When Older Adults Make Bad Decisions

By Doug Chalgian on May 9, 2023

  Article by Attorney Doug Chalgian of Chalgian and Tripp Law Offices, PLLC When new clients come in and tell me that an older adult in their family is allowing a...
By Christopher W. Smith, Chalgian & Tripp Law Offices, PLLC Special needs planners regularly encounter families who have accumulated large retirement accounts.  While the...

DIY DEEDS (DONE DIRT CHEAP)

By Doug Chalgian on January 4, 2023

Back in the day, when I started practicing law, clients would often come in with the notion that they needed a “quitclaim” deed (or “quick claim” deed as some would call...

Death Tax Talk Puts Planners on Edge

By Doug Chalgian on September 28, 2021

With a new administration in Washington, come increased attention to our tax laws, including laws that tax assets when people die.  For estate planning attorneys, this increased interest bring with it the possibility that changes may come which will impact their clients., and which may change the way they should be planning for clients in the future.

Executive Order Eases Witnessing Rules

By Chalgian & Tripp on April 9, 2020

Governor Whitmer signed another executive order last night, this one aimed at helping estate planning attorneys and their clients. The Order modifies the rules that require...

What Parents Promise

By Chalgian & Tripp on July 8, 2019

Clients often tell us that their parents promised them that when they die, everything will be divided evenly among the children.  Then, when they die, they find out that there is...

How Did Dying Get So Complicated?

By Chalgian & Tripp on May 31, 2019

People like to blame lawyers for everything that’s wrong with society, and in this case, they might be right - sort of. When we get sick, we see doctors. Nobody actually pays...

State Supreme Court Decides Important Medicaid Case

By Chalgian & Tripp on May 10, 2019

On May 9, 2019, the Michigan Supreme Court released a long-awaited opinion regarding Medicaid planning. In Hegadorn v DHS, the Court held that assets placed in a so-called...

The Importance of Boilerplate

By Chalgian & Tripp on April 8, 2019

Boilerplate will
What clients really care about is that their estate planning documents say who will be in charge, and where their property goes when they die.  That part of their document might...

Sweating the Small Stuff

By Doug Chalgian on March 25, 2019

sweating the small stuff
Clients sometimes get confused about the way lawyers use the word “property.”  In the legal community, the word “property” has a very broad meaning.  It means...

Best Practices for Family Exploitation Cases

By Doug Chalgian on March 1, 2019

From the perspective of the child who moved to New Jersey 30 years ago, the sibling who moved back into the family home to live with (and be supported by) his aging mother is a ne’er-do-well scam artist who took advantage of and manipulated his mother as her health declined so that, in the end, her entire estate passed to him by one means or another. From the perspective of the son who lived with his mother during those final years of life, he sacrificed to allow his mother to enjoy her final years in a safe environment outside of assisted living, and she favored him out of appreciation for that sacrifice.

Keeping your Treasures from Becoming a Garage Sale Bargain

By Chalgian & Tripp on January 25, 2019

Man at flea market
Most of us get a kick out of those stories about a valuable piece of art or baseball card that ends up being purchased for almost nothing at the Goodwill store or at a garage...

The Downside of a Deed in the Drawer

By Chalgian & Tripp on January 3, 2019

Deed Discovered
Sometimes the old ways are best.  But sometimes the old ways were never really all that smart.  Signing deeds and not recording them until after death is an old school approach...

Old Estate Planning Ideas Give Way to New Technology

By Doug Chalgian on December 5, 2018

Old Estate Planning Ideas Give Way to New Technology
As Duane Horton contemplated his death, he decided to use on app on his smartphone to write a message that explained how he wanted his estate distributed when he was gone. Under...

Long Anticipated Changes for VA Rules Arrive

By Erin Majka on September 19, 2018

Erin Majka
Clients who have served in the military and face the prospect of needing long term care for themselves or their spouse, often have questions about benefits available through the...