Pages
- Areas We Serve
- BLOG
- Communities We Serve – Bad Axe
- Communities We Serve – Caro
- Communities We Serve – Cass City
- Communities We Serve – Deckerville
- Communities We Serve – Huron County
- Communities We Serve – Lapeer County
- Communities We Serve – Reese
- Communities We Serve – Saginaw County
- Communities We Serve – St. Clair County
- Communities We Serve – Tuscola County
- Communities We Serve – Sanilac County
- Communities We Serve- Bay County
- Contact Us
- Disclaimer
- eAlerts
- Estate and Gift Tax Figures
- Estate Planning Articles
- Find an Academy Attorney
- Free Estate Planning Presentations
- Free Estate Planning Worksheet
- Glossary
- News & Events
- Newsletters
- Our Firm
- Practice Areas
- Privacy Policy
- Read Our Reviews
- Reports
- Resources
- Review of Our Services
- Services
- Asset Protection
- Elder Law
- Estate Planning Services
- Family-Owned Businesses & Farms
- Financial Planning Assistance
- Guardianships/Conservatorship
- How the New Estate Tax Exclusion Affects Your Estate Plan
- Incapacity Planning
- Legacy Planning
- LGBT Estate Planning
- Medicaid Crisis Planning
- Medicaid Pre-Planning
- Pet Planning
- Power of Attorney
- Probate
- Probate Avoidance
- Special Needs Planning
- Trust & Estate Planning
- Trust Administration
- Trusts
- Veterans’ Benefits
- Special Needs Planning
- THANKS FOR SUBSCRIBING TO OUR BLOG! WE WILL GET IN TOUCH WITH YOU SHORTLY.
- Young Families
Posts by category
- Category: Elder Law
- What is a Springing Power of Attorney?
- What are the Consequences of Nursing Home Abuse?
- Are There Tax Breaks for Saving for Retirement?
- How Should I Save for Retirement?
- Five Ways to Prepare for a Serious Health Emergency
- What is Aid & Attendance and How Does it Help Veterans?
- Drug Resistant Bacteria Create Nursing Home UTI Risks
- Why Talk with Elder Law Attorneys After a Terminal Illness Diagnosis?
- 4 Components of an Incapacity Plan
- More Americans with Alzheimer’s Are Dying at Home
- Had a Baby? Schedule a Meeting with an Elder Law Attorney
- How a Northern Michigan Elder Law Attorney Helps Young People
- How a Northern Michigan Power of Attorney Lawyer Helps You Choose an Agent
- 5 Ways an Elder Law Attorney Can Help With Your Finances
- What Steps Should Be Part of Your Asset Protection Plan?
- Step by Step Guide to Creating Durable Powers of Attorney
- 5 Surprising Things an Elder law Lawyer Can Help With
- The Right Way to Deal with Rising Nursing Home Costs
- Elder Law, Your VA Benefits, And You
- What Does an Elder Law Attorney Do?
- Get the Elder Law Answers You Need with a Michigan Medicaid Attorney
- Why We All Need Healthcare Directives
- Six Reasons You Need a Michigan Medicaid Attorney
- Don’t Take Chances with Your Medicaid Eligibility in Michigan
- Five Signs That You Need a Michigan Elder Law Attorney
- Category: Estate Planning
- How Your Family Situation Affects Your Plans for Your Legacy
- Special Estate Planning Issues When You Have a Large Estate
- Five Questions to Help You Determine if Your Assets are at Risk
- Why Do People Procrastinate About Estate Planning?
- Are There Special Estate Tax Rules for Family Farms?
- How to Make a Plan to Protect Your Pets
- How to Pick a Legal Guardian for Your Kids
- Key Facts About Aid & Attendance
- Do You Need Life Insurance?
- Sleeping Pill Concerns for Senior Citizens
- Why Durable Powers of Attorney are Vital for Incapacity Planning
- 5 Life Changes That Should Send You to an Estate Plannning Lawyer
- Three Key Reasons to Talk with Caro Estate Planning Lawyers
- 5 Reasons to Create a Durable Power of Attorney
- Why Is It Important to Work with an Estate Planning Lawyer to Protect a Family Farm?
- Do Young People Really Need Estate Planning Lawyers?
- Pros and Cons of Durable Power of Attorney vs. Guardianship
- Does a Living Trust Protect You In Case of Incapacity?
- How Can I Pass A Business Down to My Kids?
- How Does Estate Tax Affect Farms?
- What if You Choose the Wrong Kind of Trust?
- How Often Should You Meet with an Estate Planning Attorney?
- Estate Planning Tips for Single Parents
- Why Business Owners Should Talk to a Michigan Trust Attorney
- 5 Reasons to Create a Trust
- 5 Times A Will Isn’t Enough for Your Estate Plan
- Benefits Offered by a Michigan Estate Planning Lawyer
- Michigan has Abolished Dower Rights Effective April 1, 2017.
- Beginner’s Guide: What is a Trust?
- Key Tips to Navigate Michigan Probate Court Proceedings
- 5 Facts About Medicaid Eligibility in Michigan
- Incapacity, Guardianship, and You
- Secure the Veteran’s Benefits You Need
- Safeguard Your Wealth with an Asset Protection Lawyer
- Five Facts You Need to Know about the Michigan Power of Attorney
- Will Revocable Trusts Offer the Flexibility You Need?
- Should You Plan to Avoid Conservatorship?
- The Power of Attorney: Your Shield Against an Uncertain Future
- Could a Family Limited Partnership Preserve Your Family’s Assets?
- Use Pet Planning to Ensure Your Pets’ Wellbeing When You’re Gone
- How Joint Tenancy Can Benefit Your Estate Planning
- Essential Estate Planning Facts about Setting Up a Trust
- Why Buy-Sell Agreements Are Essential for Your Business and Estate Plan
- Facts About the Testamentary Trust You Need to Know
- Get the facts about the Inheritance Tax in Michigan
- Four Key Family Trust Benefits for Your Estate Planning
- The Pros and Cons of the DIY Will
- Why Asset Protection is Critical for Your Estate Plan Needs
- Why You Should Rely on Your Michigan Estate Planning Attorney
- Will Trump’s Estate Tax Proposal Complicate Planning?
- Wills Vs Trusts: The Never-Ending Debate
- Learn How the Revocable Living Trust Can Benefit Your Estate Planning Goals
- Enjoy the Advantages Revocable Trusts Can Provide
- Don’t Believe These Common Last Will and Testament Myths
- A Michigan Trusts Lawyer Can Help You Protect Your Family
- Does Your Estate Plan Need to Include Business Planning Too?
- You Don’t Have to Be Rich to Benefit from Irrevocable Trusts
- Don’t Neglect Incapacity Planning in Your Estate Planning Strategy
- Securing Your Assets with Medicaid Planning
- Asset Protection Strategies that Can Protect Your Estate
- Why You Shouldn’t Be Without a Michigan Estate Planning Attorney
- Category: General
- Category: Medicaid
- Why Asset Protection is More Important if You’re Getting Older
- What Caregivers Need to Know About Medicaid
- Costs of Different Long-Term Care Options
- Does Medicaid Pay for Home Healthcare?
- What is Custodial Care and Why Does it Matter?
- How Can You Find Out About Nursing Home Quality?
- How Many People and Families Rely on Medicaid?
- How Medicaid Helps Protect Your Assets
- Holding Michigan Nursing Homes Accountable for Abuse and Neglect
- How Much Do Seniors Need to Save for Medical Care During Retirement?
- How to Protect Access to Medicaid for Your Disabled Child
- 5 Reasons Medicaid Planning is Important
- Poll: No Obamacare Repeal Until Replacement Found
- How Will the ACA’s Fate Impact Michigan Medicaid?
- Medicaid Study Reveals Increase in Michigan Insured
- As Medicaid Payment Shortfalls Grow, Expansion Yields Little Benefit for Hospitals
- Category: Probate
- Why It’s Important for Your Family to Know Where Your Assets Are
- 5 Ways a Probate Attorney Helps Executors
- 5 Reasons a Will Could be Contested
- What Does it Mean to Contest a Will?
- 3 People Who Should Have a Lawyer In Michigan Probate Court
- 3 People Who Should Be Represented by a Northern Michigan Probate Lawyer
- What is the Role of an Executor in Probate Court?
- Reduce Executor Stress with Professional Probate Services
- Avoiding Probate: It’s Not as Difficult as You Might Think
- Why Executors Need a Probate Lawyer
- Can Your Estate Avoid Michigan Probate Court?
- Reduce Your Stress with Professional Probate Services
- Do I Need Probate? How to Know When Simple Probate Is All You Need
- How You Can Avoid the Michigan Probate Process
- Category: Trust Administration
- Category: Uncategorized
- Category: Wills
Staff Profiles
- MICHELLE BIDDINGER
- JASON BITZER
- RACHEL M. ESTELLE
- GREG SCHROT
- VICKI FRITZ
- BARBARA DOERR
- ELAINE OSENTOSKI
- LINDA BITZER
- DEB MCCLOREY
- SARA BOUCK
- HEATHER SEVERANCE
- MARNEY REEHL
- DEBRA BITZER
- CHERYL SKINNER
- AMY HARTEL
FAQ
- Is a Living Trust a good idea for a LGBT person?
- Do unmarried couples have to plan more than married couples do?
- Are my estate planning documents a matter of public record?
- Is there a tax if I give some of my property to my spouse or partner?
- Will my spouse or partner be appointed guardian of my minor child?
- Can I make decisions about my spouse or partner’s remains?
- How can I be sure that I will be allowed to visit my spouse or partner in the hospital or assisted living facility?
- Can my spouse or partner make medical decisions for me if I’m sick?
- Can my spouse or partner handle my financial affairs if I am incapacitated?
- I’m married, why do I need to plan?
- Does marriage, domestic partnership or civil union provide all the benefits of marriage?
- Is a Living Trust a good idea for a LGBT person?
- Do unmarried couples have to plan more than married couples do?
- Are my estate planning documents a matter of public record?
- Is there a tax if I give some of my property to my spouse or partner?
- Will my spouse or partner be appointed guardian of my minor child?
- Can I make decisions about my spouse or partner’s remains?
- How can I be sure that I will be allowed to visit my spouse or partner in the hospital or assisted living facility?
- Can my spouse or partner make medical decisions for me if I’m sick?
- Can my spouse or partner handle my financial affairs if I am incapacitated?
- I am in an unmarried relationship, do I need to plan?
- I am married, why do I need to plan?
- Does same-sex marriage, domestic partnership, or civil union provide all the benefits of heterosexual marriage?
- How will my income tax return get filed?
- What happens if my son needs his tuition paid while I’m disabled?
- What happens if my investments need to be changed quickly due to market conditions or to reflect new circumstances and risk tolerance?
- How will my bills get paid?
- If I have no chance of recovery, will I be kept on life support?
- Who will decide medical treatment issues?
- Who will decide where I live?
- What do I do about Social Security?
- How do I transfer the car(s) into my name?
- Can I pick and choose what assets go into the “B” trust?
- I thought that a living trust avoids probate and attorney fees. Why do I have to pay more fees?
- Does the Trust Administration process take a long time?
- What is Probate Court?
- Does the Probate process take a long time?
- What is Probate?
- What steps can I take to preserve my legacy?
- Can any attorney create a Family Wealth Trust?
- Is a Family Wealth Trust only for the rich?
- If I have a “bare bones” living trust should I go back to the attorney who drafted the trust?
- How do I know if I have a “bare bones” living trust?
- Is the Family Wealth Trust some kind of loophole the government will eventually close down?
- Can I transfer real estate into a Family Wealth Trust?
- Will a Family Wealth Trust avoid income taxes?
- If I set up a Family Wealth Trust, can I be my own trustee?
- Why should I have a Family Wealth Trust?
- The possibility of a disabling injury or illness scares me. What would happen if I were mentally disabled and had no estate plan or just a Will?
- How does a Family Wealth Trust differ from a Revocable Living Trust?
- What’s the difference between having a Will and a Living Trust?
- What is a Family Wealth Trust?
- If I don’t create an estate plan, won’t the government provide one for me?
- What is the difference between “traditional” estate planning and Legacy Wealth Planning?
- Why do I need an estate plan?
- What is “traditional” estate planning?
- What is Legacy Wealth Planning?
- Must an estate tax return be filed if portability will be utilized?
- What is portability?
- What is a state estate or inheritance tax?
- What is the federal estate tax?
- Can any attorney create a Living Trust?
- Isn’t a Living Trust only for the rich?
- Is the Living Trust some kind of loophole the government will eventually close down?
- Can I transfer real estate into a Living Trust?
- Will a Living Trust avoid income taxes?
- If I set up a Living Trust, can I be my own trustee?
- The possibility of a disabling injury or illness scares me. What would happen if I were mentally disabled and had no estate plan or just a Will?
- What’s the difference between having a Will and a Living Trust?
- If I don’t create an estate plan, won’t the government provide one for me?
- Why do I need an estate plan?