In estate planning, there are documents that are useable during your lifetime, documents that are only useable after death, and documents that are useable both during your lifetime and after your death. And people get them confused all the …
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New Year’s Estate Plan Resolutions
It’s New Year’s Eve. Have you made your New Year’s resolutions for 2018? If you have, you are with the majority of respondents of a recent YouGuv online survey. The top four resolutions for 2018 were to eat better, exercise …
Plan While You Can
Would you agree that you have more options now while you are alive and well, than after you’re dead? Would you also agree that you have more options now when you are alive and well, than after you are mentally …
Do-It-Yourself Beneficiary Designation Planning Unwise
You have named beneficiaries on everything you could because you thought it was the right thing to do. You have named beneficiaries on your bank accounts, investments, retirement accounts and life insurance. Your banker told you to do it. Your …
Who Needs Estate Planning?
You are age 18 or over. You are also with the majority of Michiganders and have done no estate planning. No will, no trust, no financial or health care powers of attorney, no nothing. If you became mentally incapacitated, do …
When Do You Pull the Plug?
If you were being kept alive artificially after becoming mentally and physically incapacitated permanently, would you like your loved ones to be able to make decisions for you? Would you like the artificial life support to be withheld or withdrawn …
Will or Trust – Which is Best?
Last week, one of the questions we discussed that I and my partner Buzz Suuppi get all the time is: How much assets do I need for a trust? What we are really being asked is: Should my estate plan …
Have Medical Directives Available When You Need Them
You have done your estate plan, including your medical directives. Of all your legal documents your medical directives are the only ones that you may need access to quickly in an emergency. It has been reported in the Journal of …
Choose the Right Person for the Job
You are doing your estate plan. You have to choose people for certain duties. You may be tempted to name your spouse or the kids in birth order because you think that this is the fair thing to do. But …
New Help for After-Hospital Care
After a hospital stay and when back at home, have you ever felt lost about what to do? You were told by the doctor, nurse and/or discharge planner something, but you do not remember exactly what it was. You were …