INTERNET SITES AND WEB RESOURCES

National Charities Information Bureau (NCIB)
19 Union Square West, New York, NY 10003
(212) 929-6300 http://www.give.org

NCIB's mission is to promote informed giving and to enable more contributors to make sound giving decisions. NCIB believes that donors are entitled to accurate information about the charitable organizations that seek their support. A Quick Reference Guide provides a handy way of determining whether a charity NCIB evaluates meets all of established standards in philanthropy.

Big Charts features an easy to use Historical Quotes tool which allows users to look up a security's exact closing price on any date since 1985. Simply type in the symbol and a historical date to view a quote for that security. Useful for determining "date of death" values for income and estate tax purposes.
http://www.bigcharts.com

Colorado Bar Association's website explains estate planning in simple terms and gives examples of questions to ask an estate planning attorney.
http://www.cobar.org/group/index.cfm?category=55&EntityID=dpwfp

Martindale-Hubbell Lawyer Locator provides basic practice profile data on virtually every attorney in the U.S. The search feature allows the user to designate "Probate, Trusts & Estates" as a practice area to find an estate planning attorney in any city or state.
http://lawyers.martindale.com/marhub/form/by.html

Moneycentral discusses the important steps in planning an estate. Provides various estate planning questions and answers and a message board allows visitors to ask their own specific questions.
http://moneycentral.msn.com/articles/retire/estate/contents.asp?p=1

SUGGESTED READING

Accettura, P. Mark. The Michigan Estate Planning Guide: The Twenty Most Commonly Asked Estate Planning Questions. Collinwood Press. 1999.
A complete estate planning guide organized in question and answer form.

Adams, Kathleen. The Complete Estate Planning Guide. Penguin-Putnam. 1998. A complete and authoritative guide to building maximum financial security for you and your heirs.

American Bar Association. Guide to Wills and Estates: Everything You need to Know About Wills, Trusts, Estates and Taxes. Times Books. 1995.
Written by a group of America's top lawyers, this book provides expert legal counsel. Among the topics covered are living wills and how to avoid inheritance taxes.

Bennett, Jarratt. Maximize Your Inheritance for Widows, Widowers and Heirs. Dearborn. 1999. Explains how to manage your assets, invest for the future and make the money last.

Berry, Dawn Bradley. The Estate Planning Sourcebook. Lowell House. 1999.
Explains how to get expert help, minimize costs, and maximize the amount of property you can bestow on others or favorite charities.

Bove, Alexander. The Medicaid Planning Handbook. Little, Brown & Co.
1996. A guide to protecting your family's assets from catastrophic nursing home costs.

Condon, Gerald. Beyond the Grave: The Right Way and the Wrong Way of Leaving Money to Your Children (And Others). Harper Business. 1996. With good sense, humor, and authority, the author provides a thorough look at inheritance planning with an eye toward maintaining good, stable family relations well after the estate has been settled.

Doane, Randell C. Death and Taxes: The Complete Guide to Family Inheritance Planning. Swallow Press. 1998. Wills, trusts, probate, life insurance, taxes and many other estate planning concerns are discussed in detail. Over a hundred of the most commonly asked questions are answered in simple, straightforward terms.

Esperti, Robert. The Living Trust Workbook: How You and Your Legal Advisors Can Design, Fund, and Maintain Your Living Trust Plan. Penguin USA. 1995. A useful guidebook for safe financial planning for those who wish to keep their assets probate-free and private. Provides money-saving tips, checklists, and information on choosing a lawyer.

Esperti, Robert. Protect Your Estate: A Personal Guide to Intelligent Estate Planning. McGraw-Hill Books. 1993. Presents innovative strategies with practical, easy-to-implement tips on working with wills, federal estate taxes, and the other hows and whys of estate planning.

Hawley, Thomas Hart. The Artful Dodger's Guide to Planning Your Estate, Revised Edition: The Only Book on Estate Planning Guaranteed to Keep You Entertained. Linthincum Press. 2000. Gives practical, straightforward and lighthearted advice crucial to anyone who has acquired even modest wealth.

Trusty, Sharon. Widowed: Beginning Again Personally and Financially. August House Publishers. 1999. Offers practical help with the personal and financial concerns after the loss of a spouse.

Ormon, Suze. The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom. Crown Publishing. 1997. Explains how to master the practical elements of financial life: investments, credit, insurance, and estate and retirement planning. This books tells you everything to need to know to provide for yourself and your family - not abstract principles but specific, concrete and easy-to-follow procedures.

Rosenberg, Stephen. Last Minute Retirement Planning. Career Press. 1998. Maybe there's only a few more years to retirement, or perhaps early retirement may be an option. Readers need to know what strategies can put them over the top and make their retirement years more comfortable.