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Writing this column is fun.

Even more fun is consulting with column readers to solve their real-life family and tax problems.

When a reader consults with me, I ask him/her to send some basic data, including a copy of their current estate plan. Recently, a small parade of readers have asked me to review — or give a second opinion on — what I call "Johnny-one-note estate planning."

If your estate plan is done or is in the process of being done, the rest of this item is "must" reading. Estate plans that are built around one main theme (Johnny-one-note) do not play well in the complex world of dozens of concepts available to eliminate the estate tax.

Of the last 31 plans I have reviewed, 26 were based on a single theme. The runaway winner (really a loser in tax-saving effectiveness) is the creation of a revocable trust (RT) — one for him and one for her, where a married couple is involved.

An RT for married folks is a good start to an estate plan, but its only good tax trick is to defer the big estate tax bite until the death of the second spouse.

Two other strategies that I see regularly as Johnny-one-notes are the sale of a business to the kids by the business-owner dad (SALE) and family limited partnerships (FLIPs).

A SALE is often used as a strategy to sell your business to your kids (usually on an installment basis). Never, but never, have I seen a sale of a family-owned business as a tax-effective way to transfer a business to the next generation. Instead, take a look at an intentionally defective trust (IDT), which is the best way to transfer a business tax-free from Dad/Mom to the business kids.

A FLIP is usually not an effective way to deal with a business, a residence, or money in an IRA, profit-sharing plan or similar plan. But it's a wonderful tax-saving starting point for almost every other asset you might own (stocks, bonds, real estate, you name it.) Properly used, you can 97-26(2) control the assets for life, protect them from the claims of creditors, and reduce their value for estate tax purposes immediately by 30 percent to 40 percent.

For example, say your transfer $1.5 million of investment assets (stocks, bonds, real estate) to a FLIP. For estate tax purposes, the assets are only worth about $1 million, resulting in estate tax savings of about $250,000.

This column over the years has covered RTs, IDTs and FLIPs in detail.

One way you can tell if your estate plan is really properly done is by looking at the estate tax liability if you and your spouse get hit by that proverbial truck.

Whether the liability is $500,000, $5 million or more, your estate plan needs a second opinion.

Why?

Your target should always be to move all your wealth — intact — to your family (for example, if you're worth $5 million, then the entire $5 million to your family; $50 million, the entire $50 million, etc.).

Following is a list of the six most common strategies we use to transfer your wealth — intact —and eliminate estate taxes. In parenthesis following each strategy is the type of assets you should own to consider the concept.

(1) Qualified personal residence or QPRT (residence).

(2) IDT (your family business).

(3) Subtrust (junk money and other strategies if you have a total of more than $350,000 in your IRA, profit-sharing or similar plan).

(4) Charitable remainder trust or CRT (appreciated assets, including a family business) Briefly, a CRT eliminates the capital gains tax and estate tax.

(5) FLIP (for all assets not list above, generally income producing investments).

(6) Irrevocable life insurance trust or ILIT (insurance is estate tax free to you and your spouse). Use other assets to pay premiums at little or no tax cost.

(7) Premium financing (allows you to buy insurance without paying premiums in cash).