I’ve Paid For This Twice Already…

A Parent’s Guide To Wills and Trusts: Review

A few months ago, I was sent a review copy of two books by Don Silver:  A Parent’s Guide to Wills & Trusts: For Grandparents, Too (2nd edition) and the High School Money Book (review forthcoming in a few weeks).  I immediately gravitated towards the one for parents, especially since I am not only a parent, but I was in the process of working on a will and guardianship of my children should both my spouse and I pass away suddenly.  The idea of a trust seemed something that only wealthy people needed, but a will is something most everyone needs, so the book immediately captured my attention.

Let me start with the fact that this book is not a “how-to” book for you to do it yourself.  If anything, this book is designed to encourage you to consult an attorney to create a will and/or trust properly.  But that does not mean that there’s nothing else that can be gained by reading this book.  Yes, to actually create a document, you’ll need to take another step, and either get some kind of do it yourself kit or consult an attorney who can guide you for your specific situation, but this book helps to bridge that gap and help you to become comfortable with the entire idea of creating a will and/or trust.  For me, just becoming more comfortable with the idea and the vocabulary was the biggest benefit of this book.

Some highlights for me from the book as a whole include the five ways this book can help you - not only did it help me become more comfortable with the topic, as the book suggests, but it also gave me a better idea what happens if you do no estate planning (and it isn’t pretty).  The book also helped me understand that trusts are not just for the rich - that many people can benefit from setting up a trust and that their beneficiaries may end up with more of their inheritance (instead of it going to taxes) if done right.  Also - beneficiary designations on policies have a life outside your will - if you designate someone as a beneficiary that most likely overrides what you have in your will for that policy (so keep those beneficiaries up to date!).

Although for any specific situation, you are advised to discuss  details with an attorney, the book gives many examples of diverse situations from how to prevent lawsuits or contesting of your will, designing special arrangements between spouses if you don’t want to be each other’s beneficiary, how to deal with co-ownership of assets, and a number of other specific and special situations.  This gives you an idea of the complexity involved in making your wishes known and insuring they are carried out, but also comfortable with the idea that you can have your wishes carried out with the proper preparation.

All in all, if you have been thinking about writing a will but you’ve been procrastinating because it feels completely overwhelming and intimidating, or you want to feel more comfortable with legal terms and the ideas you need to think about to have your wishes carried out, I’d recommend giving this book a read.  I found the writing style engaging and easy to read, and the design of the book in small segments and short questions and answers was very easy to pick up, read a bit, and put down when needed.

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