Acknowledgments xi Introduction xv 1 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 1 Ordinary Income Tax Rates 2 Capital Gains Tax Rates and Qualified Dividends 2 Educational Provisions 2 Business and Corporate Tax Relief 5 Estate, Gift, and Generation-Skipping Transfers 6 Dangers of Relying on Portability 9 Limitations on Deductions 11 2 Estate Planning 15 What Is Estate Planning? 15 The Benefits of Estate Planning 16 The Nightmares of Poor Planning 18 The Myths of Estate Planning 19 Guidelines for Successful Estate Planning 20 3 The Estate Tax System 23 Determining Your Estate Net Worth 23 Your Estate Tax Picture 29 Your Future Estate 33 Overview of Estate-Planning Strategies 35 4 Investment Strategies for Maximizing Estate Growth 37 Growth Strategy with a Safety Net® 38 Prioritizing Your Investment Dollars 43 Retirement Planning: Choosing the Best Investment Environments 43 Roth Conversions 46 Some Final Thoughts on Investing 53 5 Retirement Planning: Living Your Dream 55 Your Retirement Requirements 56 Best Retirement Strategies 61 Reverse Mortgages 67 Social Security Strategies 70 Customizing Your Health Care Plan 75 6 You Don''t Have a Will? Big Trouble! 79 Property Transfers at Death 80 Transfers via Probate 81 Direct Transfers by Title 84 Other Methods of Property Ownership 88 Choosing the Best Methods of Ownership 90 Setting Estate-Planning Goals 91 7 Where There''s a Will, There''s Your Way! 93 What Is a Will? 93 Types of Wills 93 Advantages and Disadvantages of Wills 95 Intelligent Decisions Concerning Your Will''s Basic Provisions 97 Executing Your Will 110 Where to Store Your Will 111 Other Important Documents 111 Working with Your Attorney 115 When to Review Your Estate Plan 121 8 Using Trusts in Your Estate Plan 125 The Credit Shelter Trust Will 126 Disclaimers 131 Marital Trusts 132 Spendthrift Trust 136 Standby Trust 137 Other Trusts 137 9 Understanding the Living Trust 139 Advantages of Living Trusts 139 Disadvantages of Living Trusts 141 How a Living Trust Operates 142 Transferring Property into Your Living Trust 145 Types of Property Likely to Be Transferred 148 Living Trust Myths 150 Transacting Business with Your Trust 152 10 Using Insurance in Your Estate Plan 153 Life Insurance 153 Using Life Insurance to Replace Income 156 How Much Life Insurance Do You Need? 157 What Type of Life Insurance Is Best for You? 160 Insurance on a Homemaker 161 Insurance on Adult Children 161 How to Get the Best Deal on Term Life Insurance 161 What Type of Life Insurance Is Best for Estate Liquidity? 164 The Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust 166 Getting Your Life Insurance into Your Trust 167 Using Life Insurance to Leverage Your Estate 170 About Your Cash Values 173 11 Smart Strategies for Gifting Assets to Family Members 179 The Annual Gift Tax Exclusion 179 Unintended Gifts 181 Filing a Gift Tax Return 182 The Lifetime Applicable Exclusion Amount 182 Outright Gifts 183 When the Donee Is a Minor 185 Other Tax-Free Gifts 194 Family Gifts Utilizing Trusts 195 Grantor Retained Annuity Trust 195 Grantor Retained Unitrust 197 Qualified Personal Residence Trust 197 Taking Advantage of Generation-Skipping Transfers 201 Sales to Family Members 204 Loans to Family Members 207 Sales to Intentionally Defective Grantor Trusts 208 The Legacy Trust 208 12 Strategic Planning with Charities 219 Outright Gifts to Charities 220 Testamentary Gifts to Charities 223 Gifts Using Charitable Trusts 223 Using Your Charitable Trust for Retirement Planning 227 The Private Foundation 230 13 Family Limited Partnerships 235 General Structure of the Family Limited Partnership 235 Family Limited Partnership Rules 240 14 Succession Planning for the Family Business or Farm 249 Special Estate Tax Benefits for Farmers and Closely Held Business Owners 251 Valuing Your Business or Farm 253 Succession or Sale? 253 Succession Planning: Keeping the Family Business in the Family 254 Maximizing Your Business''s Value through a Sale 255 Structuring Your Buy-Sell Agreement 256 Types of Buy-Sell Agreements 257 Funding the Buy-Sell Agreement 258 One Final Strategy--The Employee Stock Ownership Plan 260 15 Asset Protection Strategies 263 The Concept of Fraudulent Transfers 263 A Word about Jointly Held Property 267 Retirement Plans 267 Life Insurance 269 Using Trusts to Protect Assets 270 Using Limited Liability Entities to Protect Assets 271 Use of Multiple Limited Liability Entities 274 Foreign Asset Protection Trusts 275 Domestic Asset Protection Trusts 277 16 Personal Business Planning Issues 281 Choosing the Right Entity for Your Business 281 Closing Thoughts 293 Importance of a Business Plan 295 Epilogue--Dealing with Parents and Their Money 297 Appendix A--Professional Advisers 299 Appendix B--Estate Planning Terms 303 Appendix C--IRS Life Expectancy Table 309 About the Authors 313 Index 315.