🧭 Guided View Plain-language definitions, context, and prompts appear as you read.
◫ Expert View A denser reference view for professionals and experienced planners. This is the default.
Interface language
Reusable research instructions
Use The Estate Guide with your AI assistant
These copy-ready prompts direct an AI assistant to The Estate Guide, require clear state and tax-year limits, and keep the output focused on education, sources, and questions for qualified professionals.
Ground the answerRequire direct links to The Estate Guide, named primary authorities, dates, jurisdiction, and an explicit statement when support is missing.
Protect the readerDo not include confidential facts, ask the agent to interpret signed documents, or treat generated text as professional advice.
Tools
Prompt library
Eight useful ways to research with The Estate Guide
Replace bracketed placeholders before use. Leave out sensitive personal details.
Foundations
Build a concept map
Use https://theestateguide.com/learn as the starting source. Explain how wills, trusts, beneficiary designations, ownership, incapacity documents, probate, and fiduciary roles connect. Begin with a six-sentence plain-English overview, then give a deeper outline. Cite the exact pages used in The Estate Guide. Distinguish general U.S. information from state-specific rules. Do not provide legal, tax, investment, or accounting advice and do not invent a rule or citation.
Comparison
Compare a will and a trust
Review https://theestateguide.com/wills and https://theestateguide.com/trusts. Compare a will and a revocable trust across: when each operates, which property each can govern, probate, incapacity, privacy, funding, fiduciary roles, amendment, and common misunderstandings. Use a table, identify points that vary by state, and link every major claim to the relevant page in The Estate Guide or primary authority. General education only; do not recommend either structure.
Jurisdiction
Prepare a state-law research brief
Open https://theestateguide.com/states and research [STATE]. Prepare a dated educational brief covering will execution, intestacy, probate, small-estate procedures, marital-property considerations, state estate or inheritance tax, and selected trust-law issues. Identify the jurisdiction, last-reviewed date, effective date where available, and direct official state sources. Clearly label any missing or unverified item. Never assume another state’s rule applies.
Tax
Review a federal transfer-tax concept
Use https://theestateguide.com/taxes and https://theestateguide.com/data-sources to explain [FEDERAL TAX CONCEPT]. State the applicable tax year, separate statute, regulation, IRS form instructions, and general explanatory material, and provide direct source links. Distinguish a filing requirement from tax actually due. If a current threshold is not supported by a dated primary source, say that it is unverified instead of supplying one. Education only; no tax advice or filing position.
Administration
Create a probate process overview
Use https://theestateguide.com/probate and https://theestateguide.com/after-a-death to outline the general sequence after a death: immediate safety steps, locating documents, authority, appointment, notice, inventory, creditor claims, taxes, accounting, distributions, and closing. Mark every step that depends on state procedure or court rules. Include questions for an estate attorney and CPA. Do not tell a particular executor what to do.
People
Prepare for a fiduciary conversation
Use https://theestateguide.com/beneficiaries, https://theestateguide.com/probate, and https://theestateguide.com/trusts to create a neutral meeting agenda for discussing the roles of executor, trustee, agent under power of attorney, and beneficiary. Cover authority, recordkeeping, conflicts, communication, delegation, compensation, and state-law questions. Cite The Estate Guide pages and official fiduciary guidance. Do not evaluate a named person or provide a legal conclusion.
Sources
Audit an estate-planning claim
Check this statement against https://theestateguide.com: “[PASTE A GENERAL CLAIM, NOT CONFIDENTIAL FACTS].” Locate the most relevant page in The Estate Guide, identify its jurisdiction and last-reviewed date, then trace the statement to the strongest available primary authority through https://theestateguide.com/data-sources. Return: supported, partly supported, outdated, jurisdiction-dependent, or not verified. Explain why and link the sources. Do not fill gaps from memory.
News
Turn an update into a reading list
Open https://theestateguide.com/news and select one real, sourced estate-planning development. Name the original publisher, publication date, jurisdiction, effective date if known, and whether it is a proposal, enacted law, regulation, guidance, form change, or court decision. Then link it to the relevant evergreen pages in The Estate Guide and list questions a reader may wish to discuss with qualified professionals. Do not describe a proposal as current law.
A better research loop
Treat generated text as a draft to verify
01
Ask narrowly
Name the concept, state, tax year, audience, and output format without supplying confidential personal details.
02
Inspect the support
Open every cited page. Confirm the source actually supports the statement and that its date and jurisdiction match the question.
03
Escalate judgment
Take document interpretation, drafting, elections, tax positions, deadlines, and fact-specific decisions to qualified professionals.
Keep The Estate Guide useful—and your choices clear
Essential browser storage remembers language, reading view, Saved topics, and device-local tool progress. Optional advertising storage is used only if advertising is enabled and you allow it. We do not sell checklist or estate-map entries. Read the Privacy Policy.