What a fitting quote from a literary giant of the twentieth century, a writer whose stories often pitted man against nature…an indifferent and relentless nature quick to penalize one’s mistakes.

And what an appropriate analogy to use when depicting the stripe of our stock market. Indeed, savvy investors remain hopeful at best that their astute selections will help them achieve their retirement goals. At the same time, the markets care less, of course, that we need money for retirement, or to pay medical bills. It rocks-and-rolls on a fevered pitch because it’s influenced, for the most part, by factors beyond our control.

‘Contributing’ to our retirement is only part of the formula…

However, we remain optimistic that by simply making contributions to our retirement funds and other savings accounts, that somehow our financial goals will be met.

But the heft and consistency of our contributions may not be enough if we don’t know how to make those funds grow over the years, making the mistake of not following the advice of a financial professional; making the mistake of not protecting our assets from nursing home costs through long-term care insurance, or leaving our heirs vulnerable to huge tax bills if we fail to make a Last Will as part of our overall estate planning.

Survey shows financial optimism…

Yes, we are a confident lot, and a recent survey published in Forbes attests to glimmers of hope we have about our financial futures. A National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC) survey taken in December 2014 found that 49% of those responding expected their finances would improve by December 2015. Only 17% expected their situation to worsen while 23% were confident things stay about the same.

Since the Great Recession of 2008, consumers have held back on their spending, but the survey indicated that respondents were “experiencing the seven-year itch with a desire to spend again,” noted Gail Cunningham from the NFCC.

Will our new spending lead to more risk-taking?

But, as Cunningham notes,  and in our rush to start spending again, we can also “invite a personal financial disaster.” Even more reason to seek reliable financial and legal guidance.

TIAA-CREF: study indicates some can’t find the time to seek advice.

A lot of us, though, push back on the idea of spending money to get advice on how we should invest. TIAA-CREF study reveals that 44% of us think that financial advice costs more than they can afford to pay.

More striking, perhaps, is that 35% of those asked said that it’s “too hard to find the time to look for financial advice.” Interestingly enough, often the push back comes because we don’t know what questions to ask (32%).

Kudos to those who do get financial advice because a list of ‘positives’ generally begin to surface with 86% of those surveyed saying they actually “took action” to influence their financial outcomes, including changing their spending habits (62%) to making changes to their retirement and savings accounts (53%).

Sitting down with an experienced estate planner can bring a litany of insights to investment decisions that might be headed in the wrong direction. For example, the simple act of naming beneficiaries in both TOD and POD categories can avoid these transfer of assets from the public eye via probate courts.

Treat investor checkups like an annual ‘physical.’

If we are a people steeped in self-reliance, then that very fact can often set our financial goals back; this, because we reach for an over-the-counter solution (online ‘wills’) when we need a measured and steady hand on the tiller.

Much like that annual physical checkup, investors need to an experienced eye to give us the big picture, and provide us with a detailed strategy that includes retirement, insurance (disability…long-term care??) in a well-executed estate plan.

Contact us to link your financial strategy to your estate plan.

The post Estate planning entails making the right financial decisions, like choosing beneficiaries. appeared first on Estate Planning Lawyers | Elder Law Attorneys | Brighton | Novi | Livonia Elder Law Attorneys.

What a fitting quote from a literary giant of the twentieth century, a writer whose stories often pitted man against nature…an indifferent and relentless nature quick to penalize one’s mistakes.

And what an appropriate analogy to use when depicting the stripe of our stock market. Indeed, savvy investors remain hopeful at best that their astute selections will help them achieve their retirement goals. At the same time, the markets care less, of course, that we need money for retirement, or to pay medical bills. It rocks-and-rolls on a fevered pitch because it’s influenced, for the most part, by factors beyond our control.

‘Contributing’ to our retirement is only part of the formula…

However, we remain optimistic that by simply making contributions to our retirement funds and other savings accounts, that somehow our financial goals will be met.

But the heft and consistency of our contributions may not be enough if we don’t know how to make those funds grow over the years, making the mistake of not following the advice of a financial professional; making the mistake of not protecting our assets from nursing home costs through long-term care insurance, or leaving our heirs vulnerable to huge tax bills if we fail to make a Last Will as part of our overall estate planning.

Survey shows financial optimism…

Yes, we are a confident lot, and a recent survey published in Forbes attests to glimmers of hope we have about our financial futures. A National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC) survey taken in December 2014 found that 49% of those responding expected their finances would improve by December 2015. Only 17% expected their situation to worsen while 23% were confident things stay about the same.

Since the Great Recession of 2008, consumers have held back on their spending, but the survey indicated that respondents were “experiencing the seven-year itch with a desire to spend again,” noted Gail Cunningham from the NFCC.

Will our new spending lead to more risk-taking?

But, as Cunningham notes,  and in our rush to start spending again, we can also “invite a personal financial disaster.” Even more reason to seek reliable financial and legal guidance.

TIAA-CREF: study indicates some can’t find the time to seek advice.

A lot of us, though, push back on the idea of spending money to get advice on how we should invest. TIAA-CREF study reveals that 44% of us think that financial advice costs more than they can afford to pay.

More striking, perhaps, is that 35% of those asked said that it’s “too hard to find the time to look for financial advice.” Interestingly enough, often the push back comes because we don’t know what questions to ask (32%).

Kudos to those who do get financial advice because a list of ‘positives’ generally begin to surface with 86% of those surveyed saying they actually “took action” to influence their financial outcomes, including changing their spending habits (62%) to making changes to their retirement and savings accounts (53%).

Sitting down with an experienced estate planner can bring a litany of insights to investment decisions that might be headed in the wrong direction. For example, the simple act of naming beneficiaries in both TOD and POD categories can avoid these transfer of assets from the public eye via probate courts.

Treat investor checkups like an annual ‘physical.’

If we are a people steeped in self-reliance, then that very fact can often set our financial goals back; this, because we reach for an over-the-counter solution (online ‘wills’) when we need a measured and steady hand on the tiller.

Much like that annual physical checkup, investors need to an experienced eye to give us the big picture, and provide us with a detailed strategy that includes retirement, insurance (disability…long-term care??) in a well-executed estate plan.

Contact us to link your financial strategy to your estate plan.

The post Estate planning entails making the right financial decisions, like choosing beneficiaries. appeared first on The Elder Care Firm.

Michigan probate is the process through which a court determines how to distribute property after an individual dies. Some assets are distributed to heirs by the court (probate assets) and some assets bypass the court process and go directly to beneficiaries (non-probate assets). With POD and TOD accounts, the account owner names a beneficiary (or beneficiaries) to whom the account assets are to pass when the owner dies. Generally all that is required to get the money or control of the account is for a beneficiary to show the bank manager or the brokerage firm an original death certificate. The funds pass outside of probate, meaning that the beneficiaries can receive the money quickly without the involvement of the probate court. The account assets also receive a “step-up” in basis when the original owner passes away, meaning that no capital gains tax should be due if investments are liquidated in order to be transferred.

Only the account owner has access to the assets while alive; the named beneficiaries have no control over the account, and the owner can change beneficiaries at any time, if competent to do so. If the named beneficiary predeceases the account owner, then the assets are distributed to the remaining beneficiaries or to successor beneficiaries, depending on what the owner writes on the beneficiary designation form or online. If there is only one beneficiary and he or she predeceases the owner, and the owner makes not subsequent changes to the beneficiary designation, the assets go into the account owner’s probate estate.

But receiving assets could be a problem for certain beneficiaries, such as a child with special needs who depends on Medicaid and other public benefits. If the account amount is large enough, it could be advisable to do special needs planning to avoid the assets interfering with the receipt of public benefits. (For more on special needs planning, visit Special Needs Answers.)

Also, some attorneys discourage passing assets through accounts like these for the simple reason that people sometimes forget about the accounts, and their existence can confuse an individual’s estate plan. For example, the will may say that everything should be distributed equally to the account owner’s three children, but the POD or TOD account passes assets to only one child, creating unequal shares among the children. If avoiding probate is the goal, it may be better to put all assets into one revocable trust that clearly states who should get what. But these potential problems are much less of an issue if the estate is a simple one – for example, one surviving parent with only one child..

One type of asset always creates an issue–that is the house.  In Michigan to avoid probate with real estate we typically use a Legacy Deed.  It’s a special type of deed that avoids Michigan probate at death and can pass directly to your beneficiaries.

The post Avoiding Michigan Probate without a Trust: PODs and TODs appeared first on The Elder Care Firm.

Michigan probate is the process through which a court determines how to distribute property after an individual dies. Some assets are distributed to heirs by the court (probate assets) and some assets bypass the court process and go directly to beneficiaries (non-probate assets). With POD and TOD accounts, the account owner names a beneficiary (or beneficiaries) to whom the account assets are to pass when the owner dies. Generally all that is required to get the money or control of the account is for a beneficiary to show the bank manager or the brokerage firm an original death certificate. The funds pass outside of probate, meaning that the beneficiaries can receive the money quickly without the involvement of the probate court. The account assets also receive a “step-up” in basis when the original owner passes away, meaning that no capital gains tax should be due if investments are liquidated in order to be transferred.

Only the account owner has access to the assets while alive; the named beneficiaries have no control over the account, and the owner can change beneficiaries at any time, if competent to do so. If the named beneficiary predeceases the account owner, then the assets are distributed to the remaining beneficiaries or to successor beneficiaries, depending on what the owner writes on the beneficiary designation form or online. If there is only one beneficiary and he or she predeceases the owner, and the owner makes not subsequent changes to the beneficiary designation, the assets go into the account owner’s probate estate.

But receiving assets could be a problem for certain beneficiaries, such as a child with special needs who depends on Medicaid and other public benefits. If the account amount is large enough, it could be advisable to do special needs planning to avoid the assets interfering with the receipt of public benefits. (For more on special needs planning, visit Special Needs Answers.)

Also, some attorneys discourage passing assets through accounts like these for the simple reason that people sometimes forget about the accounts, and their existence can confuse an individual’s estate plan. For example, the will may say that everything should be distributed equally to the account owner’s three children, but the POD or TOD account passes assets to only one child, creating unequal shares among the children. If avoiding probate is the goal, it may be better to put all assets into one revocable trust that clearly states who should get what. But these potential problems are much less of an issue if the estate is a simple one – for example, one surviving parent with only one child..

One type of asset always creates an issue–that is the house.  In Michigan to avoid probate with real estate we typically use a Legacy Deed.  It’s a special type of deed that avoids Michigan probate at death and can pass directly to your beneficiaries.

The post Avoiding Michigan Probate without a Trust: PODs and TODs appeared first on Estate Planning Lawyers | Elder Law Attorneys | Brighton | Novi | Livonia Elder Law Attorneys.

The most notable means of avoiding probate is through a living trust. Upon establishing a living trust, residents of Virginia, Maryland or the District of Columbia may place virtually any asset — real estate, banks accounts, vehicles, etc. — within the trust. He or she then transfers ownership of those assets to him- or herself as the trustee of the trust and names a successor trustee, who will transfer property within the trust to the designated beneficiaries without probate per the original trustee’s terms.

Another common vehicle for avoiding probate is joint ownership, which is also permitted in all three jurisdictions. A joint ownership make take form through either a joint tenancy or tenancy by the entirety. In the former, any property owned jointly automatically passes to the surviving owner upon the death of the other. Each joint tenant must control an equal share of the property. A joint tenancy by the entirety is similar to joint tenancy, but it is available to married couples only.

A person may also use what are known as payable-on-death or transfer-on-death (TOD) designations. Payable-on-death designations for bank accounts (which allow a person to control funds that then pass on to a beneficiary free of probate) and transfer-on-death registrations for securities (in which a beneficiary automatically inherits stocks and bonds upon the death of the grantor) are permitted in all three Washington, D.C., area jurisdictions.

By contrast, the rules for transfer-on-death deeds for real estate and transfer-on-death registrations for vehicles vary among jurisdictions in the Washington, D.C., area. Virginia and the District of Columbia permit transfer-on-death deeds for real estate, which transfer real estate to a beneficiary without probate upon a person’s death, but Maryland does not allow a TOD for real estate. Virginia permits a person to employ a transfer-on-death registration for a vehicle, but neither Maryland nor the District of Columbia allow a TOD for one.

In Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia, a person may opt to not adopt any probate-avoidance planning but still qualify for relatively simplified “small estate” probate procedures. However, should a person wish to avoid probate entirely, an experienced estate-planning attorney will be able to help him or her make the right choices to fit the individual circumstances.

Contact an estate planning lawyer with the McDevitt Law Office of call 1-571-223-7642.