I recently met with a client—let’s call him Joe Plumber—who did not have a ‘typical’ estate plan in place, but rather had the majority of his assets held jointly with his wife.  When I raised the issue of establishing a ‘typical’ estate plan, Joe’s response was that he had somewhat of a bias against an estate plan with numerous trusts because he simply did not understand the complex setup.  My goal, then, was to provide an explanation of a ‘typical’ estate plan and its benefits, in an easy to understand format.  For clients who turn glassy-eyed during the estate planning discussions in review meetings, this explanation is intended to help you understand more easily the ways of the estate planning world.  Believe me, I recognize that this is a very complex subject, one which can be difficult to understand short of spending three years in law school.  I would also ...