Wills, Trusts, and Estate Administration, 1st edition

For courses in Wills, Trusts, and Estates; Probate Law; and Financial Planning/Estate Planning.

Wills, Trusts, and Estate Administration for Paralegals provides a comprehensive overview of estate planning and probate in a manner that is straightforward and easy to read and understand. Instructor resources include an Instructor’s Manual, PowerPoint lecture slides, and Test Bank, while a book companion site offers study resources for students.

Teaching and Learning Experience:

• Includes frequent hypotheticals to illustrate key concepts and features.
• "The Hypothetical Family" is a running example introduced in Chapter 1 and continued throughout each chapter to exemplify a fictional, but life-like, estate planning and probate scenario.
• Drafting assignments are provided in each chapter, as well as the forms for every assignment.
• Covers all of the major topics, including ethical considerations, and offers solid review and application of concepts.

Hallmark Features:

Includes frequent hypotheticals to illustrate key concepts and features. "The Hypothetical Family" is a running example introduced in Chapter 1 and continued throughout each chapter that exemplifies a fictional, but life-like, estate planning and probate scenario:

• The Hypothetical Family is featured throughout the text to illustrate key estate planning and probate topics and prompt students to actually examine related figures for the story that they tell, allowing them to make greater connections between the different legal concepts covered and how they relate to each other.
• Students can track what happens to the Hypothetical Family using an accompanying Hypothetical Family Project Worksheet in order to determine who owns what property at the conclusion of the text.
• Each chapter opens with a unique real-life scenario inspired by the author's cases with actual clients. These scenarios set the tone and pique the reader's interest at the onset of each chapter.  

Drafting assignments are provided in each chapter, as well as the forms for every assignment:

• Provides all of the legal forms necessary to complete the drafting assignments, making life easier for professors and students alike.   

Covers all major topics, including ethical considerations, and offers solid review and application of concepts:

• Presents material in a logical fashion, beginning with basic estate planning and property concepts, followed by more advanced concepts and drafting techniques before delving into probate.
• Paralegal Practice exercises give students the opportunity to research or draft documents in a manner comparable to what they will see when working in a law office. Form templates are provided for every assignment.  
• Chapter Objectives briefly familiarize students with the concepts they should be learning in each chapter and are also helpful for instructors when preparing course packages and course syllabi. 
• Figures throughout each chapter utilize actual sample documents to illustrate concepts.
• Key Terms help students review important vocabulary in each chapter.
• Review Questions offer students the opportunity to check that they understand basic concepts and information covered in each chapter. 
• Critical Thinking exercises ask students to analyze the situation provided and apply legal concepts from the chapter to the facts of the given case in order to come up with a proposed solution. 
• Cases for Consideration activities prompt students to read and consider relevant case law and its interpretation. Instructors can also utilize this section as an opportunity to teach students how to brief cases, a valuable paralegal skill.