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Your Complete Guide to Leaving an Inheritance for Your Children and Others: What You Need to Know Explained Simply | 
 enlarge | Author: Michael Valles
Publisher: Atlantic Publishing Company (FL)
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $15.71
You Save: $9.24 (37%)
New (22) Used (5) from $15.71
Avg. Customer Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 1980025
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.4 x 0.7
ISBN: 1601382103
Dewey Decimal Number: 346.73052
EAN: 9781601382108
ASIN: 1601382103
Publication Date: July 18, 2008
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Product Description
While more than 50 percent of Americans feel it is important to leave an inheritance for their children and other beneficiaries, the majority have not yet made any plans for their estate. This new book will serve as an aid in your planning, providing you with indispensable information and the necessary tools. Whether you choose to arrange a trust or a will, you will learn how to do so, as well as how to manage and alter your plans. You will be able to choose which trust is right for you, be it living, incentive, Qualified Terminable Interest Property, charitable remainder, children s, support, family, or generation-skipping tax-exempt. You will decide which will holographic, nuncupative, self-proving, statutory, simple, joint, living, mutual, ethical, electronic, or video best fits your needs. Furthermore, you will learn about income only trusts, the Uniform Transfers to Minors Act, 529 plans, and Coverdell accounts. In this book, you will learn tips for distributing inheritance among children and what an appropriate inheritance is, as well as about inheritance taxes, exempt beneficiaries, disinheritance, durable power of attorney, and advance health care directives. Additionally, you will learn tips for distributing inheritance among children; what an appropriate inheritance is; how to prevent fights over inherited property; how to deal with adopted children, stepchildren, and children from a second marriage; how to select trustees and guardians; how to protect your money from a financially immature child, a child s spouse, and creditors; how to divide valuables and non-cash assets; and how to deal with the family home. Your Complete Guide to Leaving an Inheritance for Your Children and Others makes this difficult process easy to understand by using simple, every day language. If you are one of the many people who want to leave an inheritance but do not know where to begin, it is time to pick up this book and start planning.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 Informative... September 17, 2008
No one wants to dwell on their own death; however with proper estate planning you can be sure your wishes will be carried out. Even if you don't have millions to bequeath or a long line of heirs, Michael Valles' Guide to leaving an inheritance for your children & others: What you need to know explained simply will help determine the correct avenues to channel the most money to the people you name and not to government taxes. With emphasis on the ever-changing nature of tax laws and the pending changes to estate taxes in 2010, the author offers reassuring and timely advice about estate planning options for this generation.
Layman's terms are used to define legal jargon, while the periodic case studies offer realistic situations with insightful perspective. The mock scenarios help to illustrate the legal and ethical problems which could occur should you die intestate. This book is a quality tool for the assessment of your estate. It prompts you to take a comprehensive view of the future and thoroughly explains the many options for transference of a legacy.
Useful for everyone, regardless of net worth, are chapters on obtaining long-term care policies, assigning power of attorney, living wills, and assigning guardianship of minor children.
This guide provides the background necessary to intelligently hire and discuss matters with a professional estate planner and reminds us that a will alone is not enough.
Straightforward, occasionally abstract guide to inheritance September 15, 2008
"You can't take it with you" is the first thing you need to remember when planning for your future, so unless you want it to all be bled away in taxes and legal expenses you need a plan. "Your Complete Guide to Leaving an Inheritance for Your Children and Others" by Michael A. Valles provides several key insights and suggestions for putting this plan together, getting you the best bang for your buck and making sure that your funds go to the family members you want.
The guide takes readers through what seems like every option for setting up an inheritance, as Valles breaks down how to calculate exactly what you have and what sort of wills and trusts are necessary to protect specific resources. His arguments are strengthened with various attorney-provided case studies, ranging from clients who relied too heavily on the Internet to clients who knew exactly how much they wanted per year in retirement. Each of his cases also hits upon the main theme that no relationship or law is a constant, so all your wills and plans should be open to change if they aren't already.
My one complaint was I found the book became a bit abstract and preachy in some areas, particularly when Valles began talking about how it is important to emphasize to whomever you will be leaving the inheritance the values that allowed you to get it. I agree it's important to make sure your heirs don't squander what you left them, but it seems more practical to set up conditions in the will rather than lecture to your immediate family.
No one should ever set an inheritance plan without consulting attorneys or other estate planners, but anyone starting to look at their declining years and related expenses would be advised to take a look at "Your Complete Guide to Leaving an Inheritance for Your Children and Others." Valles collects the essentials of what your future requires and pools it into an accessible text which will point you in the right direction to making sure your loved ones are taken care of.
 Highly valuable insignts into inheritance planning - must read! September 2, 2008
Although the statement "People don't plan to fail, they fail to plan" is a overused cliché, it is true nevertheless - especially when it comes to issues of inheritance. The book Leaving an Inheritance for Your Children and Others by Michael Valles is a solid introduction to a wide array of variables, strategies and tactics that need to be considered if you want to leave an economic legacy for your family, friend or charities.
For instance Valles points out early in the book that having a legally binding will is not enough when it comes to estate planning. The primary reason being that it alone can't do anything to reduce estate taxes. Conversely, the author also notes that an estate plan that seeks solely to reduce the tax bite on a given estate, using trusts or other legal tax avoidance strategies, can't address important issues such as naming guardians for young children or a health proxy if you're incapacitated.
Bottom line, this book suggests and guides you through a holistic approach to estate planning to ensure that your assets are properly transferred in the manner that you desire.
I found this book to be chockfull of useful information and concepts.
For instance Valles, uses a quote "Shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves within three generations" to illustrate a concept that there needs to be an ongoing financial education process, prior to your passage, for the inheritors to ensure that the wealth isn't squandered - that's a provocative idea that I'd never thought of before.
He also peppers the book with an assortment of interesting case studies and relevant lists such as the five things that can't go into a will (p.69); the top eight mistakes that hinder your legacy plans (p. 265); as well as a solid summary of the dozen or so variations of trusts currently available under the law (p.77).
My only issue with the book is that while Valles frequently states that it's a good idea to consult with a professional estate planner to make sure all the details are covered, he doesn't provide any tips that may help you find a qualified estate planner (e.g. websites, lawyer's referral, trade associations...etc.) or offer guidance as to what credentials a good estate planner should have (e.g. degrees, certifications, licenses...etc.).
Despite that shortcoming, there is a crucial concept embodied within three little words on pages 163-4 of this book that have the potential to save thousands of dollars or more in planning fees and estate taxes, while avoiding the probate process (which is clearly defined in the book) altogether. If nothing else, this single tactic I'm alluding to makes Valles' book worth its weight in gold - at least to the beneficiaries of its wisdom. Get this book!
In-depth guide! August 27, 2008
Rating : 4.5/5.0
Mike A. Valles has done an excellent job in explaining the intricacies involved in estate planning. It covers the need for estate planning, the tools available to smoothly put the plan into effect and the problems faced. The book equips a person with enough knowledge and confidence to take the next step, i.e., contacting an estate planner.
Mike Valles's writing style is easy, clear and uncomplicated. He forces us to foresee the future and predict all the problems that could be faced by our heirs regarding the will and how to make it easier for them. He tactfully addresses sensitive issues like greedy spouses of children, drug-addict grandchild or invalid children. I especially like the case studies accompanying various issues which further clarify the situations.
The reason I give the book 4.5 is that I find some of the issues being repetitive in the book. Besides that, Mike Valles has really put-together a complete guide to real estate-planning.
Good Resource for Estate Planning August 15, 2008
Your Complete Guide to Leaving an Inheritance for Your Children and Others explains in good detail the process of creating an estate plan. A variety of options are explained to leave your wealth to your heirs as intact as possible (i.e. avoiding costly estate taxes). Mr. Valles helps you to turn your vision for your estate into a solid, safe plan. The one detractor of the book is the amount of focus spent teaching those with multi-million dollar estates how to qualify for welfare (Medicaid) should they need nursing home care in the future. This is, at best, a controversial practice which takes away from those who actually need Medicaid services to survive and feels grossly out of place in a book that espouses the instillation of positive values in your children and grandchildren.
All in all, this book is packed with creative ideas and good practical advice for estate planning. I rate this book a four out of five stars.
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