Welcome!

Welcome to
The Rushforth Firm's Estate Planning Pages

Written by Las Vegas, Nevada Trust and Estate Attorney Layne T. Rushforth

Quick Links

	Important Caution:  The information on this web site is NOT legal advice you can rely on.
Online Newsletter	Trust and Estate News and Notes:  A newsletter containing news, notes, and articles. (Updated from time to time.)
	The Rushforth Firm, Ltd.  Web site for The Rushforth Firm, Ltd., a Nevada Professional Limited-Liability Company, including information regarding the firm's practice, personnel, paying bills online, etc.
	Contacting The Rushforth Firm, Ltd.:  Mailing address, fax, phone number, PGP public key for attorney Layne T. Rushforth, etc.
Planning Forms and Memos	Forms and Memos:  Forms and memos relating to estate planning, business planning, and trust and estate administration.
	Questionnaires:  Questionnaires for estate planning, business plannning, and trust and estate administration.
		Nevada Health Care Power of Attorney and related memo:  Nevada's advanced health care directive. Updated for HIPAA.
		To register your "advanced directive", the Nevada Secretary of State offers a free registration service (in partnership with the U.S. Living Will Registry®). For an application with instructions, click here. For more information about the Secretary of State's "Living Will Lockbox" service, click here.
Finding Answers	Search - Search this site for words or phrases.
	Q&A Archive - Archives of question and answers about estate planning.
	Find an Attorney:  Links to help you locate an attorney.
	Legal Research Links - Miscellaneous Nevada and U.S. legal pages.
	Simplify the U.S. Tax Code - Spur the national economy with a more fair federal tax system.

Table of Contents

Basic Estate Planning

Introduction:  Overview of estate planning.

Who Will Get My Property at My Death?

Probate in Nevada

Estate Planning Goals and Tools

Advanced Estate Planning

Introduction to Advanced Estate Planning

Estate Reduction

Uses of Life Insurance in Estate Planning

Irrevocable Trusts

Charitable Trusts

Business Entities

Estate Freezing

Asset Protection

Conclusion

General Information is Not Legal Advice Before acting or not acting, consult a qualified advisor . . . .

• Nothing on this web site constitutes legal advice.
• All articles published on the Internet (including those at this site) and in print media are necessarily oversimplified and may not be appropriate for any particular person's situation.
• Information contained in these pages and information received from any newsgroup is NOT an acceptable substitute for personal legal advice from an attorney who is:
• licensed in the state where you live;
• experienced in the appropriate area of law; and
• familiar with the details of your situation.
• The information presented at this site (rushforth.net) and rushforthfirm.com is general information only should not be construed to be formal legal advice nor the formation of a lawyer/client relationship.
• Because this site is general and cannot address all excepts and unique situation, you cannot rely on the information on this site in making estate- or tax-planning decisions. More to the point, you should never rely on general estate planning information. The problems with a poorly designed estate plan--which may include a will or trust that is legal but inadequate--will not usually surface until it is too late to correct. Acting on general information can be penny wise and pound foolish.
• Although this web site includes pages that discuss tax issues, nothing on this site constitutes a legal tax opinion that is compliant with Circular 230 issued by the U. S. Treasury Department. Because of that, nothing on this web site can be relied upon to avoid any tax penalties.
• The State Bar of Nevada does not certify any lawyer as a specialist or expert.

Introduction to Estate Planning Estate planning is more than just having a will . . . .

Introduction

Estate planning is the planning of the acquisition, preservation, and ultimate disposition of one's assets. The focus in these pages is on the transfer of assets at death. They are intended to motivate the reader to do something and to do it right. The first law of estate planning is a modified version of Murphy's Law: "If anything can go wrong, it does, and usually when it's too late to correct."

To prepare a will or even a trust that meets the minimum legal requirements is relatively easy, but to prepare an effective estate plan, you must know what what your options are and the consequences flowing from those options. Preparing estate planning documents without adequate knowledge of the legal, tax, and practical effects of those documents is like traveling in a car without a map. Just as a map of Pennsylvania will not help you travel through California, estate planning information that comes from someone who is not familiar with the laws of your state may lead you down the wrong path. You need to:

1. Educate yourself with professional advice from someone experienced in the estate planning, property, tax laws applicable where you live,
2. Prioritize your goals, and
3. Implement your plan with professionally prepared documents. You also need to periodically review your plan to keep it up-to-date.

The articles that follow in these pages are intended to give a simple, easy-to-understand overview of estate planning techniques ranging from the basic to the sophisticated. These articles were written by Nevada estate planning attorney Layne T. Rushforth, and a brief biography gives a few boring details about him. This information is not a substitute for personal, professional advice, but it is hoped that it will provide a foundation for a basic understanding of the laws that affect estate planning and the tools we use to accomplish our objectives.

Looking for an attorney? Places to search. . . .

• Trust and Estate Attorneys. You may obtain a list of trust and estate attorneys (who do estate planning, probate, trusts, wills, and estate administration) in North America from the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel. Point your web browser to http://www.actec.org and click on "Find an ACTEC fellow". Then click on the link for the state involved (or on the "International" link for attorneys in Canada). Each attorney who is a "fellow" in the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel must have a minimum of 10 years' experience, must focus his or her practice on estate planning and probate, must contribute to the quality of the practice by teaching and publishing, and must be recommended by his or her peers.


• Elder Law Attorneys. go to the consumer directory for the American Academy of Elder Law Attorneys. Point your web browser to http://www.naela.com/Applications/ConsumerDirectory/index.cfm, leave the last name and business name blank, select the state, fill in or omit the zip code, and under "Experience Code" select 14 (long-term care issues), 1 (planning for disability), 11 (Medicaid), or any more appropriate topic, and then click SEARCH.


• Other Attorneys. To look for attorneys by specialty or by geographical location, go to http://www.lawyers.com/.

Contact Information

• You may use any of these ways to contact Layne:
  • Office Telephone: (702) 255-4552.  [Toll-free:  (866) 740-9195.]
    
  • Office Fax: (702) 255-4677.  [Toll-free fax:  (866) 740-9197.]
    
  • Layne Rushforth's Private Fax: (866) 373-3607. [Viewed by Mr. Rushforth only.]
  • Office Mail: PO Box 371655, Las Vegas, NV 89137-1655
    
  • Office Location: 9505 Hillwood Drive, Suite 100, Las Vegas, Nevada 89134-0514.  For a map and driving directions form, click on the address.
• Additional information: Business Card | vCard
• To download the PGP public key for Layne T. Rushforth (layne@rushforth.net), click here or obtain it from the PGP server at http://pgp.mit.edu/ (entering "layne@rushforth.net" as the search string). Add this public key to your PGP public keyring in order to send PGP-encrypted messages. Also, if you want to receive PGP-encrypted mail, attach your PGP public key to an e-mail sent to layne@rushforth.net.
• The Rushforth Firm, Ltd.: Law Firm Web Site.
  
  

Domain registered through Rushforth.biz.