Book Review Living Trusts: Forms and Practices, by Dwight F. Bickel. Matthew Bender, 1993, 339 Pages of Text, 3 Page Table of Statutes, 29 Pages of Indices. $120.00
| Pages | 158 |
| Publication year | 2021 |
68 CBJ 158. BOOK REVIEW LIVING TRUSTS: FORMS AND PRACTICES, by Dwight F. Bickel. Matthew Bender, 1993, 339 pages of text, 3 page Table of Statutes, 29 pages of indices. $120.00
Living Trusts: Forms and Practice, urges the practitioner to "Introduce ... clients to the Benefits of Living Trusts", and exhorts us to "Stop fighting the trend - living trusts are here to stay!". The possibility that its author may be overly enamored with the living trust as a planning tool is one of the few drawbacks of the work, and a forgivable one. The impression that the author oversells the product does not detract from the fine and useful packaging of the product (i.e., living trusts) that he has produced in Living Trusts.
Living Trusts is a comprehensive, highly-readable exposition of practical trust law and the types of trusts relevant to a practice handbook on living trusts (see Chapter 1), the use of living trusts in estate planning for small to moderate estates (Chapter 2), for larger estates (Chapter 3), and for asset protection and tax planning (Chapter 5). Its design is remarkably well-suited to practical and immediate applications by any lawyer having light to moderate experience in related estate planning law and issues.
For example, unlike some practice-oriented treatises, Living Trusts delivers on its promise to provide detailed information and guidance regarding everyday practice issues and logistics, and is replete with practice hints and admonitions. Chapter 6 prepares the reader to advise clients on choosing a trustee, and Chapter 7 is a manual on funding the living trust, the importance of which should not be underestimated. Failure to fully and properly fund the trust, and to adequately advise the client regarding funding issues, and to explain to the client that crucial "last" step, is often the Achilles heal of the inexperienced or insufficiently meticulous practitioner who engages in this relatively complex estate planning exercise.
Indeed, the author is unusually innovative in his attempt to create a book that is a readily accessible, hands-on practice tool. Each chapter begins with a brief chapter summary, broken down by chapter subsections. Although I have not come across...
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