Explaining the Law, Empowering You
Will Writer - Estate Planning and Living Trust Software
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Publisher: Enodare Pub. Date: Feb 2010 |
Downloadable Software
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Available for Download April 2010 |
Living Trust and Estate Planning Software Details
Most people understand the importance of having a last will and testament but fail to understand the greater importance of having a comprehensive estate plan. By having a last will and testament, you will be able to avoid the problems caused by intestacy as well as some other unwelcomed inflictions. By failing to make a Will, you will have:
- No Control Over How Your Assets Are Distributed - your assets will be distributed to your heirs in accordance with your state's intestacy laws and your wishes regarding distribution will be completely ignored.
- No Control Over Who Cares For Your Children – a court will determine who shall be given responsibility for the care of your children after you die and your wishes in this respect will be ignored.
- No Long Term Property Management Arrangements For Your Children – there are only two documents which can be used to make these arrangements - a last will or a living trust. If you don’t use these documents to make the necessary management provisions, a court will appoint somebody of its choosing to manage any inheritances that your children might receive.
- No Control Over Who Wraps Up Your Affairs – again, the rules of intestacy will dictate who shall be given the task of acting as personal representative and the responsibility of closing off your estate. The person appointed by the court may not be someone that you would have wanted going through your affairs with a fine tooth comb!
A last will and testament will protect you against all of these issues. However, while a last will and testament is off enormous value, there is a lot more to estate planning that simply making a will. For example, there are a number of other estate planning documents which are almost as important as having a last will. These include:-
- Durable Powers of Attorney for Finance & Property - if you become incapacitated prior to your death, your family (including your spouse) may be left powerless to manage and deal with your assets without a durable power of attorney. This can cause a depletion in the value of your assets and even prevent assets from being sold to pay for your healthcare costs (if necessary). By having a durable power of attorney for finance and property, you can appoint someone you trust to deal with your financial affairs and assets during any period in which you are incapacitated and unable to do so yourself.
- Living Wills & Healthcare Powers of Attorney - Without a Living Will or a Healthcare Power of Attorney, state law will allocate the responsibility for making medical decisions on your behalf to a specific family member during any period in which you are unable to make these decisions yourself. This may not be a family member that you would have approved of had you the choice. Worse still, this person may not make the kind of decisions that you would have approved of. Having both a Living Will and a Healthcare Power of Attorney is the only way to protect you from this danger. They allow you to appoint a trusted family member or friend to make medical decisions on your behalf during any period in which you are unconscious, comatose or otherwise unable to do so yourself. Moreover, they also allow you to express your preferences in relation to the types of treatments (including life-sustaining treatments) you want and don’t want. Your medical team and appointed agent will be obliged to honor any preferences that you state in these documents.
- Revocable Living Trusts - if you allow your most valuable assets to go through probate, the value of your estate may be substantially depleted due to high probate and professional fees incurred. In addition, many of your assets will be frozen during the probate process and your beneficiaries may have to wait months or years to receive their inheritances. This can be devastating where your beneficiaries (usually your family) are financially dependent on you and need immediate access to your resources (their inheritances). One of the best ways to avoid this is by placing your assets into a revocable living trust. Living trusts allow you to avoid the costs and delays of probate. In many cases, the assets placed in the trust can be distributed to your named beneficiaries within weeks of your death – compared to months where your will is probated.
All of these documents work closely together to help preserve the value of your estate during and after your lifetime – as well as ensuring that you are looked after during any period in which you cannot make medical decisions for yourself.
To help you easily understand the estate planning process and prepare a comprehensive estate plan, our lawyers have created our Will Writer – Estate Planning Software. This interactive estate planning software helps you create wills, living trusts, living wills, powers of attorney and more from the comfort of your own home and without the staggering legal fees! It also includes an inbuilt 200 page, plain English, estate planning manual covering all aspects of estate planning.
(The documents are valid in all states except Louisiana).
- Overview
- Table of Contents
- Forms
- Requirements
Through the use of a simple question and answer process, Will Writer will guide you step-by-step through the process of preparing your estate planning documents. Each document only takes a few minutes of your time to prepare and comprehensive help and information is available at every stage of the process.
Main Product Features:
Advanced Wills - Make gifts to your family, friends and charities, make funeral arrangements, appoint executors, appoint guardians to care for your minor children, make property management arrangements for young beneficiaries, release people from debts, designate assets for the payment of debts and taxes, and much more.
Comprehensive Living Trusts - Living trusts are one of the best ways to avoid the excessive costs and delays of probate. You can also use then to make gifts to your family and friends, make property management arrangements for young beneficiaries, transfer assets tax efficiently with AB Trusts, and much more.
Living Wills Instruct doctors as to your choices regarding the receipt or non-receipt of a variety of medical treatments designed to prolong your life. Specify a wide range of preferences from surgery to dialysis to resuscitation.
Healthcare Power of Attorney - Appoint someone you trust to make medical decisions for you if you become mentally incapacitated. You can make specific instructions to your agent as well as limit his or her authority. You can even combine your healthcare power of attorney with your living will.
Various Powers of Attorney for Finance and Property - Appoint someone you trust to manage your financial affairs if you become mentally incapacitated, or if you are unable to do so yourself for any reason. Give them as much or as little authority as you wish, Specify when the authority commences and when it ends!
Comprehensive Help Sections - Help is available to you on every screen to tell you what to do and answer any legal questions you might have.
Legal Manual - A 200+ page estate planning manual has been built into Will Writer.
INBUILT ESTATE PLANNING MANUAL - TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1: ESTATE PLANNING BASICS
What is Estate Planning?
What’s Included in Your Estate?
How to Plan Your Estate
Do I Need to Plan My Estate?
Children and Guardians
Choosing Beneficiaries
Last Will and Testament
Revocable Living Trusts
Executors and Probate
Assets that Don’t go Through Probate
Planning for Incapacity – Power of Attorney for Finance and Property
Planning for Incapacity – Advance Healthcare Directives
Living Wills
Healthcare Power of Attorney
Reducing Taxes on Your Estate
Funeral Arrangements
Conclusion
CHAPTER 2: CHILDREN, GUARDIANS AND PROPERTY MANAGEMENT
What is a Guardian?
Sole and Joint Guardians
Alternate Guardians
Appointment of a Guardian
Who Can be a Guardian?
Should You Appoint Guardians for Your Minor Children?
What to Consider When Choosing a Guardian for Your Child
What Happens When No Guardian is Named in Your Will?
Management of Children’s Property
Options for Property Management
Appointment of a Property Guardian
Uniform Transfer to Minors’ Act
Individual Child Trusts
Children’s Pot Trusts
Providing for Children with Special Needs
Whom Should You Choose as a Trustee?
Trustee’s Duties
CHAPTER 3: GIFTS AND BENEFICIARIES
Gifting Your Assets
How to Make a Gift
Types of Gifts
Specific Item Gifts
Cash Gifts (also known as monetary or pecuniary legacies)
Gift of the Residuary Estate
Types of Beneficiaries
Specific Gift Beneficiary
Alternate Beneficiary
Residuary Beneficiary
Who May Not be a Beneficiary?
Changing Beneficiaries
Gifts to Spouses
Community Property States
Common Law States
Gifts to Minors
Unmarried or Same-Sex Couples
Gifts to Charities
Failed Gifts
Imposing Conditions on the Receipt of Gifts
Disinheritance
Disinheriting a Spouse
Disinheriting a Child
Matters Affecting the Distribution of Your Assets
Simultaneous Death
Homestead Allowance
Family Allowance for Support
The Exemption for the Benefit of the Family
Right to Remain in the Family Home
Right to Receive Family Residence
Right to Automobiles
Right to Reimbursement of Funeral Costs
Abatement of Assets
Disclaimed Inheritances
Finalizing Your Plan
Lawsuits by Spouses
Disinheriting Your Children
CHAPTER 4: LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT
About Wills
Principal Components of a Will
Types of wills
Making a Valid Will
Age of Majority
Mental Capacity and Undue Influence
Why Make a Will?
Executors
Alternate Executors
Overview of Executors’ Duties
Who Should be Your Executor?
Executing a Will
Matters that can Impact Wills
No Contest Clauses
Challenging a Will
Intestacy
Apportionment and Distribution of Assets on Intestacy
Share of Surviving Spouse
Share of Descendents
Share of Parents
Share of Other Relatives
Do-it-Yourself Wills
Do I Need a Lawyer
CHAPTER 5: EXECUTORS & PROBATE
What is an Executor?
What is Probate?
Who can be Your Executor?
An Overview of an Executor’s Duties, Powers and Risks
Powers of an Executor
Executor’s Liability
Protecting Your Executor from Liability
Protection Under the Terms of Your Will
Obtain the Consent of Beneficiaries
Take out an Executor’s Insurance Bond
Obtain the Consent of the Probate Court
Compensating Your Executor
CHAPTER 6: POWER OF ATTORNEY
What is a Power of Attorney?
Types of Powers of Attorney
General Power of Attorney
Limited Power of Attorney
Healthcare Power of Attorney
Ordinary and Durable Powers of Attorney
Springing Powers of Attorney
Mutual Powers of Attorney
Cascading Powers of Attorney
Capacity to Make a Power of Attorney
What Does “being incapable or incapacitated” Mean?
Should I Make a Power of Attorney?
What Happens Without a Power of Attorney?
What if You Don’t Think You Need a Power of Attorney?
Marriage
Living Trusts
Joint Tenancy
The Relationship Between Principal and Agent
Who Can be an Agent?
Joint or Joint and Independent Agents
Alternate Agents
Scope of an Agent’s Powers
Duties and Responsibilities of an Agent
Choosing an Agent
What Laws Govern My Power of Attorney?
Witness to a Power of Attorney
Commencement of a Power of Attorney
Revocation of a Power of Attorney
Important Points & Recommendation
Chapter 7: Advance Medical Directives
What is an Advance Medical Directive?
Why do I Need an Advance Medical Directive?
Living Wills and Their Background
How Living Wills Work
What is a Terminal Condition?
What is a Persistent Comatose Condition?
What is a Persistent Vegetative Condition?
What Life Support Choices Do I Have Within My Living Will?
Should I Make a Living Will?
State Requirements for Life Sustaining Medical Treatment
Witness Requirements
Appointing an Agent to Revoke or Enforce Your Living Will
Finalizing Your Living Will
Terminating Advance Directives
Family Discussions
Making Your Wishes Known - Legal Vaults™ Wallet Cards
Healthcare Power of Attorney
Choosing a Healthcare Agent
Alternate Healthcare Agent
Do I Need a Healthcare Power of Attorney and a Living Will?
Conclusion
CHAPTER 8: PROBATE AVOIDANCE MEASURES
Probate Avoidance
Pay on Death or Transfer on Death Accounts
Transfer on death securities
Retirement accounts
Joint Accounts
Custodial Accounts
Savings Bonds
Life Insurance Proceeds
Joint Ownership of Property
Joint Tenancy
Tenancy by the Entireties
Tenancy in Common
Community Property
Revocable Living Trust
Gifts During Your Lifetime
Probate Free Transfers of Assets
Simplified Transfer Procedures for “Small Estates”
CHAPTER 9: REVOCABLE LIVING TRUSTS
What are Living Trusts?
Advantages of Living Trusts
Disadvantages of Living Trusts
The Role of the Initial Trustee
Appointing a Co-Trustee
Successor Trustees
The Role of the Successor Trustee
Role of Successor Trustee During the Incapacity of the Grantor
Role of Successor Trustee Following the Death of the Grantor
Fiduciary Duties of the Successor Trustee
Changing Trustees
The Beneficiaries of Your Living Trust
Types of Living Trust
Living Trust for an Individual
Living Trusts for Couples
Conclusion
Transferring Assets to Your Living Trust
What Assets Should be Put in Your Living Trust?
Title to Assets Transferred to a Living Trust
Transferring Property to Your Trust
Real Estate
Cars, Boats and Other Vehicles
Cash Accounts
United States Savings Bonds
Broker Accounts
Publicly Quoted Stocks and Bonds
Retirement Plans
Other Property
Revocation of your Living Trust
Pour-Over Wills
CHAPTER 10: ESTATE TAXES
Estate Taxes
Federal Estate and Gift Tax
Everyone’s “Coupon”
What is the “Coupon” Amount?
How to Determine the Estate Tax?
State Death Tax
State Death Taxes are Paid by the Estate
The Recipient Pays State Inheritance Taxes
“Pick-Up” Taxes
Marital Deduction
Non-Citizen Spouses
Charitable Deductions
Charitable Remainder Trust
Charitable Lead Trust
Other Ways to Reduce Estate Taxes
Lifetime Gifts
QTIP Trust
Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts
Family Limited Partnerships
Special Use Real Estate Valuation
Conclusion
CHAPTER 11: FINALIZING YOUR PLAN
Deciding What Should be in Your Estate Plan
Management of Your Property and Finances During Incapacity
Making Healthcare Decisions During Incapacity
Appoint Guardians for Your Children
Assemble a List of Your Assets and Liabilities
Decide Who Will Receive Your Assets
Decide How and When Your Beneficiaries Will Receive Your Assets
Choosing People to Be in Charge
When to Do-it-Yourself and When to Include Lawyers
Storing Your Documents
Updating Your Estate Plan
Finally
The following documents can be produced using this software:-
Last Will & Testament
- Unmarried with no children
- Unmarried with children
- Married with no children
- Married with children
Revocable Living Trust agreements
- Revocable living trust for an individual
- Revocable living trust for a couple
- AB revocable living trust for a couple
- Notice of revocation of a living trust
- Deed of assignment for use with an individual revocable living trust
- Deed of assignment for use with a couple’s revocable living trust
- Certification of trust for use with an individual revocable living trust
- Certification of trust for use with a couple’s revocable living trust
Living Wills
- Living Wills
- Notice of Revocation of a living will
Powers of Attorney
- Durable general power of attorney for finance and property
- Durable limited power of attorney for finance and property
- General power of attorney for finance and property
- Limited power of attorney for finance and property
- Healthcare power of attorney
- Notice of revocation of a power of attorney
Self-Proving Affidavits
- Self-Proving affidavit (Type 1)
- Self-Proving affidavit (Type 2)
Estate Planning Worksheet
- Estate Planning Worksheet
Windows
Windows 7 compatibility
Free Estate Planning Guide
Enodare's Will Writer Software
Online Documents
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