WILLS, TRUSTS & ESTATE PLANNING

No one wants to think about dying. We all avoid the topic and try our best not to dwell on the end of our life. Yet only death and taxes are inevitable. While we can’t help clients with their taxes, we can help them plan for the inevitable (which incidentally may help your children avoid estate taxes). Planning for what will happen to your estate when you pass will not only make your family’s transition into life without you simpler, but it will also save them thousands of dollars in fees required for a probate court to determine who is entitled to what. You also need to have a plan for who will make decisions for you if you cannot, because of mental or physical incompetence or incapacity. Who will take care of your children if you and your spouse or the other parent both perish in a car accident?



Are you a business owner? What happens to your shares or ownership of your business? Own a home or multiple houses? How do you make sure that those properties pass on to the person or persons you want? It may not be as simple as you think. If you don’t have an estate plan, the State of Michigan (or another state where you live, own property, and pass away) has statutes that dictate how property gets distributed if you don’t have a plan. Do you want the government to tell your family what happens to your property? If you don’t have an estate plan, that’s exactly what happens. A probate court case must be opened, a representative appointed, likely with monitoring by an attorney they will hire, and the Court will determine who gets the property, based on the applicable statutes in the Estate and Protected Individual’s Code (EPIC). In some cases, without an estate plan, everything you own can escheat to the State.