Contact Us: (248) 409-0256
 

December 2018

Home / 2018

Today, we are celebrating 10 years, yes 10 years in business! Just as in the beginning, we are excited to continue helping small businesses and families with their planning and achieving their goals.  We are thankful for all of our clients and friends we have made along the way. We appreciate the ability to give and gain advice throughout our journey.  We look forward to continuing this path and look forward to the next ten years....

General Motors is currently offering buyouts to 18,000 salaried employees who have 12 or more years of experience. Employee buyout packages can come in the form of a one-time lump sum payment, which without proper planning, can have tax and estate implications. If you decide to take the buyout, there are a few things to consider. Where is the money going to be deposited? If you deposited the money into a bank account and were to pass away without designating beneficiaries, then...

It is fall in Michigan (even though it certainly looks and feels like winter), and now is the time to prepare for a productive new year. For small business owners, you should be considering ways to improve your operations in 2019. One way is to review your business documents. This is important for a small business owner, because dealing with legal issues before they become problems reduces costs and increases your chances of a successful outcome. When was the last time...

Do you own property as joint tenants? Have you considered the planning pitfalls of this way of owning property? Ownership as joint tenants is so pervasive in our society that we don’t look at its downsides. In joint tenancy, each person owns the entire asset, not a part of the asset. This legal fiction of two or more people owning 100 percent of the same asset is derived from the full name given to joint tenancy: joint tenancy with right of...

Blended families by nature bring more people to the table.  The following are only a few of the big challenges we face when planning for a blended family. Your Ex-Spouse A major concern for most divorces is the need to disinherit your ex-spouse. While married to your ex-spouse, you most like designated him/her as the beneficiary of your life insurance policy, a pension plan, 401(K) plan, or similar retirement plan, which was provided by your employer.  If you fail to update your beneficiaries...

Many parents purchase life insurance, sign a will, or prepare a trust to ensure the well-being of their children. The majority of life insurance proceeds are left outright to children and other beneficiaries without a single word of instruction. This kind of planning is a travesty. Minor children cannot own property. Leaving life insurance proceeds or any other kind of property to minors is futile. Doing so leaves it directly to the probate court, under whose direction it will stay for...

A recent article published on wealthmanagement.com[1] focuses on the importance of making final arrangements prior to death. The article highlights famous cases of Anna Nicole Smith, Ted Williams, and Mickey Rooney.  In each, the families fought over the deceased burial wishes. In Michigan, a recently updated law (MCL 700.1104 et al.) allows a person to designate a funeral representative who would have the right and power to make decisions about funeral arrangements and the handling, disposition, or disinterment of the person’s...

The headline reads: Michigan mother-of-two 'stole $200,000 from life insurance policy her teen daughters received when their father died' The headline leaves us asking, “how did this happen and why would a mom do this?” After reading the story, we learn that the mother was divorced from the father and then the father passes away leaving his minor children as the beneficiary on the life insurance policy. Since minors cannot inherit until 18, a conservator was appointed to manage the money. In...

Ferri Law PLLC