Death Is No Excuse

"Death Is No Excuse" is an insightful roadmap through the legal potholes of unplanned death and disability, offered by a veteran attorney who's handled the worst of these cases for over forty years, while running the largest group of contested estate and trust lawyers in the Country. It's a plain-spoken, surprisingly entertaining guide to everything you need to know about planning for death or disability, as well as other calamities that can occur along the way, be they divorce, avoidable tax burdens or getting ripped off as you toddle into old age.

"Death Is No Excuse" is an insightful roadmap through the legal potholes of unplanned death and disability, offered by a veteran attorney who's handled the worst of these cases for over forty years, while running the largest group of contested estate and trust lawyers in the Country. It's a plain-spoken, surprisingly entertaining guide to everything you need to know about planning for death or disability, as well as other calamities that can occur along the way, be they divorce, avoidable tax burdens or getting ripped off as you toddle into old age. Told in twenty-three brisk chapters, each punctuated with a real-life case history of life gone off the rails when people ignore the advice this book offers, "Death" is a crash-course in everything from navigating pre-nuptial agreements before you walk down the marital aisle, to making certain that child you conceive with the help of a surrogate or the "contribution" of your across-the-hallway sperm donor, is actually, undeniably, your heir and next-of-kin.

David Baker is a probate attorney, licensed in New York and Illinois. He's the senior member of the Country's largest group of Estate and Trust lawyers, at one of the America's biggest law firms, where he's worked for forty-two years. There, he started and now heads the country's largest practice group that focuses on contested estate, trust and guardianship cases. He also started and then ran the firm's Pro Bono program for many years.