Originally Posted by Andy

If you're planning on leave a decent sized estate, I highly recommend setting up a trust; I really like the dynasty trust (established in either SD or NV - you don't need to be a resident of either state). The trust allows you to avoid any estate taxes and also allows you to specify how the funds will be used/distributed and has a number of protections against being wiped out by lawsuits against your heirs. You can specify distribution of the funds to make sure that your heirs don't urinate it all away. A further feature of the dynasty trust is that if established in NV, it has a duration up to 365 years; in SD, it can run in perpetuity.