So here's what I did: After testing four programs, I asked an estate-planning lawyer to look over the final drafts for errors or potential issues.

Ronald A. Fatoullah, a Forest Hills, Queens, estate-planning lawyer, said that with careful planning and sufficient time, it may even be possible for a married couple to transfer investment property to their children without exposing any of the value to gift and estate taxes.

Ronald A. Fatoullah, a Forest Hills, Queens, estate-planning lawyer, said that with a typical sale and leaseback, parents sell the family home to their children for its fair market value.

The other stated that the article was "libelous on its face, since it maliciously and recklessly portrays plaintiff as acting 'goofy' while watching a 'raunchy' X-rated videotape of herself and her husband during a meeting with her estate-planning lawyers."

At another lunch spot here, Kate McDiarmid, an estate-planning lawyer and a Democrat, said she liked Mr. Edwards but would have preferred a Kerry-McCain ticket.

"There have always been probate lawyers, estate-planning lawyers and general practitioners who write wills," said Scott Severns, who practices what the specialists call "elder law" at Severns & Lewis, an Indianapolis firm.

"Q.P.R.T.'s are a phenomenal estate-planning technique and they're not just for the super-rich," said Martin M. Shenkman, a Manhattan tax and estate-planning lawyer.

Jonathan Forster, an estate-planning lawyer in Washington, said that while revocable living trusts are not necessary for most people, they might make sense sometimes.

Cormac McEnery, an estate-planning lawyer in City Island in the Bronx, said that once a home is deeded outright - or "in fee simple" - to a child or children, the parent loses legal control over it.