An estate administration and settlement book with lots of good content, but kind of sloppy when it comes to...

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	• Executor's Guide: Settling a Loved One's Estate or Trust Mary Randolph NOLO, 2008 - 507 pages average customer review:based on 14 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Get this book before you must have it

As with other Nolo books that I have read, The Executor's Guide is very well organized and well written in "plain English". The index is useful to use the book as a reference.

The book is specific for what to do and the types of issues you'll face after someone close to you passes away. Not only is it a great handbook for the estate's executor, but this book will be very useful to spouses, children, heirs, and trustees.

Since this book is focused on what to do to settle an estate, I'd also recommend that you get a different book on estate planning for preparing wills, trusts, etc. An excellent guide for this purpose is Nolo's Plan Your Estate: Everything You Need to Know to Protect Your Loved Ones, Property & Finances.

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very informative book

This is a good book to have on hand. It helped get me started on my job as executor. The only thing that the book didn't mention is if one thing has to go through probate court, it all has to go through. After my Mom's death, we thought that we wouldn't have to put everything through probate court (like the book says), but since her house and car was not jointly owned, the lawyer said her stocks, bonds, bank accounts, etc had to go through probate. She went to all the trouble to have them as a joint account with myself, or made payable on death so that it all didn't have to go through the courts but we find out that it does. That means the lawyer will get 2% of her total estate. Of course if the lawyer who had wrote up her will had told her that, he would have lost out on alot of money upon her death. So all in all, the book was a big help getting me started, alot of information. I would highly recommend this book if you are appt. as anyone's executor.

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This helped me alot , even if you don't have to go to probate .

Well worth the price IMO .

Executor's Guide:Settling A Loved One's Estate

This book was informative and served as a good guide for getting started on settling an estate. It also was easy to understand.

An estate administration and settlement book with lots of good content, but kind of sloppy when it comes to organization!

I think this book is wonderful. It is packed with content. And it's very informative. However, I wasn't particularly impressed with its organization. There are many books that could be written to help an executor do his or her job in adminstering and settling a decedent's estate, among them would be the following titles:

EXECUTOR DUTIES
1. An executor's guide about an executor's role, responsibilities, and fiduciary duty
2. An executor's guide on what to do when the decedent dies
3. An executor's guide to what constitutes the unauthorized practice of law
4. An executor's guide to estate property
5. An executor's guide to estate liabilities
6. An executor's guide to professionals who help in the administration of an estate
7. An executor's guide to services offered and performed by estate attorneys
8. An executor's guide to settling a trust (if the executor is a trustee)

THE LAW
9. An executor's guide on how to read a will
10. An executor's guide to the laws of intestacy
11. An executor's guide to probate procedure
12. An executor's guide to guardianship law
13. An executor's guide to disclaimers for post-death estate planning
14. An executor's guide to Louisiana custom, law, and procedure regarding an executor's duties

TAXES
15. An executor's guide to federal estate taxes
16. Case studies: Completed Federal Estate Tax Forms
17. An executor's guide to state inheritance taxes
18. Case Studies: Completed State Inheritance Tax Forms
19. An executor's guide to generation skipping taxes
20. Case studies: Completed Generation Skipping Tax Forms
21. An executor's guide to income taxes
22. Case studies: Completed Income Tax Forms

The instant book being reviewed was close to 500 pages long. Each one of the suggested books above could easily be 500+ pages long if written well and completely. In fact, #s 10 and 11 could be done for each state and probably be 500+ pages each. The point is, that for the instant book being reviewed to get a 5-star rating it has to be well organized so it can act as a springboard for the reader into other resources. In my humble opinion, this book does not force the reader to quickly and easily grasp the material presented. Accordingly, I have bumped down its star rating. But don't take my word for it. Judge for yourself. Does the book cover the 22 topics listed herein above in a clear and organized manner?

This book totes itself as an "excutor's" guide. But I think it is better defined as an adminstration and settlement guide for executors AND TRUSTEES. Thus, I would change the title a bit to make it more representative of what the book covers.

I think Part I (Getting Ready) along with chapters 3 (The First Week), 4 (The First Month), and 9 (Managing Money & Paying Bills) should be moved to the end of the book and renamed Appendix A. And I think the title of the new Appendix A should be "Roles, Responsibilities, & Fiduciary Duty." I would move chapters 6 and 7 to the end of the book and call them Appendix B. Reading a Will is something an executor must do, but it is ancillary to his or her roles, responsibilities, and fiduciary duty. And I think Part IV (Getting More Help) should be made Appendix C. The current Appendix A should be renamed Appendix D.

I think the middle of the book should be reordered as follows:

8. Taking inventory
>>5. Life Ins, SS, & other benefits
>>15. Retirement plans
>>16. POD assets
>>13. Survivorship property
>>14. Community property
12. Property that doesn't go through probate
18. The regular probate process
17. Special procedures for small estates
11. Taxes

I'm not sure where Chapter 10 belongs? It seems to be just thrown into the middle of the book. I think it should at least have been positioned somewhere close to Chapter 20 (Managing a Child's Trust). 4 stars!

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3

Settling an estate can be like moving through a maze -- let The Executor's Guide lead the way.
If you're faced with wrapping up the affairs of a loved one who has died, you may feel overwhelmed by all the work ahead -- especially when you're grieving. But with the right legal and practical information, you can do it.
The Executor's Guide will show you how to get organized, get the help you need and make progress one step at a time. Let it help you navigate an unfamiliar land of legal procedures and terminology. It explains:
preparing for the job of executor or trustee the first steps to take claiming life insurance, Social Security and other benefits making sense of a will what to do if there is no will how to determine whether probate is necessary caring for children and their property taxes an overview of probate court proceedings dealing with family members handling trusts looking up your state's laws working with lawyers, appraisers, accountants and other experts
The 3rd edition contains updated tables outlining key points of each state's laws, the latest information on estate taxes and worksheets that help you stay organized and on track.

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