What Entrepreneurs Should Know About Estate Planning When the time comes to deal with personal loss, it pays to be ready. Here's how to prepare yourself and your family.

My father, a lifelong entrepreneur, died when he was 49. He left his family a solid will and a thriving business, which has sustained a wife, three sons and a nephew for 16 years.

Aside from these two very important things, my dad did little in the way of estate planning.

Now my mother is experiencing a health crisis, and was recently admitted to an assisted-living facility. My brothers and I have been urging Mom to get her financial affairs in order, and over the past few months the family has had a crash course in estate planning.