Posted by: Robert Miller
on Feb 01, 2012
Early versions of Obama-Care had older folks making end-of-life decisions with a government-payed counselor on the way into a medical facility. The time to make decisions concerning Patient Advocates and Advance Directives is not on your way into a hospital but rather when you are of a sound, clear thinking mind without the numerous stresses that occur while being admitted into a medical facility.
In addition, by waiting too long you allow yourself to be manipulated by family members, accountants and lawyers. Take the case of Heiress Huguette Clark. At 98 and with $400 million she finally prepared her first Will, naming her nieces and nephews as the primary beneficiaries. Amazingly, within only 6 weeks, she prepared a new Will naming a Non-Profit Organization formed by her attorney and her accountant as the primary beneficiary.
It appears that she was convinced that her nieces and nephews did not care. Although because she was laid up for a period of time she communicated primarily through her attorney and accountant. The nieces and nephews are claiming that there were numerous attempts to communicate through her attorney, however, her attorney never relayed the communications thus, the allegations are, that she was fully manipulated by her paid counselors.
With this case being reported by numerous newspapers both on the internet and in print, it strikes me that Huguette Clark in her prime was no one to fool with. I seriously doubt any accountant or attorney would have been able to manipulate her as easily as is suggested.
I cannot emphasize enough the importance of determining when you have a clear and sharp mind, who your Estate Plan is including, who will be handling your financial affairs, and who will be handling your personal matters.
Posted by: Adam Bellile
on Nov 18, 2011
Over the last four years, the State of Michigan, in general, and the communities of Mid Michigan, in particular, have been hard hit by the ongoing national recession. In addition to high unemployment and a shrinking economy, we experienced unprecedented reductions in real estate property values.
Posted by: Daniel Rusch
on Sep 21, 2011
How many people do you know who have been injured in an auto accident to the extent their long-term income has been negatively affected? In Michigan, you're required to buy automobile liability insurance to protect others if you screw up and seriously hurt someone seriously. Because it's required, you cannot legally avoid the cost of that coverage although other optional auto related protection is available at an additional cost.
Posted by: Tom Basil
on Jun 02, 2011
We have all experienced the tough economic climate over the last couple of years. Nowhere has that been harder felt than here in Michigan where job losses have been reported to be as high as 1 in 5, of the job loss of the nation as a whole, over the last ten years. To put it in perspective, and this is obviously not the actual way the numbers panned out, for every one job the other 49 states lost (one job each) Michigan lost 9.8 jobs during that same period. Thankfully things seem to be on an uptick here with manufacturing picking up pace.
Posted by: Heidi Hendrick
on Apr 07, 2011
In July of 2010, Michigan became the 18th state to adopt a Cottage Food law, which allows individuals to manufacture and store certain types of foods in an unlicensed home kitchen. Six other states are currently considering cottage food laws, with bills introduced within the last two months.
