The Wall Street Journal Complete Estate-Planning Guidebook (Wall Street Journal Guides) Paperback – September 6, 2011

We are expecting our first child in early 2017 and picked up this book as we are starting to think about wills and guardianship. I expected to maybe get one or two good tidbits out of it, but I can easily say it was the most important book I read this year. Perfect for someone who has some very basic understanding but no experience of estate planning. This book touches on several important topics and is a good jumping off point for further reading or discussions with a lawyer. Very glad that I read it and will certainly keep it for referencing, as many topics will also apply further down the road.

This is a well-written book. I didn't notice when I ordered it that the copyright date was 2011 -- ten years ago. So numbers for things like gift tax and estate tax exemptions are out of date and not accurate. I don't know how to solve this problem of numbers that change every few years with a book, unless there is a way to come out with a new edition every year. What I really need is information specific to my state in the current year.

Just the way I expected

This book is brief, clear, organized, and exactly what we were looking for to prep for our first Estate Planning session. If you are looking to do complicated things with taxes, this is probably not the book for you. This is the "Monarch Review Book" of estate planning. The chapters are identified in a way that one only needs to read relevant information, and not overload on irrelevant issues.It is therefore not at all daunting.......

I had read numerous articles and other books on estate planning but this book clearly explains the difference between trusts, types of wills, life insurance and other important considerations when planning and developing an estate plan. The author uses illustrations from her own life experiences and what she learned from them. This book is very readable, straight forward, and highly informative.

This gives you a good overview, but it could use a bit more detail. I suppose that is why we all end up having to hire attorneys. It is, nevertheless, well presented, well organized, and succinct. A good starting point.

I enjoyed reading this book. It had good information and was written in a pretty simple and straight forward easy to understand manner. The personal examples the author used from her friends experiences were a nice touch also. It seems to be a little more focused on people who are fairly wealthy and providing advice and guidance on how to avoid estate tax pitfalls that most people would never have to worry about. But it does have good general information on a variety of topics. I would recommend it to friends and family.

The Complete Estate Planning Guidebook is an excellent overview - guide - to the estate planning process. As such it can be a starting point for those who will go into more depth and those who only want to have an general understanding of the issues, alternatives, and processes of estate planning.