Estate Planning 15 - Personal Family Lawyer

Aretha Franklin Dies Without a Will

August 31, 2018

Aretha Franklin, heralded as the “Queen of Soul,” died from pancreatic cancer at age 76 on August 16th at her home in Detroit. Like Prince, who died in 2016, Franklin was one of the greatest musicians of our time. Also like Prince, however, she died without a will or trust to pass on her multimillion-dollar…

August 3, 2018

It’s back-to-school time again, and when it comes to estate planning you may have homework to do. As a parent, your most critical—and often overlooked—task is to select and legally document guardians for your minor children. Guardians are people legally named to care for your children in the event of your death or incapacity. If…

July 20, 2018

Last week, we shared the first part of this series explaining the powers and duties that come with serving as trustee. Here in part two, we discuss the rest of a trustee’s core responsibilities. Being asked to serve as trustee can be a huge honor—but it’s also a major responsibility. Indeed, the job entails a…

July 13, 2018

If a friend or family member has asked you to serve as trustee for their trust upon their death, you should feel honored—this means they consider you among the most honest, reliable, and responsible people they know. However, being a trustee is not only a great honor, it’s also a major responsibility. The job can…

June 8, 2018

Whether through illness, injury, or other means, anyone can require a guardian to become appointed if they become mentally incapacitated. In such cases, if there is no estate planning in place (or insufficient planning) to keep family or other loved ones out of court, a guardianship, or conservatorship as it is sometimes called, must be…

June 1, 2018

One of the biggest appeals of cryptocurrency, like Bitcoin, is that it is decentralized, unregulated, and anonymous. There are no financial institutions controlling it, and unless you tell someone you own digital currency, it remains a secret. When it comes to estate planning, however, that kind of secrecy can be disastrous. In fact, without the…

May 25, 2018

Last week, we shared the first part of our series on the importance of estate planning for those without children. If you haven’t read it yet, you can do so here. Here in part two, we discuss the other risks involved for those who forego estate planning. Someone will have power over your health care…

May 18, 2018

It’s a common misconception to think that if you don’t have children, you don’t need to worry about estate planning. But the fact is, it can be even MORE important to do estate planning if you have no children. Some of the common thoughts behind this mistaken belief may take one of these forms: “If…

May 4, 2018

Last week, we shared the first part of our series on selecting and naming the right guardians for your children. Here in part two, we discuss the final three steps in the process. 4. Narrow candidate list, and rank your choices When you’ve come up with all of the potential candidates for guardian, narrow down…

April 27, 2018

One of your most important responsibilities as a parent is to select and legally document guardians for your children. This doesn’t mean just naming godparents or trusting the grandparents will step in if necessary. It means consciously deciding who would raise your children if you cannot. And then it means legally documenting your choices and…

Include Your Intellectual Property in Your Estate Plan

You don’t have to be a famous producer or household name to own intellectual property. If you create music, own a business, write stories, or build gadgets in your garage, you almost certainly have intellectual property. However, because intellectual property…

Help Your Parents Avoid These New Financial Scams – Part 2

In part one of this series, we explored two popular scams that are targeting older adults this year: the grandparent scam, and cryptocurrency pickpocketing. In this week’s blog, I’m sharing two more scams that you and your parents need to…

Help Your Parents Avoid These New Financial Scams – Part 1

Fraudsters and scam artists are nothing new, but changing tools and technology are making it easier than ever for scammers to target their victims, especially seniors. To protect your aging parents (or yourself) from these con artists, it’s crucial to…