Approximately 70% of Americans will face difficult end of life medical decisions. Making these decisions for ourselves is hard, but making these decisions for our loved ones can be heart-wrenching. Chances are you know someone who has been in the position of needing to make important medical decisions for a dying family member. More often than not, these decisions are followed by second guessing and self-doubt. Why Every Adult Must Have A Health Care Directive is a fun and fast read covering the reasons for having a Health Care Directive and the steps to preparing one. A free Minnesota Health Care Directive form is included.

TrustWorthy is a collection of 25 personal -- and positive -- stories told by beneficiaries, trustees and their advisors. The book speaks to the human side of personal trusts, leaving the technical side (legal, tax, investments) to others.

The book's objective? To begin to transform the most complex, conflicted and difficult relationship known under the law -- the "arranged marriage" between beneficiary and trustee -- by supplanting prevailing negative assumptions and behaviors. Readers are given a peek at "what other families do."

Storytellers tackle big questions, for example: How can trusts be used to promote beneficiaries' maturity? What should I look for in a trustee? How can beneficiaries successfully integrate inheritances into their lives? How can trustees, prudently and within legal and other constraints, administer trusts in a way that enhances beneficiaries' lives? How can the widespread dissatisfaction, and all the talk of "problem" beneficiaries and "problem" trustees, give way to more creative and productive relationships?

Hartley Goldstone, J.D. and MBA, delights in being surprised by profound questions, having served families for 30 years at attorney, trustee and planner. Today, he is an accomplished speaker, educator and coach for trustees, inheritors in all stages of life, their families and advisors.

Kathy Wiseman, MBA and faculty at the Bowen Center for the Study of Family systems, assists people with the legacy potential of their family business, foundation and wealth. She educates families and their professionals about the human assets that underlie success for any trust/estate.

Here's what others say about TrustWorthy

You are about to go on the positive journey that is the ongoing effort of Hartley and Kathy to reengineer the beneficiary/trustee relationship toward its higher functioning...

-From the Foreword to TrustWorthy, by James E. Hughes Jr., author of The Cycle of the Gift and Family Wealth

This is the one book to read this year if you are creating your estate plan, if you are a trustee or a beneficiary, or if you advise families of wealth. You will not think about trusts in the same way again.

-Charles W. Collier, Former Senior Philanthropic Advisor at Harvard University and author of Wealth in Families

TrustWorthy should be required reading not only for trustees and beneficiaries, but also for grantors and trusted family advisors. Hartley and Kathy's decision to use storytelling to reveal the vast potential in the trustee and beneficiary relationship was a stroke of genius. The stories in this book are inspiring and do a great job of demonstrating how trusts can be used not only to transfer financial wealth, but also to transfer legacy from one generation to the next.

-Sara Hamilton, CEO and Founder, Family Office Exchange

Straight Talk About Estate Planning provides a no-nonsense look at the importance of estate planning and how to create an estate plan that works In their straight forward, easy to read style, Peggy Hoyt and Debbie Roser lead you on a journey through the maze of legal potholes that include staying out of the guardianship courts, avoiding probate, reducing gift and estate taxes and making more than sure your plan accomplishes your personal and family goals. Meet Mary, mother of three who visits attorney Harry Hurry and ends up with an estate plan that is a complete waste of money and doesn't come close to accomplishing her simple goal of providing for her children. Discover the importance of how assets are titled, how beneficiaries are designated and how to avoid the bad things that happen to good people. Get acquainted with Annabelle, a beloved dog whose owner leaves for an ordinary day and never returns. Discover how to protect the people and pets you love through special planning considerations that include special needs trusts, trusts for unmarried partners, lifetime protective trusts and pet trusts. Straight Talk About Estate Planning will entertain you while imparting crucial information you need for every aspect of your life - now while you are alive and well, in the event of your mental disability and at the time of your death. It's a must read for everyone

In "Administering the California Special Needs Trust, " author Kevin Urbatsch presents a guide for anyone assigned the duty of managing a Special Needs Trust for a person with a disability. Though geared toward those who never have administered a trust, it also provides sophisticated answers for experienced trustees concerning some of the unique responsibilities a trustee of a special needs trust will encounter. Urbatsch, a California attorney who has years of experience in assisting trustees to manage special needs trusts, has written extensively for both attorneys and families on how best to establish a special needs trust. "Administering the Special Needs Trust" addresses specific California issues that a special needs trust trustee encounters daily. In a question-and-answer format, it addresses how to avoid the most common mistakes made by SNT trustees; understand the type of public benefits available for California persons with disabilities; learn how SNT disbursements will affect these public benefits; best pay for a person with a disability's housing, caregiver costs, transportation, and related expenses; handle SNT investments, accountings, and taxes; terminate the SNT. With checklists, form documents, and law summaries included, "Administering the Special Needs Trust" contains a wide range of information for those charged with the responsibility of managing a special needs trust for people with disabilities.

The Estate Planning Handbook covers the basic issues relating to Estate Planning such as wills and trusts, health care surrogates and powers of attorney to the more advanced issues relating to QTIPs, Private Annuities and Family Partnerships along with case law from the tax court.

Acting as a power of attorney or as an estate trustee carries a great deal of financial and legal responsibility. But in "Let the Records Show," authors Linda A. Alderson and Douglas Alan Alderson have distilled the information and have provided a step-by-step guide to keeping financial and property affairs in order. "Let the Records Show" offers a ten-step guide for effectively handling record-keeping obligations, and it demystifies and simplifies the terminology and related work processes associated with creating a complete and proper information trail to satisfy legal interests. It also provides: Answers to questions to consider before acting as an attorney An overview of accounting and legal terms presented in plain English Tips on the fundamentals of being an attorney or estate trustee Guidance on inventory preparation Comparison between the roles of attorney and estate trustee A review of common problems and how to fix them Information on estate litigation basics Charts, templates, and checklists to help you stay organized Filled with practical guidance on how to maintain financial records to meet the legal requirements, "Let the Records Show" helps to simplify the roles of power of attorney and estate trustee.

This handbook is intended to educate and inform people who need to learn about the probate administration process, including the nature of the process, the steps involved, the functions of the probate court and the personal representative(s) of the estate.

Now available in paperback, Fiduciary Loyalty presents a comprehensive analysis of the nature and function of fiduciary duties. The concept of loyalty, which lies at the heart of fiduciary doctrine, is a form of protection which is designed to enhance the likelihood of due performance of non-fiduciary duties by seeking to avoid influences or temptations that may distract the fiduciary from providing such proper performance. In developing this position, the book takes the novel approach of putting to one side the difficult question of when fiduciary duties arise, in order to focus attention instead on what fiduciary duties do when they are owed. The issue of when fiduciary duties arise can then be returned to - and considered more profitably - once a clear view has emerged of the function that such duties perform. This analysis has both practical and theoretical implications for understanding fiduciary doctrine. For example, it provides a sound conceptual footing for understanding the relationship between fiduciary and non-fiduciary duties, highlighting the practical importance of analyzing both forms of duties carefully when considering fiduciary claims. Further, it explains a number of tenets within fiduciary doctrine, such as the proscriptive nature of fiduciary duties and the need to obtain the principal's fully informed consent in order to avoid fiduciary liability. Understanding the relationship between fiduciary and non-fiduciary duties also provides a solid foundation for addressing issues concerning compensatory remedies for their breach and potential defenses, such as contributory fault. The distinctive purpose that fiduciary duties serve also provides a firm theoretical basis for maintaining their separation from other forms of civil obligation, such as those that arise under the law of contracts and of torts. Fiduciary Loyalty was the winner of the 2nd SLS Peter Birks Prize for Outstanding Legal Scholarship 2010.

A guide written in layman's terms describing the bookkeeping aspects of being an executor, trustee, or attorney for property under Ontario law. Readers will have access to online spreadsheets available for download. The spreadsheeets include sample entries and formulas to make it easier to get started. As one reviewer has said, "For most of us, taking on the role of an executor is a confusing and daunting task. In this guide, Donna has done an excellent job of explaining the elements of simple estate accounting and provides a useful template to guide you through the process. I cannot imagine a better introduction to this challenging topic."

This vital American Classic outlines, simply and concisely, the rules which govern the management of trust estates, and the relationship existing between the trustee and beneficiary. 1898 UNIVERSITY PRESS BOSTON: LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. 1898.

Don't Fall Victim to Discriminatory Laws Not when you and your partner can do something about it. You and your partner can empower yourselves though the proven legal techniques described in the book Estate Planning for Domestic Partners: The Legal Secrets You Need to Know to Protect Your Partner and Your Future. Written by a prominent partner protection planning attorney, this valuable information can help you navigate around the restrictive laws that prevent you and your partner from gaining full marriage and tax rights by using other legal principles such as contracts, trusts, and powers of attorney.

This book is designed for law school courses covering trusts. The cases, problems, and questions are drawn extensively from Texas materials and attempt to provide the student with a comprehensive understanding of how trust creation, administration, and enforcement are handled in Texas. Resulting trusts, constructive trusts, and trust accounts are also discussed.

The Gay Marriage Alternative provides LGBT and other unmarried couples with partner protection planning solutions now that are equal to or better than rights married heterosexual couples take for granted... without changing the law. The right combination of trusts, powers of attorney and medical directives can provide these rights while retitling accounts as joint with a right of survivorship, drafting Wills, and transferring funds to a partner can lead to tax or administrative disasters. Find out the right way you and your partner can seize legal equality, security, and peace of mind. While the struggle for nationwide marriage equality may take decades, partners can protect each other now.

This book is designed for law school courses covering intestate succession and wills. The cases, problems, and questions are drawn extensively from Texas materials and attempt to provide the student with a comprehensive understanding of how property transmission at death is handled in Texas.

Your financial legacy is different than anyone else s. The effort you put into earning and saving your money, your retirement plans, your dreams for your family s future: these are all uniquely yours. Blindly following a cookie-cutter tax solution will jeopardize these wishes and cost you dearly. Cut Your Tax in 2010 gives you the straight talk on why most of us are destined to pay too much in taxes and what you can do to escape this fate. Learn: Why Uncle Sam desperately wants your money How to protect your personal and business assets in four smart steps How an estate plan can save your family more than just taxes Plus, get insights on the capital gains trap, the tax benefits of living trusts, and other tax-saving tips. This book is ideal if you are a retiree or someone working towards retirement who has built up a financial legacy for your family. Don t hand Uncle Sam more of your hard-earned money than he deserves. Learn what it takes to truly protect it, grow it, and pass it on.

Drafting effective wills and trust allows property to be given to the people or institutions that matter most to an individual. This book explains how to do the special, thoughtful drafting required by anyone who truly cares about distribution of property, care of elderly parents, guardians for young children, or care for pets after the owner is gone. The book is richly illustrated by samples of techniques used in the actual wills and trusts of well-known Americans. Topics covered include: WHAT HAPPENS WITHOUT A WILL; CAPACITY TO MAKE A WILL; SELECTING THE TRUSTEES; DESIGNING PET TRUSTS. Realistic, thought-provoking DRAFTING EXERCISES followed by detailed POINTERS FOR DRAFTING help the reader develop the skills needed for effective drafting. The concluding chapters cover related documents, including: MEDICAL AND FINANCIAL POWERS OF ATTORNEY, MEDICAL DIRECTIVES and LIVING WILLS. About the author: Lucy Marsh, Professor of Law at University of Denver Sturm College of Law is a native to Denver. She is a 1963 graduate of Smith College and a 1966 graduate of the University of Michigan Law School. While attending the University of Michigan, she played a key role in setting up the first legal clinic in Ann Arbor to serve the underprivileged. She has led a distinguished career as an attorney, professor and advocate for community causes. Admitted to the bar in both Connecticut and Colorado, she was the first woman elected to the Colorado Bar Association Real Estate Section's Title Standards Committee, served the city as member of the Denver District Attorney's Office in the 1970's, was a commissioner to the Colorado Real Estate Commission, and provided legal assistance to the Colorado AIDS project. Her academic career at the University of Denver began in 1973 as a part time professor and led up to her present position as a full professor in 1982. Since that time she was voted DU Professor of the Year in 1985 and was elected by the students in 1987 to give the commencement address. She now leads a unique program in which the students in her Trust and Estates classes participate in a Will's Lab, providing free services for the indigent and elderly. She also employs a unique teaching tool called the Technicolor System, attributed to her father, Thompson Marsh, to assist in the learning process by color coding different types of information in student's legal drafts

ESTATE PLANNING: The Heroes Way for Baby Boomers, is a one-of-a-kind book that answers the question: How do you help people stare mortality in the face, and enjoy it as they plan the distribution of their legacy after death? This book provides you George Washington as a modern hero, with surefooted steps exploring and explaining every angle of the death and inheritance system. The Heroes Way, tells you which Revocable Trust may be right for you. If you do not like the plan, that's great! At least, you are thinking for yourself, and know what you are talking about. You will be learning how you want to create your trust, not the way someone else deems is right. That means you understand how "credit shelter trusts" work. Then you can get the job done.

Are you interested in paying the minimum amount of estate and gift taxes? Would you like to avoid probate and keep your financial affairs private? Estate Planning in Arizona is the reference you need. Written for Arizonans with little or no legal experience, this book tells you what you need to know:

The basics of wills and trusts
Protecting your assets
Appointing guardians for your children
Health care directives and living wills
Taking title to real estate
. . . and much more!

Providing you with a better understanding of the laws and issues involved in estate planning, this comprehensive, easy-to-understand book will help you to preserve wealth, protect your family, and create a winning succession plan.

After thirty years, the debate over antitrust's ideology has quieted. Most now agree that the protection of consumer welfare should be the only goal of antitrust laws. Execution, however, is another matter. The rules of antitrust remain unfocused, insufficiently precise, and excessively complex. The problem of poorly designed rules is severe, because in the short run rules weigh much more heavily than principles. At bottom, antitrust is a defensible enterprise only if it can make the microeconomy work better, after accounting for the considerable costs of operating the system.

"The Antitrust Enterprise" is the first authoritative and compact exposition of antitrust law since Robert Bork's classic "The Antitrust Paradox" was published more than thirty years ago. It confronts not only the problems of poorly designed, overly complex, and inconsistent antitrust rules but also the current disarray of antitrust's rule of reason, offering a coherent and workable set of solutions. The result is an antitrust policy that is faithful to the consumer welfare principle but that is also more readily manageable by the federal courts and other antitrust tribunals.

The principles of Nigerian law of succession and the statutes backing them are presented in practical language; and includes an extensive number of case studies. Among the topics covered are legitimacy, legitimation and rights of inheritance; intestate succession (non-customary); testate succession (wills); succession under customary law; and administration of estates. Itse Sagay is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and was previously a professor of law and Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Benin. He is currently in private practice, and a consultant to numerous local and international clients.

No matter what your age or marital status, someone in your family will be affected by probate in one way or another. Julie Jason's Guide to Connecticut Probate: What Every Connecticut Family Needs to Know About Probate, gives you a lay of the land in an easy to understand form that you and your family members will enjoy reading. Acclaimed by experts in the trusts and estates field, this book will help you learn important lessons that your family can apply today to address uncertainties, save money, avoid unnecessary taxes, find and work with an experienced lawyer, and set up a family plan to organize affairs. Worth the price of the book alone is the reference section containing official Connecticut forms and publications and other valuable resources.

A Matter of Trust is a book for everyone - everyone, that is, who cares about what happens to them in the event of disability and to their legacy at the time of their death. Maggie Kinnick was a widow of comfortable means who created a revocable living trust on the advice of her trusted advisors after the death of her only child, Pat. Her trust was created to provide Maggie with financial caretakers and oversight in the event she could no longer handle her own affairs due to mental incompetence and to distribute her legacy at her death. Her trust met the letter of the law and had typical "lawyer language" giving broad discretion to the trustees to expend funds on her behalf. No one anticipated that "discretion" cuts both ways and the trustee would exercise discretion not to expend funds for Maggie - primarily out of an abundance of caution to preserve her assets. Instead of protecting Maggie, the trust and its interpretation by the trustees created a living nightmare for her -- one that continued even after her death. A Matter of Trust is the definitive guide to create legal directives so that Maggie's nightmare can be avoided and to provide guidance on the creation of personalized instructions to properly guide caretakers about when and how discretion should be exercised. Estate planning attorneys and authors, Peggy R. Hoyt and Candace M. Pollock, present the real truth about trusts, trustees, and about the need for proper estate planning. Join them on Maggie's journey through a living trust abyss. Create a different result for yourself!