Estate planning is basically a game of Monopoly between us hard-working Americans and the taxman. Blindly moving our pieces around the board without a strategy will cost you–eventually you'll land on Boardwalk and owe big bucks. The game will be over, and your heirs will be out up to 55% of your estate.

Luckily, there's a better way! By taking the time to put an estate planning strategy into play you'll control the outcome of the game. You'll be the master of your estate. Where to begin? With the basic estate planning tool that we believe everyone should have—a will.

A will is simply a document that tells the courts how you want your estate distributed upon your death. Don't think your estate's not worth enough to bother with a will. If you own a home and/or an insurance policy, you are definitely worth enough to have a will.

Take the estate planning bull by the horns and make sure your assets will be passed on to whom you wish—and that your family will be taken care of if something happens to you.

If you die intestate (without a will) your state gets to decide how your assets will be distributed. And we'll bet that they'll decide things a lot differently than you would!

Your children or loved ones may not share in your assets as you had planned—and your estate may even have to pay guardian's fees if you have minor children. To top it all off, the state-appointed administrator may not even be qualified to act as your executor and distribute your assets properly.

Dolan Aha!: You don't need to include detailed instructions in your will of where you want every item to go, such as Cousin John gets your baseball card collection, or Aunt Millie gets your Grandma's china. If you do want to give specific instructions, you can make a complete list of these specific requests and attach it to your will as a Letter of Instruction. You can modify, add to or delete from your Letter of Instruction anytime you want, without having the letter witnessed or notarized.

We strongly recommend that you use a lawyer to draft your will. You'll spend $200-$300, on average, to draft a simple will. To keep your costs down, make sure you know how you want your assets distributed before you set foot inside the lawyer's office. By making these decisions beforehand, you avoid spending valuable time weighing the pros and cons of your different choices.

You should also decide ahead of time whom you want named as executor of your estate, as trustee of any trusts funded under your will and as the guardian for your children. Let's look more closely at how you choose the best executor.

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