Our own Managing Attorney Bob Mannor has been asked to present along with several other expert speakers at a two-day Real Estate Investing event coming up in Novi in early April.

Topics will include:

• How to get a consistent return on your real estate investments
• How to use IRA money to invest in real estate
• Maximizing your return on real estate investing
• Protecting your investments from creditors and predators
• The “Success Doctor” – Dr. Ron Eccles on achieving your goals with clarity of vision and purpose

For more information and details about this event, visit the website www.billclarkevents.com.

When a person gets divorced in Michigan, it is especially important to change beneficiary designations to remove an ex-spouse. Sometimes people mistakenly believe that they can change beneficiary designations with a last will and testament, but a beneficiary designation can only be changed directly with the financial institution or insurance company which holds the assets.

Some retirement assets, (i.e., employer-sponsored plans such as ERISA plans) have requirements that a spouse must receive his/her marital share of the asset. That means the account holder cannot leave the entire asset to the children, or anyone else. The marital share of the retirement account may vary from state to state and from case to case. For example, if a couple has been married since the husband started working, and his retirement assets are held in one account, he cannot give away more than half of the account assets because half legally belongs to the wife. It is her marital share of the retirement account. If the account holder signs a beneficiary designation leaving the entire account to someone else, the spouse would get half under law.

A spouse cannot be removed from an ERISA beneficiary designation until a divorce is final. If a spouse dies during a divorce, the soon-to-be-ex-spouse would be entitled to his/her marital share. Once a divorce is final, the account holder should change the beneficiary designations if s/he does not want to leave the asset to the ex-spouse. Sometimes parties are required to leave a share of an asset as part of the divorce agreement.

Getting Legal Help

Understanding how a divorce, or a separation, can impact everything from your retirement accounts to your estate plan. Experienced Michigan Estate Planning Attorney Bob Mannor can help you create a new plan for your new life and protect your assets. Contact us today at 1-800-990-6030.

Retirement accounts, investment accounts, and insurance policies all have beneficiary designations. A beneficiary designation tells the financial institution or insurance company who should receive your assets or the insurance proceeds when you die. A will does not control who gets property held in an account with a beneficiary designation on file.

The paperwork on file with the financial institution or insurance company determines where the asset will go. For example, if a spouse designates the other spouse as the beneficiary, and then leaves a will giving the same property to a sibling, the will would have no legal significance because the beneficiary designation would control who gets the asset. The spouse would receive the asset and not the sibling.

Update Beneficiary Paperwork Regularly

Most people complete beneficiary paperwork when they initially open an account or purchase insurance. Beneficiary designations should be reviewed every year and changed whenever necessary. Successor beneficiaries should also be reviewed and updated.  When you begin the estate planning process, you should check all your accounts and see what beneficiary designations are in place.

Getting Legal Help

Experienced Michigan Estate Planning Attorney Bob Mannor can help you create a comprehensive estate plan which meets all your goals and coordinates with other documents you have already created. Contact us today and learn more about how to protect your assets and your loved ones: 1-800-990-6030.

Portability is a tax benefit for married individuals which was set to expire at the end of 2012, along with many other tax benefits. This tax benefit was not only saved from the chopping block, but it was made permanent. Portability allows a married couple to leave up to $10.24 million tax-free.

To understand portability, it’s best to understand how the tax laws operated without portability. Each spouse is allowed to leave assets and to give lifetime gifts of up to $5.12 million without incurring a gift or estate tax. Before portability, if a spouse died and didn’t use his or her entire exemption, then the unused exemption was simply wasted. For example, if a husband gave one million dollars over his lifetime, then his unused $4.12 million would go to waste. Now, under portability, in this same example, the wife would be allowed to leave the unused $4.12 million in addition to her $5.12 million.

The executor of the estate must file a tax return for the first spouse to die in order to take advantage of the portability tax benefits, even if the spouse does not owe any estate taxes. It is not uncommon for a spouse to leave everything to the other spouse and in that case, there may not be any taxes due upon the first spouse’s death. It’s important to know that a tax return must be filed or the benefit of portability will not be allowed to the surviving spouse.

Getting Legal Help

Experienced Michigan Estate Planning Attorney Bob Mannor can help you understand the tax advantages available to you and create a plan which minimizes tax consequences for your estate. Contact us today at 1-800-990-6030.

Come join us next week for paczkis and practical learning on Fat Tuesday!  If you have not yet attended one of our educational workshops, come learn how to stay in control and protect your loved ones if an unexpected health crisis or death affects your family.  Information is empowering, and we want to empower you!  The workshop is:

Tuesday, February 12th
2pm or 6pm (Choose the best time for you)
The Fairfield Inn & Suites
3125 West Silver Lake Road
Fenton, MI  48430

The workshop is free, but seating is limited, so be sure to reserve your spot.

If you can’t make it to Fenton on Tuesday, we will be offering workshops in Lapeer on Thursday, February 21st.  Call us for details.

We would love to see you at one of our presentations.  Please call today to register at  810-694-9000 or 1-800-990-6030.

Hope to see you there!

The new rates for the Aid & Attendance benefits for veterans have been published.  As most of you know, the Aid & Attendance benefit is a non-service connected disability benefit for veterans and/or surviving spouses who require some sort of long term care (in home or at an assisted living facility).  The maximum rates have increased for 2013, and the new rates are as follows:

Veteran with spouse: $2,054/month = $24,652/year
Veteran with no dependents: $1,733/month = $20,795/year
Widow(er) of Veteran: $1,113/month = $13,362/year

If you are interested in learning more about the Aid & Attendance benefit, or would like to know if you or your loved one qualifies for these benefits, feel free to call us at 1-800-990-6030.

We want to wish all of our clients and their families a wonderful Christmas and many blessings in the coming year!

Please Note:
Our office will be closed on December 24^th – 26^th, December 31^st, and January 1^st as we celebrate the Christmas and New Year holidays with our families.

At this customary time of giving thanks, we are especially grateful for our wonderful, loyal clients.  We have been truly blessed to know you, and to assist so many of you with your individual needs.  Thank you for putting your trust in us, and you can be assured that we will always continue to do our very best to deserve your trust and loyalty.  Wishing you all many blessings and a very happy Thanksgiving!

For the last year, the Department of Veterans Affairs has been denying claims for the Aid & Attendance benefit if room and board costs were invoiced separately from the care costs for ‘Activities of Daily Living’ (ADL).  Typically this is how billing is set up for most “Independent Living” situations.  Claims were often being denied even when the doctor’s statement said the person needed “custodial care” or a “protective environment.”

The Department of Veterans Affairs has now clarified (in a memo dated October 26, 2012), that room and board is a deductible medical expense if:

1)      The doctor states that the person needs custodial care or a protective environment, and

2)      The person is paying for assistance with at least two ADLs, regardless of whether they pay the facility or a third party for the assistance with ADLs.

This is great news that will make it much more straightforward to secure these benefits for our well-deserving veterans who require such assistance in an independent living situation.  If you are interested in learning more about the Aid & Attendance benefits, or would like to know if you or your loved one qualifies for these benefits, feel free to call us at 1-800-990-6030.