» Estate Planning

Before the craziness of the holidays, take some time to consider this short checklist to ensure your estate plan is in order as 2016 draws to a close: 1. Is your estate plan signed? If you’ve taken the leap and met with an attorney to draft your es… Read More

A generation ago, planning for the retention and management of the family cottage (or cabin or camp) through multiple generations took the form of a trust that would continue to own the property and that laid out rules for its ongoing use and mainten… Read More

Effective June 27, 2016, individuals in Michigan may designate “funeral representatives” to make funeral, burial, and related decisions for them after death, or to carry out decisions made by them prior to death. This is welcome news for those wh… Read More

A timely reminder from Wright Beamer… As surely as the warm weather brings vacations, barbecues and fireworks, it also brings inquiries from parents preparing to send their children off to college in the fall. Most commonly, our clients call about… Read More

A recent telephone call from my client went something like this: Julie, my mom kicked me out of her house again. She was screaming at me for over an hour, she was calling me names, and threatening to “kick my *&$.” She is not taking her medic… Read More

You’ll recall my confession earlier this year that my husband and I do not have a proper estate plan in place. (Admitting this still makes me cringe.) It’s now July, well past 2015’s half-way point, so where are we in our progress? Here is a pi… Read More

As surely as the warm weather brings vacations, barbecues and fireworks, it also brings inquiries from parents preparing to send their children off to college in the fall. Most commonly, our clients call about getting general and health care powers o… Read More

Although we don’t prepare income tax returns in our office, I am frequently asked about the tax consequences of various types of gifts. The general rule is that all gifts are taxable unless they fit into an exception. Fortunately, the exceptions ar… Read More