If you’re a parent, there’s a good chance you and your spouse created an estate plan to provide for your child’s well-being in the event something happens to either or both of you. Now you’re getting divorced, or newly divorced. How does that estate plan need to change? If reading the paragraph above made you […]
Almost every estate plan can benefit from a living trust. There’s a lot to love about living trusts: they can keep your assets out of probate, allowing them to pass seamlessly to your heirs; they allow you to control and use the assets during your life, and even to place conditions on their use and […]
More than ever before, adult children may live several states away from their parents. But just as ever, parents tend to name their adult children as executors of their estates. The result is that many people are faced with the task of administering an estate in a state where they don’t live, and whose laws […]
A living trust is an efficient way for most people to maintain control of their assets during their lifetime and pass those assets directly to loved ones after their death. Living trusts are “revocable,” which is to say that you can revoke them at any time until you die or become legally incapacitated. You can […]
Even when it’s expected, few events are more distressing than the death of a spouse. When the death comes without warning, you may feel paralyzed by shock as well as by grief. At the same time, you need to make arrangements and notify others and, a little bit down the road, tend to financial matters […]
The death of a beloved family member is never easy, especially if it’s a parent or spouse. The pain of such a loss is compounded when that person dies without a will or estate plan. The legal term for dying without a will is dying intestate. After the immediate grief of the loss, and the […]
It can actually strike fear into your heart—that moment when you’re talking to your aging mother or father and realize that something is not quite right. Maybe they can’t remember the name of your spouse, whom they’ve known for years. Maybe you’re over at their house and find the butter stored in a kitchen drawer. […]
Everybody knows it’s a good idea to have a will. Few people know exactly what to do with a will left behind by a recently deceased loved one, however. On television and in movies, a Last Will and Testament makes its appearance in dramatic fashion, usually when the family is gathered together in an attorney’s […]
Parents of children with special needs have many pressing concerns. As they manage their child’s day-to-day care, therapy, and education, they are also thinking about the future: What will my child’s needs be like when he is an adult? Who will care for him when I’m no longer able to? How will he meet his […]
You’re aware of the importance of estate planning, so you’ve had a will prepared. A last will and testament is the basic building block of most Michigan estate plans. A will covers a lot of ground: it allows you to name a guardian for your child and dispose of all your assets. In light of […]
