Take-Away:  A decedent’s creditor are treated more favorably than the decedent’s surviving spouse under Michigan’s probate laws. Context: A law that has always puzzled me has been Michigan’s probate Code’s description of a surviving spouse’s elective rights. Michigan took a minority position when it adopted its version of the Uniform Probate Code  with regard to […]

Spousal Support: Formerly called alimony, spousal support is governed by Michigan statute and court rule. As a generalization, spousal support is awarded in the discretion of the trial judge. This decision is premised upon a multi-factor analysis, i.e. a litany of equitable facts, that guide the trial judge and used to justify the amount awarded, […]

This past weekend I had the opportunity to speak with Nancy Welber, a fellow ACTEC member, who is on the ACTEC subcommittee that is in the process of submitting a proposed recommendation to the Senate Finance Committee on stretch IRAs. Nancy gave me an informal update on where things stand with the stretch IRA rules. […]

Take-Away: Merely because the trustee possesses the authority in a trust instrument to change the trust’s situs does not mean that the trustee can also change the trust’s governing law. These concepts are not the same. Context: Much has been written about several states that now regularly compete for trust business. A month does not […]

Take-Away:  When a married couple own a closely held business and they plan to exploit the opportunity to pay federal estate taxes associated with that business in installments over several years, it would be wise for the deceased owner of the business to reconsider the IDGT lifetime sale strategy, and to use a QTIP Trust […]

With all the headline news about the non-repeal of the Affordable Care Act, it is easy to overlook (or ignore) some of the tools that are currently available to help middle and low income individuals pay for their health care like contributions to a health savings account. Take-Away Message: Name a surviving spouse, if possible, […]

There seems to be continued interest in gaining a working knowledge of IRA distribution rules. In particular it appears some assumptions that revolve around inherited IRAs  may not be quite as accurate as we would like. This confusion often occurs when we mix our regular IRA distribution rules with those distribution rules that apply to […]

Take-Away: I wrote recently that there may be a back-door approach to attack a Michigan Qualified Dispositions in Trust if a creditor asserts that the Trust is nothing more than the alter-ego of the Trust settlor. A highly respected commentator recently concluded that such an attack based on alter ego judicial equitable remedy may not […]

As I promised at this morning’s meeting, what follows is a summary of the Michigan Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (Act). I apologize in advance for it not being riveting reading! Take-Away:  Fiduciaries now have access to digital assets as authorized by the Act. It is important that the governing instrument that authorizes the […]

Take-Away: An estate tax apportionment clause is an important provision in a Will or Trust when there is a second marriage, children with different parents, or an extensive use of non-probate transfers techniques like ladybird deeds, TODs, PODs, and IRAs. Without careful allocation of federal and state estate taxes associated with these beneficiaries and non-probate […]