Managing Disputes over Wills and Inheritance provides an authoritative, insiders perspective on best practices for advising clients during the often emotionally charged process of distributing a deceaseds assets. Featuring partners from some of the nations leading law firms, this book guides the reader through the most common disputes, including unequal division of assets, disinheritance, multiple-marriage scenarios, children from a prior marriage, and the asset titling and beneficiary designations for non-probate assets. With an understanding and appreciation for the unique and fact-specific nature of these cases, these top lawyers reveal their proven methods for assisting clients with effective estate planning strategies that mitigate ambiguity and calmly guiding beneficiary clients through the probate process. Additionally, these leaders also discuss the importance of preparing for and participating in a Will contest hearing. The different niches represented and the breadth of perspectives presented enable readers to get inside some of the great legal minds of today, as these experienced lawyers offer up their thoughts on the keys to success within this complex field.

The best legal guide to wills and estates—with more than 80,000 copies sold—now updated to cover the current asset protection options and estate laws. Whether grappling with modest or extensive assets, The Complete Book of Wills, Estates, and Trusts has long been the indispensable guide for protecting an estate for loved ones. In this completely revised third edition, updated to cover the latest changes in estate law, attorney Alexander A. Bove, Jr., clearly explains how to use a will to avoid probate and legal complications how trusts work and how to use trusts to save taxes how to contest a will and how to avoid a contest how to settle an estate or make a claim against one how to establish a durable power of attorney how to protect assets from creditors In his straightforward and humorous style, Bove shares easy-to-understand legal definitions, savvy advice on taxes, and pragmatic and simple sample forms, all illustrated with entertaining examples and actual cases. The Complete Book of Wills, Estates, and Trusts is the best guide available for defending your financial legacy.

Inheritance and Wealth in America is a superb collection of original essays, written in nontechnical language by experts in sociology, economics, anthropology, history, law, and other disciplines. Notable chapters provide - an outstanding interpretative history of inheritance in American legal thought - a critical review of the literature on the economics of inheritance at the household and societal levels - a superb history of Federal taxation of wealth transfers, and - a sociological examination of inheritance and its role in class reproduction and stratification. This groundbreaking work is of value to any researcher dealing with the transmission of wealth and privilege across generations.

The law of succession rests on a single brute fact: you can't take it with you. The stock of wealth that turns over as people die is staggeringly large. In the United States alone, some $41 trillion will pass from the dead to the living in the first half of the 21st century. But the social impact of inheritance is more than a matter of money; it is also a matter of what money buys and brings about. Law and custom allow people many ways to pass on their property. As Friedman's enlightening social history reveals, a decline in formal rules, the ascendancy of will substitutes over classic wills, social changes like the rise of the family of affection, changing ideas of acceptable heirs, and the potential disappearance of the estate tax all play a large role in the balance of wealth. Dead Hands uncovers the tremendous social and legal importance of this rite of passage, and how it reflects changing values and priorities in American families and society.

One of our most distinguished political commentators--author of Reagan's America--offers a rich, original look at why religion and politics will never be separate in the United States.