Reviews

Proper planning is key

It appears that the Winston-Salem attorney (below) may have jumped the gun. Although he has not read the book, I'm not sure why he feels it's his duty to attack the author's credentials. I think the book is professionally written and is a helpful guide for readers who want to think and plan out the needs of their family and communicate those needs to their attorney. Proper planning is a key part of any family trust. The allegation that the authors lack the proper credentials on the subject matter seems to be without merit. While a "Lexis-Nexis" search is the best way to obtain legal citations, it is not an exhaustive search of business articles, financial filings and can miss information from supplemental "special report" sections of paid journals. Perhaps the reviewer was too busy to refer to his own subscriptions of The Wall Street Journal or Kiplinger's Retirement Report.Mr. Croke (the author) was cited in both of those journals earlier this year. The April, 2000 issue of Kiplinger's Retirement Report talks positively about his work and his book in a page and a half article and he is quoted several times in the March 7th, 2000 edition of The Wall Street Journal under an article called "Tangled Trusts".

Family Trust improved my trust and helped my family greatly

You must state in your Trust what you want to have happen.(FAMILY TRUST). My original Trust gave broad powers to my trustee. But, I found out from Family Trust by Franke Croke and then from my attorneys that state law requires that 50% of my Trust must be invested in Bonds. I did not want bonds because I know they will reduce the value of my Trust. I also discovered that if my wife became ill and wanted our daughter to visit her, travel expenses would not be paid from the Trust unless I authorized it. Needless to say, I revised my Trust, thanks to this book. My trustee is instructed to put my assets in growth stocks, mutual funds and index funds and is instructed to pay the travel expenses of my children and grandchildren to visit my wife. I've now got a Trust document that will be a real help to my family thanks to Frank Croke and his book Family Trust. Sincerley, Robert Schilling

Definitely the best of the trust books I bought

Finally a book that tells the facts. I used to think of a trust as just a way to save estate taxes. Now I've learned that my trust can be a legalized financial plan that fits the needs of my family. It's a straight forward book and has several good worksheets for planning. Would recommend it to anyone who wants more than the cookie cutter approach to protecting their family assets.

Great Preparatory tool for the lay person!

In my more than 40 years as a senior executive, I learned that it was very importamnt for me to be as knowledgeable as possible when dealing with experts and specialists so that I could communicate intelligently with them and to be able to evaluate the product that they finally presented to me. When it became reasonable for me to attempt to protect my estate from the grasp of the IRS, I tried to follow the path that I had followed as a corporate executive and went looking for decent reference material that I could use to educate myself. Up until now, I had not found anything that was at all helpful to me as a lay person. Mr. Croke's book, however, is extremely helpful. It puts very complicated material in clear and uncomplicated terms and has given me the first decent basis for my meetings with the "experts". After reading his material, I am comfortable that my advisor and I are communicating in the same language and I am confident that the finished product will be what I want it to be, not what someone else who does not really know me or my needs thinks that it should be. I compliment Mr. Croke on an excellent, well written tool.

Was able to correct major errors in my Trust

This is the best book on trusts I've seen. Found out that my Trust failed to properly provide for my wife and children. Only thing my current Trust provided was a savings on estate taxes but it left my wife an inadequate income from the Trust, less than 3%. Providing my wife with the income she would need from my Trust is more important than just the tax savings. I was able to quickly correct this and several other major errors in my Trust. I learned about Trust options I didn't know I had. And, my attorney never told me about them and neither did the other books on trusts that I've read.