Wills, Truts, and Technology; an estate and trust lawyer's guide to automation

Plan and administer your clients' estates using the most effective and current technology available. The critical elements of estate planning - identifying, weighing, and selecting the best alternative to meet the needs of your client - call for the finest technology you can use in your practice. Wills, Trusts, and Technology explains how to harness the evolving power of databases, document drafting, and case management systems to automate and manage your estate planning and estate administration practice. Updated to reflect critical developments in estate and gift taxation, Wills, Trusts, and Technology examines current software programs on estate tax planning, charitable and split-gift planning, fiduciary accounting, and probate document preparation. It also includes complex formulas for tax and actuarial calculations to use in custom-designed spreadsheets for your practice. Among the topics covered in this book are: Why automate an estates practice, how to select the best software for your needs, and how to make it work in your practice Calculating federal estate taxes, state death taxes, generation-skipping taxes, and charitable and split-gift planning Methods of preparing illustrative graphs, flowcharts, and other visuals to explain the estate plan to your client Implementing automated document drafting, and whether to buy or build your system How to use word processing software, including PDF and XML formats Managing and archiving documents and files Using a computer to develop accurate valuations of stocks and bonds Completing several types of tax returns Creating a client database Methods and resources for legal and factual research Consideration of the ethical issues involved in an automated estates practice, including client confidentiality, malpractice, and fees The benefits and features of specific types of software Product listing with publisher name, phone number, and URL