More simple estate planning

A Fortune article reinforces the basics of estate planning; gifts, life insurance and trusts.

Gifts

Gifts of $13,000 or less a year to an individual aren't taxable.

Life Insurance

Look into using a life-insurance trust as the beneficiary of your life insurance policy. Another (maybe somewhat depressing) suggestion is to gift money to your children to use to take a life insurance policy out on you.

Trusts

Grantor-retained annuity trusts (GRATs) are seeing a surge in popularity due to depressed asset prices.