Read Make Your Own Living Trust Denis Clifford Attorney 9781413326017 Books

Product details Paperback 312 pages Publisher NOLO; Fourteenth edition (March 29, 2019) Language English ISBN-10 1413326013

Make Your Own Living Trust Denis Clifford Attorney 9781413326017 Books Reviews

• I'm a kind of person that likes to do things myself when I can, but was on the border between just hiring someone to create a trust for me, or to do it on my own. I first went to go talk to a professional lawyer that specializes in Trusts. He was great. The price was high, but that was to be expected. He gave me a lot of information which I appreciated, but decided to learn more about it on my own anyway. I got this book to read on an upcoming trip at the time and am so glad that I did. I hate spending money on useless things or things that you can find free on the internet. But I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to make a Trust him/herself, OR wants and has the time to understand how a Trust works before hiring someone else to do it. My parents hired someone to write their trust...shelled out a ton of money at the time...and it's pretty much crap (I hate to say). It works, but is the most generic thing ever. It's very easy for lawyers to say a lot of fancy things and give you a Trust and you don't even really know if it's "good" or not because you only know what they tell you. So if you plan on hiring someone to write your Trust, I really recommend doing some research (such as buying this book, which is great), or browsing around online. Bonus is that it's also a very interesting topic with a good writer. Very easy to follow for novices, and full of information for people even relatively knowledgeable about the topic.
• I found this book very useful, but would caution readers that estate taxes and estate laws in various states are moving targets, so you need to be careful to buy the latest update of this book and also visit their online website to confirm you have the most current information possible. Also, if your personal family situation is complex (e.g. second marriage, out of state real estate, such as a rental property or vacation home, or if you own one or more businesses, or have a spouse who is not a U.S. citizen), it would behoove you to use this text to draft the trust (to save money on that part of the process--most attorneys use "boilerplate" anyway, so why pay $250 per hour for that), then pay their hourly rate for a qualified estate planning attorney to review your trust for mistakes or specific language you need to include to cover these specific situations. For example, a common problem that can occur is that you name your trust as the beneficiary of an IRA, but your trust does not include the specific language the IRS and custodian of the IRA need to see in order to "pass through" the IRA to beneficiary IRAs. When this happens, the Inherited IRA can be taxed at the tax bracket of the Trust (instead of the beneficiaries which might be lower), and the IRA must be emptied by the fifth year after the death of the owner. Finally, if you do decide to use an estate planning attorney, be sure to ask them what % of their time is spend on this type of law. Many family lawyers and other lawyers dabble in estate planning. You have too much at stake. Look for an attorney for which this is at least 50% of their business.
• I've been using Nolo (Press) products for over twenty-five years. I've given them as gifts and a 'starting point kick in the butt' for friends, family and clients. You can not imagine the problems you and your family will have without a will and / or trust. Yeah, yeah I know, "your dead so whaddaya care". Well, sometimes ya don't die and dying ain't the worst of it. Incapacitation is. No matter what you accomplish in life your inability to manage your own self interest will be what you're remembered for. You may not believe you've nothing to leave or give but you do. You have dignity, love, care, dreams, and all the things that make you you. Do not leave that to strangers who do not care for you or a corrupt probate system.
• Has all the forms and instructions to do your own Living Trust. But, you have to be a self-driven person who will follow through and do the work. I've done part of the work and have had the book for a while. Read through the material and it looks complete; I just have to do my part now.
• Good starter book. Easy to understand, and covers the basics. After we talked to a trust attorney, we realized that we needed much more. We still opted to do it ourselves and are making changes and additions based on her recommendations.
  
  I'd highly recommend it to give you a basic understanding and to start your own trust. But there is much that cannot be covered in a book of this size, and it you're typical, it won't cover all your needs, even though you don't know that at the time. You still need a professional or at least their advice.
• I found it very helpful. Lots and lots of information carefully explained with examples. Even if I do end up using a lawyer, I can still save lots of time (and thus a lawyer's hourly rate) by understanding in advance the whole process as well as exactly what I want, and how things need to be listed.
• This is a GREAT trust book! It does have what you need and makes it easy to create your own trust.I had NO IDEA how easy it was to do, on your own, WITHOUT an attorney--YAY!!!
• A lot of good information. After going through the book, I realized that I will use it to organize everything I want in my living trust and will, and will take that to a professional to prepare. I am banking on the fact that if I go in all organized and all s/he has to do is plug in what wrote (face it, I'm sure they have preset programs), then I should save a lot of money. I'll insist on it!