Category: Estate Administration

Using Joint Accounts By Matthew A. Ferri, Esq. Do you own joint accounts or property as joint tenants? Have you considered the planning pitfalls of this way of owning property? Ownership as joint tenants (which includes joint bank accounts) is so pervasive in our society that we never look at its downsides. What Is Joint Tenancy? […]

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 […]

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 […]