With the baby boomers aging, the largest amount of wealth in history is passing from one generation to the next. Unfortunately, people are procrastinating on their estate planning until it’s too late.

Over at the greenbaypressgazette.com, they have an interesting article that discusses how to prioritize the details in estate planning which you can read here:  “Guest column: Tim Cisler Prioritize details in estate planning.”

From the point of view of a Michigan estate planning attorney, there are a couple key points that I would like to reinforce from the article.

First, don’t underestimate the value of your assets.  Sure the economy is down, that said, your estate could include your residence, your retirement accounts, your savings, and possibly your life insurance.  Add all those pieces up and you may be surprised at the value.  Regardless of the size, you most likely would want to protect those assets from needless expenses, for example the expense of opening a Michigan probate.

The next key point is to keep your beneficiaries designations updated on your assets, including life insurance, retirement accounts, deeds to property.  Just because it made sense at one point to name a family member the beneficiary of the IRA, doesn’t mean now or in the future it would make more sense to name the living trust the beneficiary.

Lastly, know the difference between a probate estate and a trust.  People think that just because they have a Michigan Will, they will avoid the Michigan probate system.  Not true, a Michigan Last Will and Testament is your ticket to the Michigan probate system.  If you want to avoid a Michigan Probate, then a living trust would be a better option.

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

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

In estate planning, there is a term “Crummy Trust.”  A Crummy Trust is a type of irrevocable trust that has a provision called, “crummy power”.    With a “crummy power” there is only a limited amount of time where the gift can be accessed, but this time allows the gift to be considered complete and removes the asset from the estate of the one making the gift.

These “crummy powers” are typically used in irrevocable life insurance trusts.

You can read more about “Crummy Powers” in a blog by Christopher Yuo at www.thetimesonline.com.

If you have questions on Michigan irrevocable life insurance trusts or “crummy powers” contact our Bloomfield Hills estate planning law firm.

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

In Michigan, when you are the personal representative of a decadent’s estate, handling the Michigan probate court system and Michigan estate administration, a common question is to what information is the personal representative entitled to?

A personal representative is only entitled to handle assets that are passing through the Michigan probate court system.  Most life insurance will avoid Michigan probate due to having a named beneficiary.  However, if the there is no named beneficiary for the life insurance then the personal representative may have to include the account in probate and put the information on the probate inventory.

We help our clients avoid the Michigan probate process by setting up revocable living trust based Michigan estate plans. When necessary or referred to us, we assist our clients with handling Michigan probate estates in Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, and Lapeer counties.

-Christopher J. Berry, Esq.
Michigan Probate Lawyer

Estate Planning Strategies: Collective Wisdom, Proven Techniques, the book I have been working hard on has been published and is available on Amazon.  Estate Planning Strategies: Collective Wisdom, Proven Techniques was co-authored by my colleagues and I, estate planning lawyers across the nation.

In this new book Estate Planning Strategies: Collective Wisdom, Proven Techniques we, estate planning attorneys, have outlined essential estate planning strategies for everyone, no matter level of wealth, in easy-to-understand language, Estate Planning Strategies: Collective Wisdom, Proven Techniques helps people comprehend the entire estate planning process from start to finish.

Estate Planning Strategies: Collective Wisdom, Proven Techniques is a great reference book for all professionals. The chapter I wrote on Testamentary capacity is particularly important since it is so frequently misunderstood.

Estate Planning Strategies: Collective Wisdom, Proven Techniques explains:

• Introduction to Estate Planning
• How to Avoid Probate
• Estate Planning for Business Owners
• Property Ownership
• Estate Planning Documents and Drafting Issues
• Avoiding Probate and What Happens after you Die
• Estate Tax Principles
• Avoiding Estate Tax With Lifetime Transfers
• Charitable Trusts
• Revocable Living Trusts
• Life Insurance
• Retirement Plans
• Business and Investment Interests
• Asset Protection
• Other Considerations in Estate Planning including Elder Law, Bert Trusts, Pet Trusts, etc.

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

For many people, choosing the right type of life insurance can be a complex and daunting experience.  This sounds very similar to the estate planning process.  Often people looking to their insurance provider, financial planner,or Michigan estate planning attorney for advice on the different types of insurance available.

As a Michigan estate planning lawyer, I do not sell the insurance or tell clients which insurance to get, but I will educate them on the difference between the types of insurance available.  I leave the selling, recommendations,  and specific advice to the insurance professionals and financial planners.

Often people are confused with the difference between term insurance and whole life insurance.

Continue reading “Term Life Insurance or Whole Life Insurance” »