Michigan Estate Planning Lawyer Blog

It was a pleasure to present with Nicole Beurkens of Horizons on the topic of Legal Issues Facing Families with Special Needs Children. Nicole is in the Grand Rapids area, while I am near Detroit, in the South-East Michigan area, more specifically, Bloomfield Hills.

We had a phone conference, that Nicole hosts regularly for her clients. The reach of the call included Michigan, as well as outside the state, as we discussed topics relevant to estate planning and special needs planning, including the use of special needs trusts.

If you haven't visited the Horizon's website you should at http://www.horizonsdrc.com/.

As Michigan estate planning attorneys, a question that occasionally we hear is "how do I correct a death certificate?" In Michigan, the process is not too difficult. In fact, the paperwork can be obtained online at http://www.michigan.gov/documents/deathcorrpublic_6733_7.pdf.

Once the form is printed out and completed, the application must be sent to Vital Records Changes, PO Box 30721, Lansing, Michigan 48909, along with the fee of $40.  Additional certified copies are $12 per copy.

If you have questions, in addition to contact us, you may contact the Michigan Vital Records Changes Unit at (517)-335-8660.

One thing to note, however, the process can take longer than expected and up to 3-4 months to get the updated death certificate.

Apparently Karl Marx died a poor man and Charles Darwin died a rich man, according to a CNN article and ancestery website Ancestry.co.uk. This information was held in the England and Wales National Probate Calender, 1861-1941.

Karl Marx, the anti-capitalist, who died in 1883, left roughly $395 in his estate.  This translates to $31,600 in today's dollars. Compare this to Charles Darwin, who had an estate of roughly $232,000 or $20.5 million in todays dollars, when he passed away in 1882.

Other notable estates include John Cadbury, Charles, Dickens, Sherlock Holmes author Arthur Conan Doyle, and Lewis Carroll.

You can read more by visiting the CNN article at Online Database Reveals Estates of Marx, Darwin.

As a Michigan estate planning lawyer, I help clients prepare their estates for a smooth process upon their passing.  This pales in comparison to the Gary Coleman estate, where there were tons of issues.

Gary Coleman's estate turned out to be quite a mess. Gary Coleman had a will that hadn't been updated that left everything to an ex-girlfriend, a health care directive that had not been updated leaving control of the decision on whether he lived or died to an ex-wife who he was in a bitter fight with, and enough other loose ends to keep attorneys at work for years.

However, Gary Coleman did have some documents in place, which is better than many people according to a Martindale-Hubbell legal review in 2007, that stated that 55% of Americans do not even have a will, let alone a trust based estate plan that would avoid probate.

You can read more in the www.buffalonews.com.

Many of our clients are like the typical Michigander, that is someone in their family has a cottage or vacation home up north. Many people a hefty chunk of their summer enjoying the family cottages up north. However, when it comes to estate planning, the family cottage can become quite a troubling issue.

Who will get use of the cottage when mom or dad passes? Can all the children access the cottage? What if the cottage is sold? What if one of the children gets divorced, will the cottage have to be liquidated?

Proper planning for the family cottage often entails changing the legal ownership of the Michigan family cottage to another type of legal entity, usually a Michigan Family Vacation Property LLC along with a properly crafted operating agreement.

As a Detroit Federal Estate Tax estate planning lawyer, I keep up on the latest goings on with the Federal Estate Tax debate.

Dan Duncan, a billionaire, who made his money in oil and gas has recently passed away. Forbes magazine had him listed as the 74th wealthiest person in the world.  His estate was valued at $9 billion.  Had he lived until Jan 1, 2011, his estate may have paid up to 55% of that $9 billion to the United States government.  Instead, because of congress' failure to address the Federal Estate Tax, there is no estate tax due.

The United States has had a Federal Estate Tax since 1916.  When Rockefeller died in 1937, his estate had paid a 70% tax according to a nytimes.com article.

It will be interesting to see if Congress acts before we go reach 2011.  Will the estate tax exemption amount fall back to $1 million?

There has been a class action lawsuit filed against LegalZoom, which is an online "document preparation" service. You can read more about the lawsuit at the Courthouse News Service.  This is no big surprise to the many estate planning lawyers and probate lawyer who stumble across people using these products.

A short snippet from the article:

Katherine Webster sued as executor of the estate of Anthony Ferrantino and trustee of the Anthony J. Ferrantino Living Trust.
Webster claims that LegalZoom's website and advertising are premised on the misleading claim that "virtually anyone" can create a valid legal document through the site, and that the "customized" documents made by nonlawyers would be reviewed for "accuracy and reliability," imbuing customers with a false sense of security.
"Nowhere in the manual do defendants explain that using LegalZoom is not the same as using an attorney and that its documents are only 'customized' to the extent that the LegalZoom computer program inputs your name and identifying information, but not tailored to your specific circumstances," the complaint states.
Plaintiffs say they bought a living trust through LegalZoom, which was to include a revocable living trust, a will and a durable power of attorney. But Webster says the documents were flawed as a result of LegalZoom's failures, and Ferrantino's estate had to hire an attorney to correct the problems.

The Federal Estate Tax debate has been heating up for a while. Lexis has put together a nice little summary that I wanted to share, but hadn't had a chance to. You can read the Lexis summary at "What's Cooking with the Estate Tax" by Deirdre R. Wheatley-Liss.

U.S. Rep. Linda Sanchez has introduced new legislation to restore the estate tax. Her bill entitled the Responsible Estate Tax Act calls for a progressive tax rate starting at 45% and a $3.5 Million exemption. Included in her bill are the restrictions on GRATs that we've seen discussed as well as an additional tax on estates above $500 million. You can read her press release on the bill here: Legislation to Shift Tax Burden Back to Billionaires.

In other Federal Estate Tax news, Nancy J. Altman, who is the co-director of Social Security Works, testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the need of Social Security.  During her testimony, she proposed reinstating the 2009 Federal Estate Tax rules and dedicating a portion of the proceeds to fund Social Security. Her testimony can be read here.

Physicians are constant targets of malpractice lawsuits and other legal actions, including employee lawsuits for sexual harassment, unfair termination and discrimination, business related lawsuits and legal issues arising out of unwise investments.

Given this environment along with many plaintiffs lawyers looking to cash in, many Michigan physicians feel like they are in the legal cross hairs. That is why so many physicians are looking to strong legal counsel on their estate planning and asset protection matters.

Asset protection for Michigan physicians involves a few different aspects. First asset protection involves the adoption of advanced planning strategies which place assets beyond the reach of future creditors. Asset protection planning for physicians discourages lawsuits by lowering a client's financial profile so that they become a far less attractive target for the plaintiff's lawyers. Also, there is the benefit of enhanced leverage in negotiations if a lawsuit is field.

Understand that asset protection planning for physicians, while it's confidential, it is not based on secrecy or fraudulent transfers, it does not involve hiding assets, and is not a type of tax dodge.

George Steinbrenner, who in 2009, according to Forbes, had an estate worth $1.15 billion passed away recently making him another who has joined the growing group of billionaires and millionaires who have passed away in a year where there is no estate tax.

The way the current estate tax rules work, there is no estate tax due in 2010. Compare this to if Georgoe Steinbrenner passed away in 2011, when there is only a $1 million exemption and anything over $1 million would be taxed at up to 55%. For example, say an individual with a $5 million estate passed away in 2011. That estate could generate nearly $2 million in taxes.

For more on George Steinbrenner's passing, visit nytimes.com and George Steinbrenner, Who Built Yankees Into Powerhouse, Dies at 80.

As an Oakland county elder law lawyer, I take great pride in being able to assist Michigan veterans in receiving the veterans benefits that they deserve.

There are currently over 25 million veterans alive in the United States. There are over 9 million surviving spouses of veterans currently living in the United States. Many of these veterans and surviving spouses are receiving long term care or will need some type of long term care in the near future, and there are funds available from the Veterans Administration ("VA") to help pay for that care. Unfortunately, many of those who are eligible have no idea that any type of benefits exist for them or that an attorney can help them become eligible.

Benefits Available
There are three types of benefits available that provide a monthly cash payment to veterans who have long term health care needs. Below is an overview of the three benefits, and more detail will be provided on each benefit in the following paragraphs...

you can read the rest at the Michigan Elder Law Center.

Your very own free Michigan estate planning and elder law legal check up.  All you have to do is click the  icon below to begin.  All information is confidential and will not be shared.

In the ongoing saga of what is going on with our Federal Estate Tax policy, it had looked like we were near an agreement between Democrats and Republicans. Well, not so fast, as according to thehill.com, talks broke down Monday and Tuesday and are now at a stand still.

To quote Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R.-Ariz.), "We no longer have an agreement because the Democratic side has decided that unless a matter has a guaranteed majority of Democratic votes going in, they're not going to allow it on the floor, at least not voluntarily," he said. "So we have to find a way to get a reasonable permanent estate tax reform to the floor where members can vote on it."

You can read Kyl: Senate deal off on estate tax at www.thehill.com.

So the saga continues...

Noone enjoys thinking about dieing. That is one of the reasons that people continue to procrastinate on putting together their estate planning documents. Estate planning documents are the key to determine where your money will go when you pass away. Failure to prepare proper estate planning documents can lead to a a legal nightmare that causes undue stress and financial burden on your loved ones and heirs.

The New York Times has a great article entitled "Assemble a Paper Trail, and Make Sure Your Heirs Can Follow It.", that talks about some important concepts in estate planning including reviewing wills, living trusts, and powers of attorney.