The ABA Practical Guide to Estate Planning will help guide clients to an effective estate plan to fit their needs. For both the novice and experienced estate planning practitioner, this practical guide offers sound advice from leading estate planners around the country who share their knowledge and expertise so that you don't miss a step in the process.

Trusts and estates practice is being increasingly recognised as an occupation within the legal, accounting, tax and financial services professions. Estate planning remains the strategic advisory component within this practice. An essential resource for practitioners and students involved in trusts and estates practice, this easy-to-use, practical and comprehensive guide will enable you to understand and deliver effective estate planning services using the principles, precedents, practice points, case notes and discussion questions contained in this book. Included in this edition are the legislative changes enacted since the first edition, such as changes to wills and estate law arising from the commencement of the Succession Act 2006 (NSW) on 1 March 2008 as well as changes to income tax and superannuation laws since 2005.

Practical Guide to Estate Planning provides an overview of estate planning, offering the widest discussion on planning principles and tools from the simple to the sophisticated. This book is not lacking in detail, as witnessed by its well-annotated collection of forms that will appeal to many experienced estate planners. The layout of this book reflects its emphasis on simplicity and clarity. Its scope includes a general overview of the estate planning process. It then addresses the rules involved in estate planning and the various ways in which estates may be structured to achieve desired tax effects. It goes on to discuss gifts, and some of the more specialized areas of estate planning, including generation-skipping transfer tax rules and charitable planning, which encompass the use of private foundations and split-interest trusts. Finally, Practical Guide to Estate Planning contains a set of estate planning forms. Included are a living trust, an irrevocable life insurance trust, an annual exclusion trust, a pour-over will, a will with outright dispositions, a codicil, a living will, a charitable remainder unitrust, a durable power of attorney, a health care proxy, a qualified personal residence trust (QPRT) and a Grantor Retained Annuity Trust (GRAT). The authors provide alternative drafting options as well as comprehensive annotations that can be used as quick references that explain why and how these devices operate.

Designed to raise people?s awareness of the need to plan for themselves and those they love. Whether they are tackling the subject for the first time or revising an existing plan, this book is an essential guide. Includes tax law changes effective in 2010 and how they apply to readers.

When Congress passed the Pension Protection Act of 2006, they created what may be the most significant reform to charitable planning since the Tax Reform Act of 1969. This practice-focused book is now fully updated to explain the legislation's impact on all aspects of charitable planning. It provides clear and insightful explanations of all relevant tax law, financial considerations, and includes drafting guidelines, and forms to assist with clients' charitable giving needs as part of a comprehensive estate and financial plan. Includes drafting guides and sample forms on CD-ROM.