Understanding Michigan’s uncapping rules for real property tax purposes is, to put it mildly, a frustrating exercise, where applying common sense and logic are a property owner’s worst enemy.

We sometimes forget that miscellaneous itemized tax deductions are suspended until 2026.

For those beneficiaries who inherited a retirement account from an owner who was beyond his/her required beginning date at the time of their death, the IRS just provided another year of waiving their annual required minimum distribution.

Estate planning means planning ahead. Each individual’s applicable exemption amount that is used to shelter their transfers from the federal gift, estate, and generation skipping tax will increase come 2024.

A trust beneficiary’s power of withdrawal is treated as a general power of appointment for tax purposes.

Currently there is no income tax deduction for theft losses. The inability to deduct a theft loss can cause enormous hardship on the victims of a theft.

For those individuals born in 1951 who thought that they had to take their first required minimum distribution (RMD) starting in 2023, there is some relief, but only if they act by September 30, 2023.

Individuals who inherit IRAs need to promptly name successor beneficiaries to that IRA in order to avoid having their estate deemed the successor beneficiary.

While Michigan respects the creation and enforcement of an oral trust, there must be clear and convincing evidence of the trust’s terms, and other statutes, like the Statute of Frauds, override the oral trust statute.

The use of a corporate, or professional, trustee can go a long way to maneuver the minefield of family tension and dynamics on a family member’s death.