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8 Ways to Avoid Probate

by Mary Randolph, J.D.

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Summary

Save your family money, time and headaches with a few easy steps. Probate can drag on for years, and can easily cost your family thousands of dollars -- money that would otherwise have gone to them.

8 Ways to Avoid Probate offers simple but effective methods to skip the entire process -- plus real-world examples of how others have used them. In the end, you'll understand:

• payable-on-death accounts
• naming beneficiaries
• special procedures for small estates
• using joint ownership of property
• creating a living trust
• making gifts of property and money
• and more

The 6th edition provides the latest estate and gift tax rules, and now includes a ninth method: Using transfer-on-death deeds to pass on real estate.

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Table of Contents

Introduction: Thinking About Probate Avoidance

A. Why It's Worth Your While to Avoid Probate
B. What Probate Avoidance Can't Change
C. Comparing Probate-Avoidance Methods
D. A Lick of Common Sense

Chapter 1: Set Up Payable-On-Death Accounts

A. The Paperwork
B. Adding a P.O.D. Designation to a Joint Account
C. Choosing Beneficiaries
D. If a Beneficiary Dies Before You Do
E. If You Change Your Mind
F. Claiming the Money

Chapter 2: Name a Beneficiary for Your Retirement Accounts

A. Choosing a Beneficiary
B. Required Distributions From Retirement Accounts

Chapter 3: Name a Beneficiary for Stocks and Bonds

A. Transfer-On-Death Registration
B. Registration of Government Bonds and Notes

Chapter 4: Name a Beneficiary for Your Vehicles

A. Transfer-On-Death Registration
B. Joint Ownership With the Right of Survivorship
C. Special Transfer Procedures for Vehicles

Chapter 5: Name a Beneficiary for Your Real Estate

A. Can You Use a T.O.D. Deed?
B. How It Works: An Overview
C. How to Prepare, Sign, and Record the Deed
D. Three Ways to Cancel the Deed-and One Way Not to
E. How the New Owner Claims the Property

Chapter 6: Hold Property in Joint Ownership

A. Kinds of Joint Ownership That Avoid Probate
B. Joint Tenancy
C. Tenancy by the Entirety
D. Community Property
E. Alternatives to Joint Ownership

Chapter 7: Create a Living Trust

A. How a Living Trust Avoids Probate
B. Other Advantages of a Living Trust
C. Why You Still Need a Will
D. Do You Really Need a Living Trust?
E. Creating a Valid Living Trust
F. What Property to Put in a Trust
G. Taxes and Recordkeeping
H. Amending or Revoking a Living Trust Document

Chapter 8: Take Advantage of Special Procedures for Small Estates

A. Why Even Large Estates May Qualify
B. Claiming Wages With an Affidavit
C. Claiming Other Property With Affidavits
D. Simplified Court Procedures

Chapter 9: Make Gifts

A. The Federal Gift Tax
B. Making Tax-Free Gifts
C. Gifts That Could Land You in Tax Trouble
D. What to Give
E. Gifts to Children
F. Thinking Before You Give

Chapter 10: Putting It All Together

Alice and Frank: A Simple Life
Maria: Dealing With Widowhood
Mike: Midlife Concerns
Jim and Terry: an Unmarried Couple
Esther and Mark: New Love, Old Money
Linda and Tomas: Comfortable

Glossary

Index

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