HOW TO DIE WITHOUT A LAWYER P: Amazon.ca: Clement Mary: Books

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Death and taxes may be absolutes in life, but there's no excuse for improperly preparing your estate for your death and posthumously pummeling your heirs with your taxes. Even worse, contends Mary Clement, an attorney who specializes in end-of-life issues, is paying too much for associated legal help--either while you're alive or after you're gone. In How to Die Without a Lawyer, she accordingly "reveals the secrets of trusts and estate law, enabling you, the reader, to produce the same work as the professionals, without the legal fees and with the added benefit of your estate being more financially advantageous to your beneficiaries than to your lawyer." Chapters deal with everything involved in creating, revoking, or changing wills (how to inventory your property, forgive a debt, designate a fiduciary), taking precautions against mental incapacity (living wills, health-care proxies, do-not-resuscitate orders), and avoiding probate (pay-on-death designations, gifts for education or medical expenses, living trusts). Appendices offer sample documents, including wills and clauses for them that fit different circumstances. Primarily designed for those planning estate preparation on their own, the book also should prove useful to anyone who will seek legal assistance but would like to become as informed as possible in advance of the process. --Howard Rothman

Book Description

Ensuring that your estate is in order has become an expensive and burdensome proposition. Legal fees can be astronomical when an inheritance passes through probate. Failure to get your estate in order can be a nightmare for your family.

It doesn't have to be that way.

In HOW TO DIE WITHOUT A LAWYER, Mary Clement, a prominent attorney who specializes in end-of-life issues, walks you through the steps necessary to create, revoke or change a will, protect against mental incapacity with health care and financial powers of attorney, and to avoid the exorbitant costs of probate and lawyer's fees with the creation of a Living Trust.

This easy-to-use book, complete with sample documents and personal experiences, reveals the secrets of trusts and estates law, enabling you, the reader, to easily produce the same work as the professionals, without paying legal fees. Even if you plan on seeking legal counsel, HOW TO DIE WITHOUT A LAWYER will help you be an informed consumer by explaining what choices you have, how these choices work, and the advantages and disadvantages of your options.

With a compassionate voice and a steady, guiding hand, HOW TO DIE WITHOUT A LAWYER is the essential book for anyone interested in "getting their affairs in order."

Some of the many important estate planning concerns addressed in HOW TO DIE WITHOUT A LAWYER include:

--How to avoid legal disputes over your will
--Four ways of leaving property to minors
--How to keep your will up-to-date
--The absolute minimum amount you can legally leave your spouse
--Essential considerations when naming a guardian for a minor
--Simple ways to avoid the disasters that will befall your health care and finances if you become incompetent and are not prepared
--Easy ways of avoiding probate--the Living Trust is only one way
--And much, much more.

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4.0 out of 5 stars An easy way to be sure things are done as you want., Feb 18 2000

By

Donald M. Abrahams (Sedona, AZ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: HOW TO DIE WITHOUT A LAWYER P (Paperback)

For any of you who do not have the following documents, I highly recommend the purchase of this book which contains the forms that you can fill out on your own:

Last Will and Testament

Living Trust

Living Will

Health Proxy

Durable Power of Attorney

The author, Mary Clement, clearly states that there are conditions which do require a lawyer, and she advocates using one under the conditions she points out. However, by reading the book, you will know with certainty when you need a lawyer and when you don't. Furthermore, by reading the book, you will know exactly what the lawyer should be doing and your prior knowledge will save fees, if in no other way than saving the lawyer from having to explain all the legalise to you.

As an example of when you should consult a lawyer, Ms. Clement clearly states that if a couple has an estate valued over $1,350,000 (per couple), one should consult an estate planning lawyer so as to minimize Federal and State inheritance taxes. But for most estates, the forms provided in the book will work just fine.

Where State laws vary, there is a list covering each variance so that one need not worry about any of the documents not being valid in the state in which he or she resides.

At the beginning of each chapter there is a brief statement of what that chapter covers which tells you whether you even have to read that chapter or not. In addition, simplified questions and answers make it very easy for anyone to follow the suggestions and plan what to do.

There is an excellent, easy, method of evaluating your estate so that you know what you are dealing with and whether you will have any estate tax problems. This should be done by everyone, whether using a lawyer or not (it, again, saves much time with the lawyer).

Most of us put off this sad chore. Doing so can lead to very unpleasant consequences, including having children raised by strangers; inability to access what we think are liquid funds as well as other assets; and most important in today's world, being kept alive by artificial means when you may not want to be kept alive (without proper documents you will be and nothing can change it.)

Reading this book and following the simple instructions can give one peace of mind about their final days, and the days after their death.

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Amazon.com: 4.0 out of 5 stars (1 customer review)

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