Book Review: Beyond the Grave

Synopsis

Gerald Condon, Esq., is an estate planning attorney with a couple of generations of experience.  The book is co-authored by his son, Jeffrey.  In his years, Gerald has seen the simplest of estate plans succeed, the most complicated plans fail, and everything in between.  This is not a legal text meant for lawyers, financial planners, and accountants.  Beyond the Grave was written in plain English for readers of all levels of knowledge and experience, including none.  Each chapter includes several mini case studies in the form of a "client" question, and Condon's analysis of the situation and possible resolutions.

The Good

• The focus of this book is inheritance planning, not estate tax minimization.  There are numerous issues that people encounter when planning their inheritance, often least of which is estate tax avoidance or minimization.  Despite that, most texts focus on reduction of the potential estate tax.  In the 442 page book, estate taxes reduction comprises maybe 50 pages.
• The variety of possible situations is extremely comprehensive. Condon walks the reader through scenario after scenario, including distribution of a family business, issues involved in non-traditional family structures and different problems that children encounter upon receiving an inheritance.
• All potential problems, solutions and scenarios are viewed with the perspective of continued harmony of family relationships, desires and lifetime control of grantors and equity among inheritors.

The Bad

• Life insurance is cited too frequently as a magical fix all. One kid wants the house and you don't have enough other assets to leave an equal inheritance?  Get life insurance!  Hate the idea of paying so much in estate taxes?  Get life insurance!  I realize that life insurance plays an important role in many estate plans, but it's thrown out there too easily without a discussion of the cost or type of insurance.
• An inherent negativity weaves its way through the entire book. Condon has seen everything that can go wrong with an estate plan.  And he tells you about it.  In reality, sometimes the kids don't fight about unequal inheritances, or the third wife does not have an expectation of living in the family house.  In Condon's defense, when all are at harmony, you don't need a book.  You need a book for the things that can go wrong.

The Bottom Line

I gave the book to my parents to read.  I thought that highly of it.  The most important thing that this book does is walk you through every possible scenario.  If you don't see yourself or your family in one of the mini-case studies, you have a really unusual family.  At some point, you will see yourself in the parent role, the kid role, the family business owner role, the second spouse role...  It opens your eyes to the things that could go wrong with your current estate plan, and recommends possible fixes.

If nothing else, it's an easy to read primer to inheritance planning that will help create conversation in your family.  Whether you have done extensive estate planning or haven't even written a will, I recommend this book.

Comments

[Jeff Condon]

I am the co-author of Beyond the Grave: The Right Way & the Wrong Way of Leaving Money to Your Children (& Others). I happened to stumble on this review by Eric Toya, and I want to say that it is one of the more insightful and informed reviews of my book that I have read since it was originally published in 1996 and revised in 2001. Mr. Toya truly "gets" the message of the book that it's main thrust is to preserve families in the Inheritance Arena. I even appreciated Mr. Toya's criticisms which are valid and constructive.

I am presently working on my next book to be published by John Wiley & Sons in September, 2008 called "The Living Trust Advisor: Everything You Need to Know About Your Living Trust". Even though there are about a dozen or so other books on the Living Trust "out there", I believe that my book is the most accessible, entertaining and irreverant of the bunch.

If you would like to ask questions, please call me at (310) 393-0701 or e-mail me at jeff@condonandcondon.net.

Thank you again, Mr. Toya, for your excellent review.

Jeff Condon