Quicken Willmaker Plus 2008 Edition: Estate Planning Essentials (Book with CD-ROM) | 
 enlarge | Author: Editors Of Nolo
Publisher: NOLO
Category: Book
List Price: $49.99
Buy New: $27.99
You Save: $22.00 (44%)
New (16) Used (5) from $27.99
Rating:  76 reviews
Sales Rank: 58876
Media: Paperback
Edition: 4th
Pages: 556
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.1
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 7 x 1.5
ISBN: 1413307167
Dewey Decimal Number: 346.73052
EAN: 9781413307160
ASIN: 1413307167
Publication Date: October 1, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
America's No. 1 estate planning book with interactive CD-ROM software helps you create a will, living trust, living will -- and much more .
Help protect your family and your assets, and save on legal fees! Quicken WillMaker Plus Estate Planning Essential 2008 Edition provides the legal forms you need. So comprehensive, the CD-ROM assembles your forms from among 40,000 document possibilities -- but so easy to use, you'll have them finished in minutes.
Quicken WillMaker Plus Estate Planning Essential 2008 Edition includes a full "health care power of attorney." Dictate the health care you wish to receive if you can't speak for yourself, and be assured that your loved ones won't have to second-guess themselves!
Create your own:
Will
Living Trusts, including an AB Trust
Health Care Directive:
Living Will
Health Care Power of Attorney
Financial Powers of Attorney
Final arrangements document
Important documents for executors
The CD-ROM also provides forms you can use every day, such as authorizations and agreements, child and elder care forms, promissory notes and documents to help you repair your credit.
For each document, Quicken WillMaker Plus Estate Planning Essentials 2008 Edition takes you through a step-by-step interview. Your documents will automatically reflect the laws of your state. If you have any questions, simply check out the comprehensive onscreen legal manual. Expert tech support is also available.
Need to know more? Here are in-depth details about what you can do with Quicken WillMaker Plus Estate Planning Essentials 2008 Edition:
Your Will
Provide for family, friends and charities. Name a personal guardian to care for young children. Specify the executor (or "personal representative") of your estate. Select a trusted person to manage property left to young people. Revise and update your will whenever you like.
Your Living Trust
Make a basic trust, whether you're married or single. If married, you can create a AB trust (or bypass trust) and spare your heirs from potentially heavy estate taxes. Create subtrusts for minor children and young adults. Name custodians for property left to children. Change or revoke your trust at any time.
Your Health Care Directive lets people who care for you make important decisions about your life and health when you can't. Create a:
Health Care Power of Attorney Permit a loved one to make important medical decisions for you if you are unable to do so yourself.
Living Will
Specify whether you want your life prolonged through artificial means. Appoint someone to make sure your wishes are carried out.
Your Financial Power of Attorney
Name someone to make your financial decisions, in case you are medically incapacitated. Don't worry, you can grant as much authority as you wish.
Your Final Arrangements
Plan a funeral or other ceremony. Clarify whether you want a cremation or burial. Select someone to oversee your final arrangements -- and more!
Documents for Your Executor
Make sure your executor ("personal representative" in some states) has all the forms and instructions he or she needs to do the job: Checklists, letters, notices, claim forms -- and more.
Personal Finance Documents
Over a dozen forms that let you handle financial situations you might face on any given day, such as disputing a credit card charge, lending or borrowing money to friends or family, creating bills of sale -- and more!
Home & Family Documents
Whether you need to authorize someone to travel with your child to another country, want to lend your car to a friend, or create an agreement with a trusted person to take care of your elderly parent, Quicken WillMaker Plus can handle all these family situations -- and many more! Estate planning documents not valid in Louisiana.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 71 more reviews...
 Look no further... December 3, 2008
Biblioholic Beth (Portland, Oregon USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Ok, let me preface this by saying I am not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV. Having said that, this program is terrific.
My husband and I are in the process of redoing our wills, as he is getting ready to retire from the service. However, the idea of possibly saving a bit of money (particularly in this economy) was very appealing. Enter WillMaker Plus 2009.
When the software arrived, I plugged it into my computer (a laptop running Vista). It loaded effortlessly. I went straight into the program and began creating a will. The image on the screen is very spare, but easy to read and understand. The input area takes up about 3/4 of the space, and the remaining 1/4 is explanation regarding the questions to be answered in that area.
Each document that you work on will begin with a checklist of things that need to be covered and questions that need to be answered. As you complete each section, the program will take you back to that checklist so you can see where you've been and where you're headed. You can go back to that checklist at any point in time. The program is also state-specific...one of the first questions it will ask is what state you're living in, so that it can use the laws relevant to your particular area.
The amount of documents this program has is staggering. I can honestly only see myself needing a few of them any time soon, but I still feel better knowing that the rest exist. The book that comes with this Plus version is quite large, but is written just as well as the program - everything is broken down into chapters and then into sections, making it easy to find just the part you need if you have a question. There are also several examples for each option, so that users have a "real-life" type situation to compare with to make the correct choices and decisions. Honestly, the book could be used as a textbook, it is so easy to read and understand.
Going through and creating this will took me no more than half an hour, from start to finish. If someone is unsure of different aspects of creating a will, a trust, or any of the other documents available, then it will probably take longer. But all their questions will be answered, either right on the screen as the program works, or with the companion book. By the time any user is finished, they should feel very comfortable in the legality of the document that was created.
I highly recommend this program. It is easy to use and is very comprehensive.
*Caveat: You should always have your legal documents at least reviewed by a lawyer to ensure no difficulties.
 Great Software- and the physical book and e-book are wonderful December 2, 2008
Billy Goat Ranch (Hill Country, TX USA)
2 out of 5 found this review helpful
I have Will Making software that is several years old- and I use it fairly often for an elderly friend with 4 adult children that keeps changing his Will and Power of Attorney when he gets annoyed at some of the kids...so I decided to redo my Will, Power of Attorney, who raises the kids, etc. and found this software very impressive. I am sure I will get a few more chances a year to use it to help my friends out as well.
First of all, it installed without a hitch and did an update very easily, even on my clunky dog of a computer. Next, you can opt to tell the software your approximate age and child rearing position, and it helps you by suggesting which forms you will probably need. Once you select the forms, it takes you through each one, in a painless manner, by asking simple questions (your name, your spouse, your kids, etc.). Along the way, it very clearly explains what is going on, and why. This is a huge help for people not experienced with legal documents of this nature. It also suggests what is normally done and why, which I found to be very helpful since I had not thought some of the questions through. At the end, your form can be reviewed and printed, and you can easily make changes. A handful of questions becomes many pages of leagal documents that read very professionally (I compared them with some I had that were drawn up by attorneys and preferred the ones this software makes).
In under an hour, I had 4 documents to cover every possibility I could imagine (and some I had not thought of)- a new Will with provisions for the minor children, Power of Attorney, and Healthcare arrangements. You can also make a revocable Living Trust, a Back-Up Will, a form for Caregivers and Survivors, an AB Trust, and Final Arrangements. Questions are very detailed- like exactly what your Power of Attorney has the power to do and what you don't want him/her to do. Oh, and you can make bequests of certain items- so since my teenager was giving me a hard time about all my yarn yesterday I have left it to her (ok, so I may rethink that in a day or two, but I did have a lot of satisfaction filling that one in). You can also make provisions for the care of your pets- and I have not seen that in other software.
One thing I really did appreciate was the really extensive, beautifully formatted book that came with the software. It has been a LONG time since I bought software of any kind that came with any sort of instructions or explainations- except some software that has really lame online help! There is also an e-book about how to settle a loved one's estate or trust.
While none of us like to think about needing these documents, death is indeed something that will happen to all of us one of these days- so it truly does make things so much easier on your family and friends to be prepared. Oh, and did I mention there are questions about the likelyhood of your family members FIGHTING? Sad to say this also happens in a lot of families...
In short, this can save you a lot of money in attorney fees by making up the very professionally done documents. Even if you take these documents to an attorney to have his nod of approval it will still save you money by having everything thought out and written down at the onset.
Easy, feature-packed do-it-yourself estate planning kit, with poor attorney referral service. December 2, 2008
A. Polk (Southern Oregon)
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
Quicken Willmaker Plus 2009 Edition: Estate Planning Essentials (Book with Software) is probably the simplest to use and most comprehensive estate planning software out there. I had previously used Suze Orman Will & Trust Kit and found the software to be much 'less' on many levels. I actually gave up on personal estate planning until I spotted the Quicken Willmaker Plus 2009 version.
The 4-star review is due to TWO issues.
First, the "Online" tab's "Find a Lawyer". Just by way of checking out the software after installation, I clicked on it and decided to check for divorce attorneys in my area. Knowing a few names, I thought I'd see them on the list, but was irked to find that only "1" attorney at the opposite end of the state (you put in your county to get 'attorneys in your area...') was listed as a "member" in the Nolo directory. Ten other 'non-member' attorney's names came up and only one was within 40 miles of me. At the top of the page there is something for attorneys to click on to 'sign -up'. To be a member I assume.
Second, the Webupdate and online support for this software version is only good through JANUARY 1st, 2010. I realize that's over a year to get your stuff done, but it means that eventually, you'll be paying for an upgrade.
The install:
Using Windows Vista Premium 64-bit, this software installed in less than 1 minute. Adobe Reader was needed and it installed in under 2 minutes using a high speed cable connection.
Tips...
UPDATE YOUR SOFTWARE: you'll find it under the "Online" tab. Click it and do a "Webupdate". This will take approximately 1 minute and then you're good to go!
REGISTER FOR COUPON CODE: If you register this software they give you a coupon code for $10 off your next Nolo purchase. Mine was A424 if anyone wants to give it a try.
TO START: For your own estate planning go to the "File" tab and click "New Portfolio". From there it's just a matter of reading and moving through the step-by-step guides to create multiple legal documents. The book is supplemental, and you could literally never look at it and come up with all the documents and information you need.
Helps pop up from time to time to give you info to aid in ease of use of the software and there is a vertical tab bar on the right hand side of the software that offers a Guide, Contact List (people named in the documents), Glossary and Online Resources.
I liked that this software allows you to lock your portfolio (password protect your documents), needs no keycode to install it, and allows for multiple users. The purchase of one of these packages could provide thousands of dollars in legal fee savings to your entire family and most of your friends!
A solid, easy to use, complete estate planning kit that's good, but with the 'get 'cha to buy more updates...' built in.
Superb Value - Easy to Understand. Easy to Use. MANY Forms for Daily Living December 2, 2008
javajunki
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
I'm a big fan of NOLO products but this is one of my top picks/favorites of all time. Not only is it easy to use and understand but it is packed FULL of many of the most useful tools you will use on a regular basis in addition to the willmaker and other planning tools. For example, authorization for medical treatment - an important document to have prepared prior to sending your child to visit family out of town. Others include health care directives, durable power of attorney etc..
The book provides easy to understand step-by-step instructions that follow perfectly with the 2 cd's [one for the Willmaker and the other a pdf version of the Executors Guide]. TWhile this is unlikely to take the place of an attorney - especially for those with complex needs - the ancillary products alone are worth more than the price of the book plus it makes a superb general reference. For others with minimal estate planning needs or those without anything...this provides a great starting place that can walk you through the basics.
What's included;
Book - WillMaker 2009 Estate Planning Essentials by Quicken
CD 1 - Forms and pdf to accompany Willmaker
CD 2 - PDF version of the Executors Guide also by Nolo. An excellent companion to the Willmaker set that can assist in helping make decisions while going through the estate planning process.
Benefits:
-Easy to use, easy to understand, easy to install.
-Plain language with examples to help walk you through the entire process.
-Ability to save, quickly modify and change without time and cost of attorney.
-Excellent anxcillary items.
Limitations:
Unlikely to be sufficient for those with complex estate planning needs.
Bottom Line: Superb resource, excellent value!
 EAsy to use and appears to be really complete December 2, 2008
N. Caruso (Bloomfield, CT United States)
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
I am at the age where a will and living will are more important and decided it was time to get working on them. I got Willmaker the other day and in just a few minutes had a draft of a living will and am well on my way to having a will in place. There is some confusion on how to set up my step-children in my will, but the descriptions and the included book assure me I'll get the help I need to accomplish it. Basically it goes step-by-step, asking questions as you go along until you are done - VERY simple to use. This software/book combination will allow you to file numerous legal documents including Bill of Sales, Power of Attorney and Medical care requests. Heck, it even allows you to leave your money to your cat if you wish. Since all of the people you put into the system are saved, when you need to fill out a new form, you don't have to repeat any of that information - Willmaker does it for you. While I intend to run anything this product produces through a real attorney for protection, it certainly will save me hundreds of dollars on drafts. Like any other Quicken product, this is first-class.
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