Anyone who has seen my house at Christmas knows that it tops the list as my favorite holiday. We deck the halls, make cookies, exchange presents, look at light displays, and revel in the Christmas spirit as long as possible. Christmas in July seems like a great idea except we can’t celebrate Christmas in July until Independence Day has passed! While Christmas is my favorite holiday, the 4th of July ranks a very close second. Now you really may be wondering where I’m headed in this blog dedicated … [Read more...] about What Independence Day Teaches Us About Estate Planning

Just about a year ago, this blog examined the case of In Re Gregory Hall Trust, No. 361528 (Mich. Ct. App. March 16, 2023) (Should In Re Gregory Hall Trust Change the Way We Think About Amending Trusts?). In Hall, the upper court affirmed a lower court opinion holding that a spreadsheet created by the decedent years after executing his Estate Plan and prior to his death constituted an amendment to his Trust, notwithstanding that the document was not in the form of a typical Trust amendment and … [Read more...] about Courts Allowing More Flexible Trust Amendments

Some of my earliest memories of my grandmother center around her barn, The Purple Onion. I found many treasures in that barn and loved to visit my grandmother just to explore its contents. My favorite part was when she would invite me into the barn and show me her beautiful collections. I remember exquisite glass that sparkled in the sunlight, simple toys that I didn’t see in the store, and furniture that gleamed from polish. My grandmother was a collector and sold her wares at flea markets. … [Read more...] about The Purple Onion…an ode to Tangible Personal Property

The recent death of Orenthal James (“O.J.”) Simpson brought back some interesting memories. I recalled the media’s fascination with the “Trial of the Century” starring O.J., himself, the “Dream Team” of lawyers representing him, and the victims, his beautiful ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson (“Nicole”), and her friend, Ronald Goldman (“Ron”). The media seemed to give the trial around-the-clock coverage. Looking back now, it’s easy to see why. Prior to the trial, O.J. had an impressive career as a … [Read more...] about The “Juice” and an Executor’s Duties

Clients desiring to make gifts often ask about the conditions that they can place upon the gift thereby requiring or forbidding some act prior to receipt. Requests run the gamut from prohibition on tattoos to no children outside of wedlock to divorce of a spouse. If the condition goes against public policy, for example, requiring divorce or a criminal act, or is otherwise impossible to meet, for example, transmuting into an inanimate object, then it will be ignored. Recently, a Michigan … [Read more...] about What You Should Know About Conditional Gifts

Congress enacted the Corporate Transparency Act (the “Act”) for Fiscal Year 2021 as part of the National Defense Authorization Act with an effective date of January 1, 2024, which this blog first reviewed herein The Not-So Transparent Corporate Transparency Act. The Act requires any “Reporting Company” to file “Beneficial Ownership Information” (“BOI”) reports with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) for its “Beneficial Owners” and if created after January 1, 2024, its “Company … [Read more...] about What You Need to Know about the Corporate Transparency Act

On January 1, 2024, the Applicable Exclusion Amount (“AEA”) reached a record high amount of $13.61 million. The AEA is the amount that any person can pass to a non-spouse without incurring an estate tax. An individual can pass an unlimited amount to the U.S. citizen spouse without worry about incurring a gift or estate tax. In 2011, legislation set the “permanent” exclusion amount at $5 million, as adjusted for inflation. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (“TCJA”) temporarily doubled the … [Read more...] about Use It or Lose It…Examining the Efficacy of the Spouse And Family Exclusion Trust or Spousal Lifetime Access Trust