Keating Law Blog

Questions About Harper Lee’s Life Go Unanswered Thanks To Astute Estate Planning

Eight days before her death, Harper Lee, the author of To Kill a Mockingbird, created a new will. Now, two years later, it has been released to the public, but it reveals very little about the author’s last wishes. And that is probably not an accident.

Lee, who was known for her desire to live a private life, made headlines in the year preceding her death by agreeing to publish what was billed as a sequel to her coming-of-age classic. Go Set a Watchman sparked more pre-orders than any book since the last Harry Potter novel, and raised a lot of eyebrows.

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Does The New Tax Law Mean I Need A New Estate Plan?

The answer to this question is the stereotypical lawyer answer – it depends. The “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” that was signed into law by President Trump in late December will significantly impact large estates, but even folks with smaller estates should make an appointment with their estate planning attorney if it has been a few years since your plan was last updated.
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What Makes A Will Or Trust A Living One?

“Look! It's moving. It's alive. It's alive...
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If you have a loved one with special needs, you are probably an expert at navigating government bureaucracy. Developing this skill set is basically a necessity if you want to ensure your loved one has the quality of life they deserve. It can be scary to think about what will happen to your loved one after you are no longer there to advocate, cajole, and fill out endless reams of paperwork on his or her behalf.

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In basically every tv show and movie involving a death there is a dramatic scene where the family gathers to hear the lawyers read their loved one’s last will and testament. And there’s always some shocking surprise that sets up a bunch of drama for the characters to deal with. In the real world, this just doesn’t happen.

Families rarely gather for a dramatic, Hollywood-style will reading. There are a couple reasons for this.
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We all know we’re supposed to change the oil in the car every 3,000 miles, clean our furnace filters monthly, and defragment our hard drives every week or so. But routine maintenance is one of those things that gets skipped when our schedules get too busy. So, we drive our car until it makes that weird noise, run our furnace until it breaks down, and cross our fingers that our computers are set up to do what they need to do on their own in the background.

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After decades of braving the Michigan winters, you are entitled to spend weeks or months of the winter season in a warmer climate. You’ve earned it! Just make sure you know how spending some time down South or out West will impact your estate plan. Here are a few tips and tricks to consider.
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Deciding it is time to talk with an estate planning attorney and get your affairs in order is a difficult thing to do. It requires you to look death in the face and make some tough decisions about the future. But pondering one’s mortality is a piece of cake compared to having a conversation with some estate planning attorneys.
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The task of finding a good attorney can make you feel like Goldilocks. One attorney may charge too much, while another just gives you the creeps. But eventually, you will find an attorney that is “just right.
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At our firm we pride ourselves on the work we do to help business owners throughout the Metropolitan Detroit area achieve their dreams. From formation, through growing pains, in the board room, and when a business is sold or a succession plan is put into place, we are there. To paraphrase Meatloaf: we will anything for our clients, but we won’t do that.
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The Do-It-Yourself, or DIY, movement has become huge since the Great Recession. What started as a necessity has now become a hobby. Hipsters have gone mainstream and it seems like everyone is taking to Instagram to show off pictures of their home brewed kombucha or a bookcase made from an old shipping pallet. But there is one task that DIYers should be extra cautious about tackling on their own:

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