As an estate planner and attorney, I know that presenting this kind of information in an easy-to-grasp way isn't, well . . . easy. But Michael Palermo has done it. In Crash Course in Estate Planning, he explains everything from wills to planning for children to protecting your investment interests. The fact that the AARP endorses The Essential Guide is a great indication of the value of the information. The "Hints" and "Warnings" that Michael gives throughout the book could only have come from a real life practicing estate attorney who has faced these problems with clients many times. In addition to having an estate planning practice, Michael is also a Certified Financial Planner and the combination of wisdom garnered from his financial background and legal background serves his readers well. Michael knows which issues take a little more effort to understand, and he provides more detail accordingly. This is a great book for anyone who is preparing to tackle the estate planning process. Palermo provides clear and direct answers to very difficult questions. I highly recommend his book. Be advised though, if you read the book you may, at least in some areas, find you know more than your attorney!

James Lange, CPA/Attorney and author of Retire Secure! Pay Taxes Later: The Key to Making Your Money Last as Long as You Do

It is difficult to understand how this book got the endorsement of AARP. It has only had three reviews and the last one was in October of 2005. Being published in 2004 puts the information behind the times, especially if you live in California. As the author of the book "Everything A Baby Boomer Should Know," published only weeks ago, I think AARP should reevaluate what it recommends to us Baby Boomers as a reliable resource to educate our need to know how the system works.

This is not a "how to" book. It is an exhaustive discussion of all of the options people have in planning their estates. This includes what can go wrong and how to avoid these problems.

It covers all of the possible ways to minimize taxes for your estate and your heirs.

The writing style is concise.

This is the second book I purchased to help me gain some understanding about estate planning before talking to an attorney. It has been extremely helpful in giving info on many aspects of estate planning. I even took it to the trust dept at my local bank when talking to them about trust accounts. The trust adviser was very impressed with my knowledge and the level of planning I had already done and commented that this looked like a good reference source. I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to know about estate planning.