The Living Trust : The Failproof Way to Pass along Your Estate to Your Heirs » (~)

A nationally recognized authority on living trusts, Henry W. Abts III is chairman and founder of The Estate Plan, the nation's oldest and largest living trust production corporation, responsible for creating more than 60,000 living trusts.

The Bible on How to Avoid Probate, Revised and Updated

"[The Living Trust] is unquestionably the layman's most nearly complete source on living trusts. . . . Recommended reading for anyone who wants to maximize his net estate left to heirs, speed asset distribution after death, avoid will challenges, minimize estate costs, and maintain privacy."
—Robert Bruss, Esq., and nationally syndicated real estate columnist, Chicago Tribune

You may think your heirs have been well provided for, but did you know that:

• Your loved ones may have to wait more than two years before receiving a penny from your estate—even though you have left a legally valid will?
• Costs of probating your will may eat up more than 10 percent of your estate—money your heirs will never receive?
• The specific instructions of your bequest may be contested or changed completely—even though clearly spelled out in your will?
• A will cannot help you in life? If you become incapacitated or your judgment comes into question, it becomes a matter for the courts to decide and is a very public process.

A living trust is a simple, inexpensive legal alternative that eliminates the costs and delays of probate and ensures that your loved ones will receive their inheritance promptly and exactly as you intended. The Living Trust—the bible of how to avoid probate—will show you how to take full advantage of this critical estate-planning tool. This updated edition of The Living Trust includes the latest information on trust formations, tax changes, distribution rules, and more. It also offers:

• Insight into abuses within the probate system
• Advice on how to protect your business, savings, and retirement funds from frivolous lawsuits
• The effects of the Economic Growth and Tax Reconciliation Act of 2001 on estate tax, gift tax, the generation-skipping tax, and stepped-up valuation
• Sample and ancillary documents, including the estate preservation and tax-saving documents, the living will, and costs of living trust, all updated to reflect the latest tax changes and living trust requirements

A nationally recognized authority on living trusts, Henry W. Abts III is chairman and founder of The Estate Plan, the nation's oldest and largest living trust production corporation, responsible for creating more than 60,000 living trusts.

Library Journal

While not a new concept, the living trust as a form of estate planning is not well known to the general public. Abts joins a chorus of experts recommending this device, which largely replaces a will and avoids passing property through probate. This is a detailed and competent, if somewhat stolid, presentation. Readers may get bogged down in matters such as the tax consequences of holding joint property before they reach anything substantive on living trusts. Robert A. Esperti and Renno L. Peterson's Loving Trust ( LJ 6/15/88) is a better organized and a more engagingly written treatment of this topic. Nevertheless, Abts is somewhat more thorough, and his book can be recommended to libraries where interest is high.-- Jack Ray, Loyola/Notre Dame Lib., Baltimore