Developing your estate plan -- The designation of your beneficiaries -- Your will -- Probate and how to avoid it -- If you die without a will -- The making of inter vivos gifts -- Reducing estate and gift taxes -- The generation-skipping transfer tax -- Post-mortem strategies for estate planning -- The uses of trusts in estate and gift planning -- Charitable giving -- If you have disadvantaged children -- Planning for single people and unmarried couples -- Unique planning strategies : discount planning -- Corporate owners' buy-sell agreements -- Government entitlements : medicaid and ssi planning -- Retirement plans : new required minimum distribution rules -- Planning for elder persons -- When death is imminent -- Planning for a married couple -- The effect of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 on estate and gift taxes