The Busy Family's Guide to Estate Planning: 10 Steps to Peace of Mind (book with CD-Rom)

Smart parents know they should have some sort of estate plan in place to protect their kids—just in case. But with a mile-long to-do list it can be hard to find the time to buy groceries, let alone make big decisions about inheritance, insurance, and who should raise your children if you can't.The Busy Family's Guide to Estate Planning offers the perfect solution for parents with a lot at stake, and not a lot of time. With an experienced eye to the needs of young families with hectic lives, author, attorney and mom Liza Hanks delivers the straight facts about estate planning—without getting bogged down in legal jargon and extraneous detail. She distills the estate planning process into 10 simple but critical steps: 1. Gather necessary info 6. Name retirement plan beneficiaries 2. Choose a guardian 7. Set up payable on death accounts 3. Pick a money manager 8. Buy life insurance 4. Make a will 9. Create a power of attorney 5. Consider a living trust 10. Keep your plan current “Do one step each month, and in less than a year you'll have a complete estate plan and the peace of mind that comes with it,” Hanks advises. “Feel good, not guilty!” This straightforward, user-friendly guide comes complete with a CD including a sample will, an author Q&A on MP3, and worksheets designed to help readers inventory property, list beneficiaries and much more.

Liza Weiman Hanks is an attorney and the founder of FamilyWorks Estate Planning, a practice specializing in estate planning for families of all ages. A graduate of Stanford Law School, she has also served as an instructor at the Santa Clara University Law School and practiced with the state of California and a prestigious Silicon Valley firm. Liza lives with her family in Campbell, California.