8th Anniversary Episode (Episode #277)

Well, good afternoon, Michiganders.

It is Tuesday, February 20th, 2024.

And of course, this is Tuesday with Tom, Michigan's only weekly internet show.

I did a search recently to find out if there are any other law firms in the state of Michigan having any sort of a podcast about estate planning. And in part of my research, Tuesday with Tom is still the only Michigan law firm providing a weekly podcast, talking about estate planning, answering your questions about estate planning or estate settlement in Michigan.

As always, I'm your host, Tom Doyle, estate planning attorney, lifelong Michigan resident and ambassador for All Things Good in this great state of Michigan.

Welcome, welcome to today's program, which is a special program because it is our 8th anniversary episode.

The first episode of Tuesday with Tom aired on February 23rd, 2016.

The topic, What Is An Estate Plan?

Little did I know eight years ago that I would still be broadcasting a podcast eight years later and that we would be up to what today is our 297th episode.

Certainly one change ,other than the music from 2016 , is if you, when you do listen to the episode, and that's actually what I'm going to do today in recognition of the anniversary, I'm going to replay the entire episode for 2/23/16. In listening to it, going back and listening to it again, one thing I quickly note besides the music is it's very much NPR sounding, perhaps more than I sound today.

So things have changed.

Other things that have changed since that episode air, as you know, we have a new website. If you haven't visited the website, take a look at it. One of the things on the new website that was not available back then is there's a microphone. You can click on the microphone, tell me what you thought about an episode, ask questions that you'd like to have me answered. So I encourage you take advantage of the audio recording capabilities.

And email address is different. Tuesday with Tom, Tom@ Tuesdaywithtom.com is the current email address.And again, you can send me an email about questions you'd like to have me answer or topics that you'd like to have me talk about.

Also, we now have Facebook, that would be Tuesday with Tom. And again, the office is Doyle Law PC as well.

So a number of technology changes you'll also find over that year, eight years.

There was a period of time that at some point we might get back to where we actually had video episodes. We might get back to that at some point in time, depending upon how we progress in going forward with some of the things.

But a number of things, a lot of different topics we talked about over the last eight years. Sometimes we would talk about the same topic a number of times because it was important, or different things.

Laws have changed during that period of time, but much of the information, even going back to what you're going to listen today as the original episode is still as relevant today in your estate planning needs and your estate planning, what you need to consider relative to your estate plan as it was eight years ago.

Before I replay that episode, just a reminder too, of course, that Amanda and I would be honored to have the opportunity to help you protect your loved ones, either by putting together an estate plan for you, amending a current plan, or assisting you in settling in a state. Information is available at the website, doylawpc.com.

There you're going to find how you can schedule a consultation with us, whether it's going to be a virtual consultation via Zoom or telephone, because we handle clients throughout the entire state of Michigan. Or if you're more local to the Lansing area, you can schedule an in-person consultation at the East Lansing office.

Just a reminder, too, if maybe you're just looking for an individual document, all you need, let's say, is a certificate of trust because you're trying to sell real estate that's in a trust and the title company is saying, hey, you need a certificate of trust that can be recorded, or maybe all you need is a new durable power of attorney or perhaps a healthcare power of attorney.

Visit the legal store. Again, that's going to be a link that you'll find at doylelawpz.com. There, you have the ability to order individual documents through the legal store, and you're going to submit your information to us. We're going to review it, and if everything's in order, we'll prepare and send those documents to you, or we might require a brief telephone conference with you, or perhaps an email communication with you before those documents are prepared and emailed to you.

Another change that has been made since 2016 is the program's available on many, many podcast services.Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, Spreaker, probably wherever it is that you listen to a podcast, you will find Tuesday with Tom.

Well, thank you again for spending some of your time with us today.

And as always, I hope you have an awesome day and an awesome week in Michigan.

Enjoy What Is An Estate Plan from February 23rd, 2016.

And stay safe.

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Good morning, Michiganders.

It's Tuesday, February 23rd, and you're listening to Tuesday with Tom.

I'm your host, Tom Doyle, estate planning attorney, lifelong Michigan resident, and ambassador for All Things Good in the state of Michigan.

Welcome to our program.

In today's program, we'll be talking about what is estate planning, and just as importantly, what isn't estate planning.

But before we get to the heart of the program, I'd like to take a few minutes to review some of the upcoming events in this great state of ours.

For anyone that's going to be up in the UP this weekend, there is of course on Saturday, the 4th Annual Winter Wine Down, which is hosted by the Newberry Kiwanis Club.

There'll be great wines, cheese, bread, a silent auction, and a few special dinners.

The event will be hosted at the Newberry Elks Lodge No. 1705.

Also going on this weekend in Michigan's Upper Lower Peninsula, you've got the Alpine Fat Bike Classic, which is going to be hosted at Treetops Resort on Saturday.

For those of you not in the Northern Lower Peninsula or in the Upper Peninsula, you can enjoy the Celebration of Soul, which will be the 15th Annual Symphony with Soul Concert, put on by the Grand Rapids Symphony.

Or if you're interested in some outdoor activity, there's the Brighton Recreation Area Snowshoe Spectacular that is being put on the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

Of course, if you're in Grand Rapids, there's also this weekend the Winter Beer Festival, featuring more than 100 Michigan breweries and approximately 1,000 different craft beers.

If you enjoy watching ice skating, there's the 2016 US. Synchronized Skating Championship that's going to be held in Kalamazoo on the 25th through the 27th.

More local is the first Michigan Nordic Fire Festival that's being held in Charlotte.

If you're looking for a running event, there's the Winter Blast Half Marathon that'll be held in Portage on actually on the 28th. That event also includes both 10K and 5K events as well.

Restaurant Week will be finishing up over in Grand Haven.

Black History Month will be finishing up at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn.

Then up in the Upper Peninsula, there is what I think is truly a pure Michigan classic. It's the 23rd Trenary Outhouse Classic. Thousands of people will gather to watch outhouses racing down the center of town. And while you're there, don't forget to bring home a bag of Trenary Toast.

Well, those are just a few of the events this coming weekend that are taking place in various locations in this great state of ours.

More information about those events and many more can be found at the Pure Michigan website, michigan.org.

So let's get to the heart of today's program, talking about what is and is not estate planning.

Starting with what estate planning is not, estate planning is not having a beneficiary designation on your bank account.

Estate planning is not having a will.

Estate planning is not having a living trust.

While these might all be tools or what we might refer to as strategies that might be part of an estate plan, they in themselves are not an estate plan.

My definition of an estate plan would be as follows.

Estate planning is making decisions about and making arrangements for the distribution of what you own at the time of your death to others.

Let me repeat that.

Estate planning is making decisions about and making arrangements for the distribution of what you own at the time of your death to others.

Thus, before we can even start talking about strategies, like having a living trust or having beneficiary designations, there are a number of decisions that you will have to make that will then lead us to the appropriate strategies.

And that first decision would be this. If you died tomorrow, where would you want your estate to go?

You might take out a pencil and a paper and start making some notes as we go through this program to track some of the decisions as you're making them.

It really begins with who.

So, for example, my estate plan.

I begin with who would I want my estate to go to if I died tomorrow?

My answer to that question would be my wife, Ginny.

Similarly, if you're married, your answer might be your spouse.

Alternatively, it might be children, it might be grandchildren, it might be brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews, friends of the family, or it might be particular churches or charities.

But it all begins with you deciding who the estate would go to.

After you decide who your estate would go to, the next question is, are there any concerns that you have about that person or entity receiving your estate?

Perhaps you want the estate to go to your spouse, but your spouse has dementia, and you're concerned that your spouse, of course, will not then be able to manage the estate.

Or maybe the estate is going to children, and you're concerned about the children's ability to manage an estate.

Or maybe it's grandchildren, and you're concerned that given the ages of the grandchildren, there would need to be somebody appointed to manage the estate for them.

Maybe you have a special needs child who would not be able to manage any estate that you would leave that child.

These are just a number of the things that you need to think about when you are selecting the who that you would want your estate to go to.

Next is to think about the alternate to the first person or entity that you chose.

If my wife Ginny isn't alive tomorrow, who then would I want my estate to go to?

And again, when you look at who the estate would go to, ask those same questions about whether or not you have any concerns about the ability of that alternate beneficiary to be receiving the estate.

In many cases, we should also think about alternates to our alternates.

If a child is the alternate to my spouse, but my child doesn't survive, then where would I want my estate to go?Is it to that child's children?

If somewhere in this line of distribution I have included my church or charities, then what if the church closes before your death? Or the charity is no longer in existence? Do you have an alternate in mind?

Finally, given the fact that families are much smaller today, consideration should be given to where you want your estate to go if none of the people that you thought about survived you.

If your spouse and children or grandchildren fail to survive you, then where would you want your estate to go?This becomes particularly important with smaller families, in part because the law in the state of Michigan will determine who your estate is going to go to if the people that you have named don't survive you.

With the ultimate beneficiary in some cases actually being the state of Michigan.

Due to recent changes in Michigan's law, you can now actually include your pets in that group of who it is that you would want to receive the estate at the time of your death.

So take some time and think about the who you want your estate to go to, and make some notes, and analyze it, and ask yourself some tough questions about those people and your thoughts on their abilities to receive your estate.

Next, I would suggest that you think about what would happen to your estate after it goes to the people that you have named.

For example, if I have named my child as a beneficiary of my estate and they receive my estate at the time of my death, where is my estate likely to go at the time of their death, and do I have any concerns about that?

I might have a son and daughter-in-law that I would not want to receive my estate, and so I have to think about that when we're ultimately coming up with strategies to provide the estate to the child.

Another fairly common situation today are blended families. You each have children from previous marriages.You probably want your estate to go to your children and not to the children of your spouse. If so, you need to think about that if in fact your decision is made to give the estate to your spouse.

Even if you're considering a church or charity as part of the distribution of your estate, you need to have similar thoughts about what will they do with the estate once they receive it. Do you want to put restrictions on what that church or charity can do with that inheritance?

Once you've decided who you want the estate to go to, the next step is to figure out what does your estate actually consist of.

Gather records, get together the deeds for your property, your bank account statements, life insurance policies, investment portfolio statements. Gather up all the different paperwork that concerns all of the important property that you own.

And in doing so, make sure you are aware of how those properties might actually be owned.

Is your real estate already owned jointly with somebody?

Or do you have a beneficiary on your life insurance policy?

Or have you put a beneficiary on your bank account or on your investment accounts already?

All of that information is going to be important when you ultimately get to making decisions about how to implement your estate plan.

Of course, it also goes without saying that as you gather up your asset information, you're going to have to determine how much things are worth. How large your estate is might actually influence some of the decisions that you make concerning when an estate might actually be distributed to a beneficiary. You might decide that your estate is small enough that it's okay for it to be distributed outright to the beneficiary.

Or you might have concerns that given the size of the distribution, you would rather have a plan that in some way would manage the distribution for that beneficiary, perhaps until the beneficiary graduates from college or is at a more mature age.

Lastly, before we can get to the making arrangements part, you also need to think about some of the goals that you might have in putting your estate plan together.

Are you interested in leaving some sort of a family legacy where people will remember the good things that you did?

Perhaps you have concerns about protecting your family's privacy so that after your death, others would not know what your family received from you.

You probably want a plan that will be easier rather than more complicated for settlement purposes, and many clients want their plan to be one that will foster some continued peace and harmony amongst their heirs.

Again, though, these goals are your goals, not the goals of the estate planning professional.

Once you have made the decisions about who your estate is going to go to and have addressed any concerns that you have about the outright distribution of your estate or concerns about the beneficiaries, and you have a handle on what your estate consists of, how large it is, and what your personal estate planning goals or what is of concern to you, once all of those things have been determined, then you and your estate planning attorney can start now looking at what arrangements or strategies are available to implement your plan.

Now that you're to the point of looking for the estate planning attorney who can help you put together the appropriate strategies to complete your estate plan, we would certainly be honored if you would consider giving our office that opportunity.

If you've been to our website, you will note that our main office is located in Lansing, and we have facilities available in Grand Rapids where we can meet with clients as well.

So if you happen to be in the greater Lansing area or the Grand Rapids area, we could arrange a personal estate planning consultation.

However, since we are licensed to practice anywhere in the state of Michigan, we actually have a number of estate planning clients throughout the state of Michigan. By using internet technologies and video conferencing, as well as plain old telephone calls and snail mail, we can likely assist you in developing the appropriate strategies and the appropriate documents to implement your estate plan.

If you're interested in talking to us, simply call our office at 517-323-7366, and we'll be happy to get your appointment scheduled.

Once you've made your decisions, it's now time to start looking at what the arrangements are for the distribution.

That is, what are the best strategies that are available that will accomplish your goals?

It might be having beneficiary designations on a life insurance policy.

It might be having beneficiary designations on your bank account.

It might be having some sort of joint ownership arrangement.

Perhaps a will is going to be appropriate.

Perhaps a living trust is going to be a strategy that you're going to want to consider.

I invite you to return for future programs, where we will discuss all of the various estate planning strategies in more detail.

This is the point where in my seminar, I would talk about the 100% and the 80% numbers.

100% being the number of listeners who are going to die.

Thus, having an estate plan in place for distributing our estate at the time of our death is a priority.

However, 80%, according to recent information, is the number of listeners who will likely become incapacitated either temporarily or permanently prior to death.

Because there is a great likelihood of incapacity, our office believes that your estate plan should also plan for incapacity. If tomorrow you had an accident or you had a stroke and you were not able to make medical decisions for yourself, medical decisions still need to be made. Or if you couldn't manage your property or pay your bills, property still needs to be managed, bills still need to be paid.

Who you would want to do that is something that you need to decide.

And how will that occur?

Again, are the different strategies that are available to you.

Perhaps you would want your spouse to make medical decisions for you if you weren't able to make them yourself. Well, did you know that in Michigan, a spouse, just because they are your spouse, does not have any legal authority to tell a doctor what medical action to take on your behalf.

The only way that your spouse has that legal authority is if you either give it to your spouse or they end up going to the probate court, petitioning the probate court to have them appointed as your legal guardian.

And just because they are your spouse, they also don't have any legal authority to manage your property.
Again, you can give them that legal authority or they would have to go to the probate court to get it.

The primary documents that are used to give authority to people to make medical decisions for us and to manage our property are going to be the health care power of attorney and the durable power of attorney.

These are both documents that you should have in which you name the people that you want to make your medical decisions. You can indicate what you want those medical decisions to be, as well as naming who it is that you want to manage your property.

These are important documents, and again, our office recommends that everybody have a health care power of attorney and a durable power of attorney.

In later programs, we will go into greater detail about these respective documents and how they work.

In later programs, we will also be talking about the decisions that you will have to make concerning who it is that you're going to want to be in charge of carrying out your estate planning wishes. That is, who you would want to be a personal representative under a will, or who you would want to be a successor trustee in a living trust if you were to have a trust, or who you want to be named as your patient advocate or your agent in your incapacity planning documents.

These again are going to be important decisions that you have to make, and in later programs we'll talk about some of the things that you should consider in making those decisions.

Finally, keep in mind that putting together your estate plan, as important as it is, is not likely the only planning that you need to do to have peace of mind in knowing that you have everything in order.

You might need help with your financial plan, or you might need help with insurance planning.

Perhaps some sort of Medicaid planning, or planning for veteran's benefits is going to be important to you.

And lastly, you should give some thought to your funeral planning. In my experience, pre-planning your funeral is one more important step that you can take. In having a plan that will be best for your loved ones at the time of your death.

In future programs, I will be interviewing various professionals in each of these areas.

Well, that's about it for our program today.

I hope that you enjoyed it.

If you have a comment about our program, a topic that you would like to have me discuss, questions that you would like to have answered, Michigan places or events that you think I should visit or talk about, send me an email.

That would be Tom at doylelawpc.com.

Or mail me a postcard, Tom Doyle, PO Box 16066, Lansing, Michigan 48901.

Of course, we invite you to follow us on Facebook and Twitter and have information on those links on our website, doylelawpc.com.

Please check back at the website for information on upcoming programs.

And finally, please remember that the information discussed during this program is for educational purposes only and is not intended to be legal advice.

Thanks again for listening.

I hope that you have an awesome day in Michigan.

Thank you.

See you again.