Michigan Estate Planning Resource Center

Law Office of Jerry Reif: Monthly Estate Planning Newsletter

For your convenience, you may access the current and past issues of our estate planning newsletter online:

• Lifetime Gifting: Part of Your Multi-Generation Estate Planning (March 10)
  Would you prefer to transfer more wealth to your family instead of the IRS? Our lead article summarizes the relevant lifetime gifting rules and considers two common do-it-yourself transfer methods.
• Five Common Estate Planning Mistakes (February 10)
  Proper estate planning is not just for the rich and famous. Surprisingly, however, that is a common misconception. Every adult American has an estate worth planning, regardless of their net worth. In this article we review some critical estate planning concerns.
• Estate Planning Challenges for Business Owners (January 10)
  The survival rate of family businesses from generation to generation is rather dismal. To help prevent your business from becoming an unfortunate statistic tomorrow, we review some common challenges for you to address today (before it is too late).
• Procrastination & Estate Planning (December 09)
  Why doesn’t everyone have their final affairs in order, especially in light of the likelihood of incapacity and the certainty of death? This article takes aim at the chief culprit: procrastination.
• Seasonal Solutions: The Stages of Life & Estate Planning (November 09)
  To everything there is a season. So it is with your Life & Estate Plan. This article uses a Seasons of Life theme to illustrate how your Life & Estate Plan may change with your personal and financial circumstances over your lifetime.
• Admirable Estate Administration (October 09)
  Have you appointed trusted family members, friends or professionals to serve as the fiduciaries of your estate plan upon your death? If so, our lead article is a must-read as we review some of the responsibilities (and liabilities) they will face.
• Estate Planning Challenges for Blended Families (September 09)
  Is your family a blended family? If so, then you face unique inheritance challenges, to include disinheriting your ex-spouse, providing for your new spouse and your own children, and protecting their inheritance.
• Unique Estate & Financial Challenges for Women (August 09)
  Women face unique Life and Estate Planning Issues, and yet too often their own needs are overlooked. They are too busy taking care of everyone else -- their families, their careers, parents, social causes.
• Elder Law Elements (July 09)
  Good news, bad news. The good news: Americans are living longer than ever. The bad news: we eventually wear out physically, mentally, or both. In this issue we review two challenges: becoming incapacitated and going broke due to long-term (nursing home) care.
• Estate Planning for Unmarried Couples (June 09)
  Even though cohabitation is legal in the majority of states, unmarried cohabitants face unique estate planning challenges regarding incapacity, inheritance, and estate taxation. In this article we will review such challenges and some of the potential problems they can cause.
• Solo Solutions (May 09)
  Being single can mean considerable personal and economic freedom. Nevertheless, just like your married counterparts, proper Life & Estate Planning is necessary to keep you in control.
• Marital Matters (April 09)
  Most married couples, whether celebrating their six-month or their sixtieth anniversary, have the mistaken belief that they can make personal, health care and financial decisions for one another, without outside interference, should either spouse become disabled. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Client Planning Forms

• Client Information Form [PDF file]
• Estate Settlement Checklist [PDF file]
• Asset Tracking Document [Provided by the Michigan Office of Retirement Services, this document can help your loved ones locate assets, important documents, account information and passwords.]

View Our Michigan Estate Planning, Business Law, Elder Law
and Asset Protection Planning Interactive Digital Brochures

• Business Owner Blues
  Being a business owner today is both rewarding and challenging, especially if your business is a family business. For business owners facing the unique challenge of transferring ownership of the family business upon retirement, disability or death, a properly funded Buy-Sell Agreement may be the key to survival.
• Common Estate Blunders
  When you hear the words estate planning, what images come to mind? Do you see beautiful, tanned people with incredible wealth, living in enormous mansions, riding in shiny limousines and boarding private jets? If so, then you are only partially correct. In reality, everyone has an estate worth planning. Some are just more complex than others.
• Elder Law 101
  According to U.S. Census Bureau statistics, there are nearly 35 million seasoned citizens and by 2010 there will be some 40 million seasoned citizens. Thereafter, due to the graying of the Baby-Boom generation, we will see that figure jump to 53 million in 2020 and to 70 million in 2030! The good news is that Americans are living longer than ever. The bad news is that we eventually wear out physically, mentally or both. It is a classic Catch-22.
• Estate & Trust Administration: Successful Conclusions
  Estate Planning is a Lifetime Process, not a one-time event. Though estate administration is the final stage in the process, a successful conclusion is dependent on proper completion of each of the preceding stages.
• Estate Planning 101
  What is estate planning? If you were to ask 10 adult Americans this question, you would likely get 10 different answers. Most erroneously think estate planning is limited to arranging for the ultimate distribution of their assets at life’s end. Due partly to this confusion and partly to  procrastination, it is little wonder that six out of 10 adult Americans have no estate plan at all.
• Estate Planning Challenges for Blended (or Step) Families
  Are you re-married (or planning to re-marry) and attempting to blend families? Unfortunately, too little attention has been paid to the critical Life & Estate Planning challenges of blended families. These challenges include disinheriting your ex-spouse, protecting your own children, providing for your new spouse and minimizing your estate taxes.
• Pet Trusts
  An estimated 500,000 pets are euthanized each year by shelters and veterinarians when their owners predecease them. Do any of your closest friends have feathers, fins or fur? Consider this: If something untoward were to happen to you today, what would happen to your feathered, finned or furred friends tomorrow?
• Planning for Minor Children
  It is an unfortunate fact of life: airplanes plummet, trains derail, ships sink and automobiles crash. What happens when a tragedy claims both parents of minor children? While every parent expects to rear their minor children to adulthood, life may throw any of us an unexpected curve ball in the form of a fatal injury or illness. Are you, and your children, prepared?
• Qualified Retirement Plans
  Qualified Retirement Plans (QRPs) present some of the most complicated tax and non-tax planning challenges of any asset in an estate, especially for married couples. The failure to make proper Life & Estate Plans for your QRP can unnecessarily enrich the IRS and disinherit loved ones.
• Voluntary Philanthropy
  Are there any programs funded by the federal government you personally consider nonessential and perhaps even wasteful? Perhaps there are private sector charities you deem more worthy of your tax dollars? Chances are you already support these charities. If so, then you really should know about IRC § 664 and how you may turn your involuntary philanthropy (taxes) into tax-savvy voluntary philanthropy.
• Women & the Law
  Traditionally, women have been the nurturers in our society. Depending on how family is defined for her, a woman may care for a husband, children, pets, parents or even in-laws. While she is busy meeting the needs of others, a woman may forget to take care of her own needs ... even needs as fundamental as her own Life & Estate Planning.

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