Oakland County MI Estate Planning Law Blog

Detroit-area readers may have noticed that previous posts usually mention the need for a comprehensive estate plan. Whether your goal is to avoid litigation between family members, ensure your wishes are followed in the distribution of your assets, or set up long-term care options, comprehensive estate plans can prevent an untold number of headaches.

However, there are often so many different options to consider that an estate plan can become quite detailed over time. Most Oakland County residents likely begin their estate planning process by asking what should be done to preserve and pass down assets. Still, a more readily answered question might be the inverse: what should I avoid in order to achieve my estate planning goals?

When Oakland County residents think of establishing a trust, they may think of one aspect in particular: trusts are complicated. While that can be true, the real benefits of trusts are worth the effort when it comes to tax planning or protecting an inheritance. This is true not only for individuals thinking of individual estate planning; trusts can also be an extremely useful for small business owners who intend to eventually pass their business and assets on to beneficiaries.

The parameters of a trust vary based on the desired outcome. One of the benefits of considering a trust for business succession is that a trust can allow for a controlled or gradual transition. This can benefit both the owner and the intended beneficiary.

Previous posts have mentioned that Michigan is one state making progress on the simplification of estate administration and distribution of assets. Estate administration is hard enough without having to work around complex state laws and requirements.

However, reports continue to show that large segments of the population still fail to make estate plans at all, neglecting even the provision of a simple will.

Michigan residents may be aware of the challenges involved when a person inherits assets. For example, discussions of recent high-profile celebrity deaths often quickly turn to the question of who will raise the kids and get the millions. Most of these celebrities even had wills, but that does not necessarily prevent subsequent disputes over the content of those wills.

But estate planning can be extremely complicated for all people, not just celebrities. As much as everyone would like to see a simple solution for passing on one's assets, sometimes unavoidable factors have to be considered, making the estate planning process a bit more complicated.