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Charitable Motivation: Emotional Or Logical?

“The whole issue of measuring and metrics and trying to have impact data is, I think, a very contemporary part of philanthropy,” said Thomas E. K. Cerruti, former personal lawyer to Sam Skaggs, a billionaire philanthropist who made his fortune in… Read More
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Safeguarding Your Heirs From Their Inheritance in Ann Arbor

When Juliann Reynolds' husband died of cancer in 1992, she had to decide how to plan her own estate … Reynolds is one of a growing number of parents who are requiring their heirs to wait until they are older before they can collect their inher… Read More
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Income Decides Obamacare Subsidies in Ann Arbor

In 2012, I earned only $25,000, but I have $300,000 in stocks. I have individual health insurance. Will I be ineligible for a subsidy beginning in January because I am presently insured, or because I have large assets? If you have not heard, there st… Read More
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Knowing The Signs Of Dementia Can Prevent Financial Disaster in Ann Arbor

There is a lot of research to inform us that as an aging parent develops dementia, their financial decision-making capacity erodes early on.  At the same time, a parent can be quite appropriate socially and appear “fine”. A case at AgingPare… Read More
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A Million Dollars in Art, but No Money for a Burial in Ann Arbor?

Despite Mr. Simpson’s collection of museum-quality art, some of it housed in the Manhattan gallery he owned, which is now under lock and key, his family said it lacked the money for a burial. A million dollars worth of art is quite a collection!… Read More
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The Hoopla over HIPAA in Ann Arbor

In hospitals, nursing homes, doctors’ offices, pharmacies and insurance companies, professionals may cite Hipaa as a reason to restrict information. Some patients even have trouble accessing their own health records, supposedly because of the priva… Read More
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Asset Protection Planning Pitfalls in Ann Arbor

It is, of course, painfully difficult to call what Reed and Cohen put together anything like valid asset protection planning. Sadly, at a certain low level this is the standard of practice, such as it is, that goes on with mass-marketed asset protect… Read More
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“Portability” Does Not Apply To All Wealth Transfers in Ann Arbor

My father is a widower. My mother passed away in 2006. Does the permanent change to "portability" that you have discussed in your columns on estate and gift taxes apply here? And would it affect my father's annual gift-tax exclusion am… Read More
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Joint Ownership Can Be Double the Trouble

I often see older people with other peoples’ names on their property as co-owners.  Legally, the ownership is joint tenants with right of survivorship, meaning that upon the death of one joint tenant, the surviving joint tenant becomes the sol… Read More
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When IRAs and Real Estate Unite

If you want to use your IRA to buy real estate, you need to understand what you can and can’t do. Did you know that IRAs can be used to own other types of assets, such as investment property? Most taxpayers don’t know about some great tax advanta… Read More
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