A complete guide to planning an estate under today's tax rules When it comes to your estate--no matter how big or small it may be--you shouldn't leave anything to chance. Proper planning is necessary to protect both your assets and your heirs. Estate Planning Law Specialist Harold Apolinsky and expert financial planner Stewart Welch III know this better than anyone else, and in the Revised and Updated Edition of J.K. Lasser's New Rules for Estate and Tax Planning, they offer valuable advice and solid strategies to help you plan your estate under today's tax rules as well as preserve your wealth. Packed with up-to-the-minute facts, this practical resource covers important issues, such as: * How new legislation will impact inheritances and trusts * Estate and generation-skipping tax planning * The role of wills, executors, and trusts * Treatment of charitable contributions * The do's and don'ts of gifting * Life insurance and retirement planning Filled with in-depth insights and expert advice, this book will show you how to efficiently arrange your estate today so that you can leave more to those you care about tomorrow.

This book deals with the federal income tax as it bears on gratuitous transfers and with the federal wealth transfer taxes. The federal wealth transfer taxes presently consist of a partially unified estate and gift tax and a generation-skipping tax. The federal transfer tax system is separate and apart from the federal income tax. Features: Emphasis on text, statutes, and regulations, rather than cases (especially cases that involve routine application of law to facts) "Building block" organization (simple to complex estates), rather than segmented organization according to Code sections. Extensive use of questions and problems to aid students High-profile authorship in Joseph M. Dodge (a highly regarded tax specialist), Wendy C. Gerzog, and Bridget J. Crawford (both well-established in the field) The book reconstitutes the Estate and Gift tax course from the ground up in light of modern estates practice. For example, special valuation rules are treated as basic, as opposed to being just "tacked on" as other books treat them. More emphasis on valuation and use of FLPs than in other books. Valuation is introduced early on and integrated with other material Integration of related income tax materials, including income taxation of estates and trusts Relation of tax doctrine to tax planning strategies Focus on doctrine that influences the practice of estate and trust law, rather than doctrine for its own sake Reference to state law (including recent developments) as it bears on transfer tax issues, with full coverage of issues raised by community property systems

Designed to be used in an academic program, Estate Planning and Taxation presents a concise, integrated overview, highlighting the essence of concepts without confusing the reader with every technical qualification and reference - a problem which has impaired the readability of many books in the field.