Who should I select to manage my financial affairs and make medical decisions in my estate plan? Once you've taken the leap to plan your estate you will be faced with difficult choices, especially regarding who should handle your property and financial affairs as well as who is best suited to ma...

When is the best time to consider a Guardianship for your elderly loved ones? Customers of Michigan laundromat “The Laundry Station” were shocked this past week when a 98-year-old woman drove her car through the business' plate glass window after confusing the accelerator and brake pedals.  Than...

What are advance medical directives? Estate planning is simply a matter of getting your affairs in order, and while no one wants to think about dying, it is crucial to protect your assets, provide for your loved ones and ensure your wishes are carried out. It is also essential to have a plan for...

What is being done to protect elders from financial exploitation?  In August, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a report on community-based efforts to handle what has been called the crime of the twenty-first century:  the financial abuse of elders. The CFPB reported noted t...

The conversation about a person's last wishes can be an awkward one for both the individual who is the topic of conversation and his or her loved ones. The end of someone's life is not a topic anyone looks forward to discussing. It is, however, an important conversation that must be had so that t...

A durable power of attorney is an important part of an estate plan. It provides that, in the event of disability or incapacitation, a preselected agent can be granted power over the affairs of the individual signing the document. This power can be limited to specific decisions, like the decision ...

Who will plan my funeral and resting place arrangements after I die? For the first time in Michigan's history, you can now designate a funeral representative who will make important decisions about your funeral arrangements and resting place after death.  The new law, known as the Funeral Repres...

In order to predict how much your estate will have to pay in taxes, one must first determine the value of the estate. To determine this, many assets might have to be appraised at fair market value. The estate includes all assets including real estate, cash, securities, stocks, bonds, business int...

I'm not rich. Do I really need a will or trust? The shock of Prince's death in April at age of 57 rocked the music world. The fact that he apparently died without leaving a will or trust rocked the legal world. You don't have to be rich to have a will (or to be my girl, as the famous Prince lyri...

Testamentary capacity refers to a person's ability to understand and execute a will. As a general rule, most people who are over the age of eighteen are thought to be competent to make and sign the will. They must be able to understand that they are signing the will, they must understand the natu...

Life insurance can be an integral part of an estate plan. Policies can be set up to be paid directly to the beneficiary, without the need to pass through the estate, and without the need for any taxes to be paid. Having a life insurance policy ensures that some assets will be liquid, so that debt...

If you had to pay for long-term care in a nursing home, could you afford to? In the past, much elder care was handled informally at home.  However, as more and more women started to work outside the home, wives and daughters were not available to care for aging parents or in-laws in addition to ...

What are the consequences of nursing home neglect? As the population grows older, many individuals and their loved ones will need to make difficult decisions about long-term care. When a parent or another relative can no longer care for themselves, becoming a resident of a nursing home may be th...

There are several reasons that a will may prove invalid. It is important for testators to be aware of these pitfalls in order to avoid them. Improper Execution The requirements vary from state to state, but most states require a valid will to be witnessed by two people not named in the will. So...

The thought of enrolling a loved one in a long-term stay at a local nursing home can be upsetting enough for families, notwithstanding the alarming uptrend in patient evictions for reasons almost always relating to the ability to pay. When facing an eviction, families are often left scrambling to...

Will - a written document specifying a person's wishes concerning his or her property distribution upon his or her death. In order to be enforced by a court of law, a will must be signed in accordance with the applicable wills act. Testator/Testatrix - the person who signs the will. Heirs - be...

If your estate plan and related documents are properly and carefully drafted, it is highly unlikely that the court will disregard your wishes and award the excluded child an inheritance.  As unlikely as it may be, there are certain situations where this child could end up receiving an inheritance...

The law allows a person preparing a will to have almost complete control over his or her assets after the testator passes on, but there are limits to such power. A person can restrict a property from being sold, or make sure that it is used for a specific purpose. A property can be bequeathed to ...

What is a will contest? Many individuals who put off writing a Will run the risk that a probate court judge will distribute the property in a manner that does not agree with their wishes. And those who put a will in place may leave their estate open to a will contest if a dispute arises among fa...

Many people purchase a life insurance policy as a way to ensure that their dependents are protected upon their passing. Generally speaking, there are two basic types of life insurance policies: term life and whole life insurance. With a term policy, the holder pays a monthly, or yearly, premium f...

When a loved one dies, an already difficult experience can be made much more stressful if that loved one held a significant amount of debt. Fortunately, the law addresses how an individual's debts can be paid after he or she is deceased. When a person dies, his or her assets are gathered into an...

How can digital assets be managed in an estate plan? Today, more and more individuals conduct their personal and business affairs online. Social media accounts like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and email, digital pictures or even on-line investment accounts, are considered to be digital assets....

When someone dies without a will, it is known as dying intestate.  In such cases, state law (of the state in which the person resides) governs how the person's estate is administered. In most states, the individual's assets are split -- with one third of the estate going to the spouse and all sur...

As the population grows older, more senior citizens are becoming the targets of a variety of scams. In fact, the National Council on Aging has declared elder fraud to be the "Crime of the 21st Century." What is Elder Fraud? While seniors account for only 12 percent of the population, they are t...

A life estate is a special designation in probate law referring to a gift to a family member that lasts as long as the life of the recipient. If an individual uses a life estate as part of his or her estate plan, whatever is bequeathed under the life estate will revert back to the residual estate...