Michigan Estate Planning Lawyer Blog

Talking to Loved Ones about What Really Matters

 

"The Holidays" can mean travel, excitement, gathering together with those you love, stress, conflict, and any or all of these things. 

 

We wish you the happiest of holidays.

 

We also urge you to take the time this holiday season to talk with those you love about what's truly important to you, and what's important for them to know.  Make sure you tell them that you love them.  Make sure you tell them about your estate plan, about where they can find your important legal and financial documents in an emergency, and who your important advisors are (e.g. estate planning attorney, financial advisor, accountant).  We understand that these conversations with family members can be difficult to start.  But they are important.  Talk to those you love about the legal, financial and health care decisions you have made, and take the time, while you still can, to explain your choices. 

 

Talking about your healthcare directives can also be a good lead-in to talking about your other personal and financial choices with those you love.  It's important -- for you and for them.  Take this extra step to ensure that everyone knows what you want while you can still answer questions and provide feedback.  And then eat a lot, have a wonderful time, and enjoy your holiday! 

If we were to ask an older person what his or her most important concerns for aging are, we would probably get a variety of different answers. According to surveys frequently conducted among the elderly, the most likely answers we would receive would include the following three principal concerns or life wishes:

1. Remaining independent in the home without intervention
from others

2. Maintaining good health and receiving adequate health care

3. Having enough money for everyday needs and not outliving
assets and income

To address these concerns or wishes and maintain the quality of life wanted in the elder years, it simply takes a little preplanning.

Few people do this kind of planning.

It is human nature not to worry about an event until it happens. We may prepare financially for unexpected financial disasters by covering our homes, automobiles and health with insurance policies.

However, no other life event can be as devastating to an elderly person's lifestyle, finances and security as needing long term care. It drastically alters or completely eliminates the three principal lifestyle wishes listed above.

The majority of the American public does not plan for this crisis of needing eldercare. The lack of planning also has an adverse effect on the older person's family, with sacrifices made in time, money, and family lifestyles.

Because of changing demographics and potential changes in government funding, the current generation needs to plan for long term care before the elder years are upon them.

Let us look at some facts.

*
The population of the "very old,"--older than age 85--is the
fastest growing group in America. This population is at
highest risk for needing care. (Statistical abstract of the United States,
2008, population)
*
Medical science is preventing early sudden deaths, which
means living longer with impaired health and greater risk of
needing long term care.
*
The Alzheimer's Association estimates the risk of
Alzheimer's or dementia beyond age 85 to be about 46% of
that population.
*
It is estimated that 6 out of 10 people will need long term
care sometime during their lifetime.
*
Children are moving far away from parents or parents move
away during retirement making long distance care giving
difficult or impossible.
*
Government programs--already stretched thin for long term
care services--will experience even greater stress on
available funds in the future.

One of the important things for planning is how to maintain your lifestyle as you age. You may be healthy enough to stay in your own home with help provided for the following activities of daily living:

maintaining a home,
providing meals,
supervision,
companionship,
transportation and
shopping services.

This type of care at home is non-medical and must be provided free of charge by family, friends, or volunteers or the care must be paid for out-of-pocket by the family.

Government programs, in most cases, will not pay for this kind of care. It is estimated that 80% of all long term care is non-medical, with 90% of that care provided in the home. It is most likely that your long term care will begin with home care.

It is wise to plan now how you will pay for care when it is needed. In evaluating your future income you may find it necessary to add some resources such as long term care Insurance to pay for assisted living or nursing home costs. Long term care insurance must be purchased while you are younger and healthy. Failing health, stroke or other aging issues will not allow you to qualify for this insurance.

A reverse mortgage will also help pay for home care if staying in your home is an option.

Consider where you may want to live in your elder years. Many assisted living facilities offer complete care alternatives with a nursing home wing if needed. Senior retirement communities also offer many amenities with some including home care options.

Now is the time to do estate planning. A professional estate planner will give you direction on how best to protect your assets for future needs and for Medicaid planning.

Do your paper work. Now is the time to create your trusts, will, medical directives in a living will and any other documents you want noted for future use. Gather Insurance policies and bank records where they can be found by family members in case you are not able to get them yourself.

We don't like to think of our elder years in terms of health problems, but a sudden stroke, heart failure or onset of dementia could make it impossible to carry out our own wishes if preparation was not made ahead of time.

The process of long term care planning involves the following four
principles:

1. Knowledge and preparation are the keys to success.
2. Having funds to pay for care expands the choices for care
settings and providers.
3. Using professional help relieves stress, reduces conflict, and
saves time and money.
4. Success is assured through a written plan accepted by all
parties involved.

(The above excerpt is quoted from "The 4 Steps of Long Term Care Planning," National Care Planning Council)

The National Care Planning Council' s website -- www.longtermcarelink.net -- provides over 700 pages of information for long term care planning and lists services of professional care providers in estate planning, long term care insurance, reverse mortgage, home care and many other important long term care services.

The National Care Planning Council' s book, "The 4 Steps of Long Term Care Planning," provides information on what Medicaid and Medicare will cover as well as an overview of professional long term care service providers and how their services can help you create and execute your long term care plan. A check list of what to do to create a plan and forms for creating necessary paperwork are also included in the book.

Choosing guardians for your minor children as you go through the Michigan estate planning process can be a difficult decision for parents.  Often times the decision of who to name is one of the major stumbling blocks for parents and one of the major reasons they put off speaking to a Michigan estate planning attorney.  Don't let it be!

Bizdaybuzz.com has an article addressing the issue.  You can read it here: Estate Planning: How to Choose a Guardian.

As Michigan estate planning attorneys who have as one of our focuses helping parents with minor children with their estate planning, we have some exercises that we walk our clients through to help them come to a decision and to help them move forward.

Christopher J. Berry, Esq., A Bloomfield HIlls Trust and Estates Lawyer, is a Partner with The Law Offices of Witzke Berry PLLC, which practices in the areas of Michigan Revocable Living Trusts, Living Wills, and Michigan Medicaid Planning, serving Metro Detroit, including Oakland County, Macomb County, and Wayne County from their office in Bloomfield Hills.  We can be reached at 248-971-1700.

Let's face it, going to the hospital can be a little frightening.  But there are ways to prepare yourself and your loved ones.  A little bit of preparation can make the experience better for everyone: you, your family, and the hospital staff.

 

1. Make sure that your healthcare power of attorney is up-to-date.  This document names the person (or persons) you would like to make medical decisions for you if you can't do so.  Review this document periodically to make sure your choice(s) is still valid.
2. Review your Living Will.  This document states your desires regarding treatments you would (or would not) want to receive in the hospital if you cannot make these decisions yourself.  Your living will is an important resource for your healthcare power of attorney should he/she need to make decisions about your care.
3. Make your decision about organ donation and document it.  If you would like to donate your organs at the time of your passing, make that decision now and put it in writing.  One organ donor can save up to 8 lives and the need far exceeds the supply.
4. Talk to your loved ones about your healthcare choices:  who you've named as your healthcare power of attorney, what your medical wishes are, and whether you want to be an organ donor.  The more they know in advance, the easier it will be for them if they ever have to step in. 
5. Carry your DocuBank wallet card.  Our firm provides this card because we know that immediate access to your emergency information and healthcare directives is important.  Make sure that your card is next to your driver's license in your wallet at all times.
6. Update the emergency information you store with DocuBank.  This includes your allergies and medical conditions that display on your Emergency Card and can help with your emergency treatment.  Also update your doctor's and emergency contacts' names and phone numbers.

Christopher J. Berry, Esq., An Oakland Estate Planning Attorney, is a Partner with The Law Offices of Witzke Berry PLLC, which practices in the areas of Michigan Wills and Michigan Trusts, Living Wills, and Michigan Probate Litigation, serving Oakland County, Macomb County, and Wayne County.  We can be reached at 248-971-1700.

As a Michigan probate lawyer, a question I have seen is "what happens if a person does not have a power of attorney?" Like all good legal answers, it depends.

It really depends on the facts and what the future holds. Basically, if you were incapacitated and did not have an executed power of attorney form, the probate court would be forced to appoint a conservator and/or guardian for you to manage your financial affairs on your behalf. This conservatorship would then be monitored by the court. This is what we call a Living Probate. This Living Probate could last for years with continuous court involvement and legal fees.

Now if that same person had executed a durable power of attorney prior to incapacitation they would be able to avoid the whole court created guardianship and conservatorship process. The power of attorney document would have language appointing who would serve the role and how the agent in fact would serve in their role.

With a power of attorney, the process is streamlined, more cost effect, and you're able to exert more control over the decisions you were able to make with regard to the powers of the attorney.

Christopher J. Berry, Esq., An Oakland County Estate and Trust Attorney, is a Partner with The Law Office of Witzke Berry PLLC, which practices in the areas of Estate Planning, Michigan Medicaid Planning, and Michigan Probate Litigation.

According to a recent study, only half of Dementia cases are properly diagnosed according to a story in Canadian newspaper. You can read the article, which cites the Australian study here: Only half of Dementia cases diagnosed.

The article goes on to state that there is reluctance from doctor's to diagnose dementia because of the perception that there is currently little treatment to offer.

From an Michigan elder law perspective, this can be troubling because many family members rely on doctor's diagnoses for the care and well being of their family members.  If doctors are not correctly diagnosing seniors, then their family members cannot properly create a care plan.

Christopher Berry, Esq., An Michigan Medicaid Planning Lawyer, is a Partner with The Law Offices of Witzke Berry PLLC, which practices in the areas of Estate Planning, Elder Law, and Michigan Probate Litigation.

"Even middle-class folks can benefit from trusts when it comes to estate planning.  That's because children under the age of 18 can't directly inherit more than a small amount of money," and when they reach 18 they can inherit everything, which is a scary proposition when you think about your college aged child inheriting a lump some of money.

The above quote was from an article in the WSJ, which you can read here.

The article goes on to talk about how setting up a revocable living trust as a better alternative that allows them to exert more control over their assets once they are gone.  As, Michigan estate planning attorneys who work with living trusts on a daily basis, one of the things we often see is that our clients like to utilize revocable living trusts to delay when their children inherit their money.  For example, instead of inheriting outright at age 18, maybe a distribution of 1/3 at 25, 1/3 at 30, and remainder at 35 makes more sense since the child will be more mature and able to handle the money at later ages.

Planning for parents with minor or college age children is one of the focuses of our Michigan estate planning law firm.  Give us a call if you have any questions.

-Christopher J. Berry, Esq.
Metro Detroit Estate Planning Attorney

I was reading an article and Trusts & Estates that talked about how personal estate planning is.  As a Michigan estate planning attorney, I couldn't agree more.  The best estate planning is tailored to the personal details of client and their family.  Estate planning is not one size fits all. 

The clients I most enjoy working with are the ones that open up to me and open the door to their personal lives.When I am able to make the clients comfortable and they open up more, I think I am able to provide a better service to them and it is reflected not only in their documents, but also my suggestions for legal solutions to their goals and desires.  By no means am I putting this responsibility on the clients, it is my responsibility as the professional to get the client to feel comfortable working with me, as a professional.

I need an intimate knowledge of their family dynamic to truly be able to tailor a legal plan that will fulfill their needs.  If a client is not open and comfortable, they may not bring up an event, fact, family member, that could trigger an entirely different solution set.  For example, does one of the proposed beneficiaries have a drug, or alcohol problem?  Is one of the beneficiaries going through a divorce?  Do some of the beneficiaries not get along?

I take the responsibility of making the client feel comfortable with me very seriously, as should any estate planning lawyer.  With out the necessary rapport with clients, we are no better than the legalzooms, Quicken Willmakers, or other internet drafting solution where you enter in the number of beneficiaries, and names and it drafts the estate plan for you based on faceless, impersonal facts.

-Christopher J. Berry, Esq.
Bloomfield Hills Estate Planning Lawyer

If have you ever dealt with a parent's or loved one's estate,  financial affairs or Michigan probate, you most likely know what a pain it is to administer their estate, clean up their affairs, and locate important documents and records.  I wanted to provide you some straightforward easily digestible advice on how make sure you don't leave your loved ones in a lurch.

First and foremost, you must get organized.  You should begin creating a list of all your assets, liabilities, accounts, passwords.  Compile all of your records in one place and make sure they are safe and that your proposed personal representative, trustee, or whoever will handle you affairs when you pass, knows where to locate your documents.

The next step is to identify what your goals are with regard to when you become incapacitated or pass away.  Do you want to protect your assets in case you go into a Michigan nursing home?  Do you want to protect your children from poor financial choices with your inheritance?  Do you want to avoid the hassle, stress, cost of Michigan probate? Do you want to provide for your pets to be taken care of and not euthanized?  There are many difficult decisions to take into account.  We can provide you a list of some of the items to think about with regard to Michigan estate planning.  Just contact us using the contact form on this page.

Third, you need to select your team of advisors including your Michigan estate planning lawyer or Michigan elder law attorney.  Your attorney will assist you, along with your accountant and financial professional in matching the legal environment to your goals to create an individualized Michigan estate plan to meet your goals.  Through meeting with your Michigan estate planning professionals, you will have a Michigan estate plan that may include  living trusts, wills, general durable powers of attorney, health care powers of attorney, HIPAA authorizations and living wills.  Though Michigan statute does not recognize a living will.

Next, there should be a review of how your assets are titled.  For example, who is the beneficiary of your life insurance?  Should it be titled into the trusts or should the life insurance go outright to beneficiaries?  What about the IRA's and 401k's?  These are all questions and items that will be reviewed with your Michigan estate planning attorney and the rest of your estate planning team.

Next, it is important to speak with all of your family members about what decisions you made and how your Michigan estate plan will be implemented and how it will take effect.  If our clients are interested, we have a "family meeting" where we have our clients bring in any family members or children to answer any questions in a round table format so that all of the loved ones and beneficiaries are on the same page.

Last, you need to review your estate plan annually once completed.  There can be changes in your family situation, changes in Michigan or Federal law, or changes in the tax laws.  Any changes could have drastic effects on your estate plan.  We bring our clients in every year as a part of our Foundations program to ensure that their estate plan is just effective the day they signed there documents as it is the day the the documents take effect.

The key to Michigan estate planning is taking action.  You can't wait until the day you need an estate plan to start thinking about estate planning.

-Christopher J. Berry, Esq.
Michigan Estate Planning Attorney

With you child's college acceptance now in hand, you can turn your attention to preparing your 18 year old for this new and exciting stage of life.

 

You will have a lot to plan for as you prepare to send your "baby" off to school this fall.  Making sure that they have the right bedding, dorm supplies and meal plan is all part of that planning. 

 

Once you've gotten through the checklists and dropped them off (with some tears and lots of good advice), the only thing you'll have left to do is worry.  You'll worry whether your freshman is eating enough, studying enough, and getting enough sleep. While we can't help with these everyday concerns, we can help with one of the big ones:  How will you know if something happens to your son or daughter while away at school? 

 

In most cases, unless your 18 year old has created the appropriate legal documents, (i.e. HIPAA release, Patient Advocate Designation) you might not know.  HIPAA, the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, was created to help protect patient privacy; but it can mean that you, as the parent of an "adult child", may not be able to get information about your child in a medical emergency.  This is why your 18-25 year old college aged child needs a HIPAA release before leaving home.

-Christopher J. Berry, Esq.

Michigan Estate Planning Attorney

Yesterday at the Michigan Estate Planning Lawyer Blog I discussed two things to look for in your estate plan in this environment of a $3.5 million Federal Estate Tax Exemption and a down economy.  You can read that post here: Michigan Estate Planning Lawyer Blog.

Today we are going to cover three more items to consider in this estate planning legal environment

This down economy and economic crisis can increased the risk of bankruptcy, foreclosure, divorce, and law suits.  On top of this, your beneficiaries irresponsibility in financial management may also reveal it self since times are tight.  Now is a time to make sure that the spendthrift provisions in your revocable living trust (assuming you have a revocable living trust and want to protect your beneficiaries) are iron clad.

The next item to consider with the increase of the Federal Exemption is the need to rebalance trusts that try to minimize the effect of the Federal Estate Tax.  Typically a husband and wife will have a separate trust.  The goal being to stuff each trust up to the Federal Exemption amount, which this year is $3.5million.  Last year the exemption amount was only $2million, so there may be a need to rebalance the trusts.

One bright spot of the economic crisis is the opportunity for gifting.  Gifting is a way to reduce an estate value estate and gift tax free.   This year $13,000 can be passed gift tax free.  This is an increase of $1000 from last year.  Couple this increase with the 50% loss of value for many peoples portfolio and we now have a great opportunity to gift.

These are turbulent times for everyone.  You should sit down with your Michigan estate planning attorney to see how these changing times have effect your estate plan.

-Christopher J. Berry, Esq.
Oakland County Estate Planning Lawyer

At the Michigan Estate Planning Lawyer Blog, I have posted a few times that due to this down economy, it is a prime time to review your estate plan.  Well, The New York times blog has an interesting article on the topic as well.

Take a minute to read "Smaller Though It May Be, It's Time to Look at the Estate" by Paul Sullivan at the New York Times.

Sullivan writes:

But estate planning is not primarily about avoiding a tax that few have been subject to since it was instituted in 1916. The primary goal has always been how to bequeath what you have to the heirs you picked. And if handled wrongly, wills can become a vehicle that destroys families.

"As the economy gets worse, children will be looking at that inheritance," said Les Kotzer, an attorney and author of "Where There's an Inheritance: Stories From the World of Two Wills Lawyers" (Continental Atlantic Publications). "They might start looking at the house as their entitlement. I have kids calling me and asking me, 'When do I get my inheritance?' "

The biggest issue, given both the recession and the flux in federal estate tax laws, is whether wills already drawn up still fulfill their intent.

Our Michigan Estate Planning and Michigan Probate Law office has seen a rise of heirs thinking about challenging their inheritance or lack of inheritance.  If you have an estate plan, now is the time to review your estate plan to ensure it is air (heir, sorry bad pun) tight in this down economy as people become more desperate and litigious.

-Christopher J. Berry, Esq.
Michigan Wills, Trusts, and Estate Planning Lawyer

One of the items we review with our clients are the beneficiaries on our clients financial accounts.  This is especially important for clients with Revocable Living Trusts.  If your beneficiaries are named incorrectly it can have drastic and costly effects on your Michigan estate plan.

Money magazine recently had an article on the 5 Things to Know about Naming Beneficiaries.  Their list included:

1. Your will has no jurisdiction
2. You can-and should- name a runner-up.
3. Retirement accounts have quirky inheritance rules.
4. Naming a minor is a quick ticket to Michigan probate.
5. Changing a beneficiary is easier than changing the filter in your coffee pot.

If you have any questions on the article or what any of the items mean, contact us to review your beneficiary designations.

-Christopher J. Berry, Esq.
Bloomfield Hills Estate Planning Lawyer

As a Michigan estate planning lawyer, I am a little worried whenever I hear someone is using Willmaker, Suze Orman Living Trust, Legalzoom, or any of the other Last Will and Testament or Living Trust document preparation software. 

Well, today, I was watching an email exchange between estate planning lawyers and one of the lawyers offered a personal story about meeting with a client and presented a will prepared by Willmaker.

I can talk to you all day about how Michigan estate planning is more than just preparing documents, but reviewing goals, family planning, beneficiary planning, making estate administration easier, etc. 

Well, this attorney found the "Holy Grail" reason for not using Willmaker software (or really any of the others).  When he reviewed the Will, it wasn't a validly executed Will based off state law because the document that purported to be a WIll did not have the necessary execution requirements.  This is a fatal flaw for the person who thought they had everything "take care of."

In other words, IT WASN'T A WILL, like the client thought.  Pretty scary to think about. 

Don't think that using Willmaker, Legalzoom, Suze Orman Trusts, is really benefiting your loved ones. You could be leaving them a legal mess when you pass and your "estate plan" is put to the test.

-Christopher J. Berry, Esq.
Michigan Estate Planning Lawyer

Currently you can download a free estate planning kit from the American Heart Association.  They are calling their download "Matters of the Heart, A Will and Estate Planning Kit."

You can visit the American Heart Association and download your free will and estate planning kit here.

-Christopher J. Berry, Esq.
Metro Detroit Estate Planning Lawyer