How to Avoid Probate for Everyone - Protecting Your Estate for Your Loved Ones

Ronald Farrington Sharp

Summary

An experienced estate attorney explains how to prevent costly mistakes: “Clear explanations about how to approach this important tax—and family—topic.” —Pia Bennett, CFP, Select Financial Services Group, Inc.

Drawing on his forty-four years as an estate attorney, Ronald Farrington Sharp describes the probate process and why it should be your last resort in estate settlement methods. Living trusts are important, but there are many alternatives for probate avoidance. These are explained step-by-step as Sharp delves into the details. He reveals how:While state laws vary, most allow for expedited procedures for low-value estates without having to create a trust. There are a dozen different ways of leaving assets to heirs automatically at death. Special types of deeds allow you to keep control of your real estate during lifetime yet transfer it to heirs automatically at death.There are ways to title vehicles that allow heirs to get them without court procedures.Beneficiary designations on bank and investment accounts keep them out of your probate estate.Joint ownership of accounts and real estate can solve inheritance problems.

He also debunks myths and misconceptions about estates and probate. Trusts are covered in detail, including a section on must-use trust provisions to cover common complications and showing how a trust can easily resolve these. Joint and single trusts are examined and issues, such as how to handle personal property items, are suggested. (For instance, who gets the piano?) He also advises on issues of adult guardianship and conservatorship and how families can avoid embarrassing and time-consuming court hearings. Samples of documents are included to give an idea of what the paperwork actually looks like. With Sharp’s matter-of-fact explanations, you can prepare to take the necessary steps with confidence and avoid probate.

Available since: 04/07/2020.

Print length: 216 pages.

Other books that might interest you

Think to Win - Unleashing the...

Paul Butler, John F. Manfredi,...

The proven plan for making strategic thinking part of any organization’s DNA to drive sustainable growth 
In today’s ultra-competitive business world, the difference between success and failure lies in the ability to get every employee to think and behave like a strategist. 
Think to Win helps business leaders expand strategic thinking out of the purview of “the elite few” and into the company culture as whole. It offers a simple, proven approach to analyzing and solving old or new challenges and provides a common language anyone at any level in the organization can understand.

Show book

Fear Less Sell More - Find Your...

Tom Stern, Jay Leno

A humorous and instructive book on overcoming your fears, increasing your confidence, and having more success in both sales and career satisfaction.As an ADHD child with dyslexia, Tom Stern felt unable to live up to the great expectations set by his very successful grandfather and father; as a result, he suffered from extreme anxiety. Over time, he developed a methodology that increased his confidence and enabled him to achieve success in the entertainment industry, later founding an executive search firm that has sustained excellence for more than a quarter century. It is Tom's goal to help others achieve success in sales and realize their dreams by overcoming their fears as well.Fear Less, Sell More uses a fictional story, humor, and a conversational approach to making friends with fear. Drawing from Tom's circuitous career, he shares his unique insights into the psychology behind selling that can bolster the success of any sales professional.

Show book

The Dream Manager

Matthew Kelly

A business parable about how companies can achieve remarkable results by helping their employees fulfill their dreams Managing people is difficult. With disengagement and turnover on the rise, many managers are scratching their heads wondering what to do. It's not that we dont dream of being great managers, it's just that we havent found a practical and efficient way to do it. Until now . . . The fictional company in this remarkable book is grappling with real problems of high turnover and low morale -- so the managers begin to investigate what really drives the employees. What they discover is that the key to motivation isnt necessarily the promise of a bigger paycheck or title, but rather the fulfillment of crucial personal dreams. They also learned that people at every level need to be offered specific kinds of help and encouragement -- or our dreams will forever remain just dreams as we grow dissatisfied with our lives and jobs. Beginning with his important thought that a company can only become the-best-version-of-itself to the extent that its employees are becoming better-versions-of-themselves, Matthew Kelly explores the connection between the dreams we are chasing personally and the way we all engage at work. Tackling head-on the growing problem of employee disengagement, Kelly explores the dynamic collaboration that is unleashed when people work together to achieve company objectives and personal dreams. The power of The Dream Manager is that simply becoming aware of the concept will change the way you manage and relate to people instantly and forever. What's your dream?

Show book

The Four Color Personalities For...

Tom "Big Al" Schreiter

There is magic when you can “move people” by getting others to see exactly what you see. 
But what happens when your prospects see your presentation with a different viewpoint than you? Disaster. They turn down opportunities to earn more money. They turn down products and services that would make their lives better. Then you go home wondering why they said, “No.” 
There is a solution. We can communicate directly to prospects in the native languages and viewpoints they are comfortable with. This solution (The Four Secret Languages) makes our message easy for prospects to immediately understand. And now we can affect the lives of others. 
Magic can happen if we learn the skill of identifying the four personalities and their languages. This is a fun way to understand people and deliver our message from our brain to their brains.  
We don’t need to be a scholar or an expert to do this. All we need to do is have a way to quickly recognize their personalities, and then learn a few magic words that will translate our message into the language they understand. 
Watch with amazement how your prospects’ faces light up when you talk to them with your new language skills.

Show book

The Unstoppable Internet...

Jim Stephens

You won’t be great at Internet marketing unless and until you condition your mind for getting into business and then making the most of it. 
Any trade is a very difficult topic to understand. But that could be something someone wants to do. So, how do you do that effectively? Here are some great tips on how you can become that attracting magnet as well.

Show book

HBR's 10 Must Reads on...

Harvard Business Review

Build resilience in your company to weather the greatest crises.We've combed through hundreds of Harvard Business Review articles and selected the ten most important ones to help your company prepare for and overcome disruption, social upheaval, and disaster.This book will inspire you to: reposition your core business while launching a separate, disruptive business; build the ability to continually anticipate and adjust to emerging trends; prepare for the business implications of climate change; learn about the risks of hyperefficient businesses; develop organizational grit; rebound from a recession faster than your competitors; and lead your company through any kind of crisis.

Show book