Paperback
Large format, 8.5 × 11 — room to actually write. The funding tracker is bound right in.
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The Peace of Mind Series · Book Two · 2026 Edition
The trust was signed. The house was never put into it.
That one gap sends the family to probate anyway.
2026 Edition. Revised every year, with the source for every figure printed in the book.
Living Trusts Made Simple
It happens constantly. A couple pays four figures for a binder with a gold seal and puts it on a shelf. Nobody ever changes the deed. Years later the house goes through the very court process the trust was bought to avoid — full fees, full timeline, public file.
Living Trusts Made Simple is two books in one: a plain-English guide that does not stop at the signing, and a complete trust planner that walks you through funding it, one asset at a time. It also answers the question nobody selling you a trust will answer straight: do you even need one? For a lot of people the answer is no, and this book says so plainly instead of talking you into a product.
A look inside
Twenty seconds, and you'll know if this book is for you
A 22-second look at what this book does. Press play for the film with soft guitar music.
Read the film transcript & credits
The trust was signed. The house was never put into it. That one gap sends the family to probate anyway. Do you even need one? For a lot of people, the answer is no. Funding, one asset at a time: your home, accounts and insurance, step by step. All 50 states at a glance: small-estate limits, transfer-on-death deeds, estate taxes. Living Trusts Made Simple. Paperback, hardcover and Kindle. ellisfamilyguides.com.
Music: “Solo Acoustic #3” by Jason Shaw / Audionautix, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Edited and mixed for this film. Paper sound: xkeril, CC0. Illustrative scenes include AI-generated imagery.
Three ways to read it
The same book, in the form that fits your kitchen table
Hardcover
The same book at 8.25 × 11, in a hard case — for the shelf your family will one day go looking on.
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Reads on any device. The guide and the fifty-state appendix, with each chapter ending in the points to note down for yourself.
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Estate limits, exemptions and state rules change every year. 2025 alone rewrote the small-estate limits in nine states. Join the free update list and you'll get one email a year with the new figures. Nothing else, ever.
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What the book actually does
Both halves, not just the first one
An honest answer first
Who genuinely benefits from a trust, and who is better off with a will and a few beneficiary forms. Many people are.
The funding chapters
The heart of the book: your home, bank and investment accounts, life insurance, business interests and valuables — step by step, and what deliberately stays out.
The nursing home question, answered honestly
A revocable trust protects you from none of those costs. Chapter 5 says so plainly, and then explains what actually might.
All 50 states at a glance
Small-estate limits, transfer-on-death deeds, community property rules and state estate taxes — the tables generic guides skip.
“Margaret K. Ellis's Living Trusts Made Simple offers a clear, straightforward guide to handling property transfers and preparing for the future… It brings real honesty to long-term financial security… This book hands you the perfect roadmap to lock in your estate and protect your family's legacy.”
Robert Collier III for Readers’ Favorite, five stars
Inside the book
Sixteen short chapters, and the pages to finish the job
- What a living trust actually does — and the three things it cannot do, whatever the seminar promised
- What probate really costs and how long it takes, by the mechanism rather than by scare story
- Trust or will? Why you need both, and what the pour-over will does not protect you from
- Real 2026 prices — attorney, online service, or DIY — and the decisions to settle before you sign, not at $400 an hour
- What deliberately stays out: retirement accounts, cars, HSAs — and the costly mistake of moving an IRA in
- The yearly review that keeps it working, and the letter your successor trustee will one day open
- Two appendices: The Complete Funding Tracker, twelve asset sections from real estate to digital assets, and Questions to Ask an Attorney, comparing three firms side by side
Free, for everyone
The Companion Pack
Printable PDFs for the whole series: the Quick-Start Checklist, the fifty-state tables with the statute cited beside every figure, organizer worksheets, the Yearly Estate Check-up, and fifteen free official resources your family may need one day.
No sign-up, no email address, no strings.
Open the Companion Pack →The series it belongs to
Four books—find the guide that fits
Three focused guides, plus one volume for wills, trusts and estate planning that combines Books One and Two. Find the book that fits your next step.
Read the film transcript & credits
Make things clearer for the people you love. Put your affairs in order. Understand living trusts. Make sense of Social Security & Medicare.
Three focused guides, in paperback, hardcover and Kindle. Find your guide. Three in one: wills, trusts and estate planning. Books One and Two, combined, plus extra resources, in paperback and hardcover. ellisfamilyguides.com.
Music: “Solo Acoustic #3” by Jason Shaw / Audionautix, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Edited and mixed for this film. Paper sound: xkeril, CC0. Illustrative scenes include AI-generated imagery.
Planning together?
Download the free couples worksheets and Funding Tracker to compare responsibilities, record asset ownership, and prepare questions for your attorney.
Get the free trust worksheets