April 29, 2025

Living Trusts: What They Are and Why You Might Need One (Episode 318)

If you’ve ever wondered what a trust actually does or whether you need one, this episode is for you.

If you’ve ever wondered what a trust actually does or whether you need one, this episode is for you.

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Well, good afternoon, Michiganers. Today is Tuesday, April twenty nine,

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twenty twenty five, and of course this is Tuesday with Tom,

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Michigan's only Internet show where we do answer your questions

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about estate planning and a state settlement in Michigan, and

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we don't send you a bill. As always, I'm your host,

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Tom Doyle, estate planning attorney, lifelong Michigan resident, and ambassador

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for all things good in this great state of Michigan.

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And it is feeling today like spring is finally here.

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But welcome to today's program. Well, in our last episode,

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I talked about or it was titled trust funding made Simple,

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so I explored something that's often overlooked but is absolutely

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critical if you're going to have a successful trust as

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part of your state plan, and that is trust funding.

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So if you've set up a trust, congratulations, but your

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job isn't done yet. Listen to my last episode where

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I do explain what trust funding is and why it

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matters and how to do it right. In today's episode,

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Living trust, what they are are and why you might

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need one. So today we're going to tackle one of

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the most important tools in estate planning, and that is

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the living trust. If you've ever wondered what a trust

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actually does or whether you need one, or maybe you

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have one and you're not really sure how it works,

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this episode is for you, but please remember what I'm

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about to discuss is, as always for educational purposes only.

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It is not intended to be legal advice. You need

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to work with your attorney to determine what is appropriate

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for you and your estate plan, living trust, what they are,

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and why you might need one. Well, so let's start

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with what is a living trust? So the living trust

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is a legal document that you create while you're still alive.

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Think of it kind of like a game plan for

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your estate, one that works while you're living and continues

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to function after you have die. It lets you stay

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in control of your assets now, but it also ensures

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a smooth private transition after your death. So there are

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two main types of trusts that we want to talk

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about today. One is what's called a living trust. The

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other is what's called a testamentary trust. A living trust

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is one that you create during your lifetime, while a

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testamentary trust is one that's inside your will and only

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becomes effective after your death and if your state goes

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through probate. So here's a way kind of think about

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a living trust. This way. Imagine a trust is like

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a box. You build a box and then you put

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things in your box. You put your house, you put

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your accounts, you put your investments, basically whatever you choose

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into that box. Now you're still in charge. That means

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you're still in charge of everything that's in the box.

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You can sell your assets, you can give your assets away.

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They are still your assets. But if you become in

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capacitated or upon your death, then somebody else is going

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to step in and manage the trust for you. So

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if it's during your lifetime, they'll manage the trust for you.

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If it's after your death, they'll manage the trust and

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distribute it out to your beneficiaries. Now, there are two

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types of living trust, revocable and irrevocable. Revocable is the

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most common living trust that is used. It basically means

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you can change it circumstances. You can change it. You

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can actually cancel it or update it at any time

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in the future. But there's also something called an irrevocable trust.

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And I've had previous episodes of this program where I've

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talked about irrevocable trust, what they are, and whether or

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not you might need one. So if you're wondering a

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little bit more about that, listen to previous episodes of

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Tuesday with Tom. But generally, an irrevocable trust can't be

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changed once it's set up, and you can't normally be

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the beneficiary of the irrevocable trust, and normally you can't

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be in charge of the irrevocable trust. Think of creating

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an irrevocable trust as like you're building a box. Somebody

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else is in control of it. You're no longer in

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control of that irrevocable one. So it's only going to

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be really used for special purposes. It might be something

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like protecting assets from creditors. Sometimes they're going to be

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used for estate tax planning, which can be very very

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important now depending upon what the President in Congress does

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with the expiring federal estate tax exemption. But essentially for

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everyday estate planning, revocable trust are the go to option,

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not the irrevocable trust. So let's talk about some of

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the key players. When you have a trust, you're going

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to have what's called the grant or or sometimes called

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the settler. That's you. That's the person who creates the trust,

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and if it's a joint trust, it could be you

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and your spouse. You're going to have a trustee. This

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is a person who manages the trust. Again, most often

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you are going to be the trustee during your lifetime,

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so you're going to be managing it. Then you're going

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to have successor trustee that's going to be the backup

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to you. So if you can't manage it one day,

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or don't want to manage it, or upon your death,

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then the success or trustee is going to be the

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person who steps in. And then the other player in

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this trust are the beneficiaries. These are the people who

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benefit from the trust. Again, during your lifetime, you are

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normally the beneficiary of the trust, and then you provide

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in the trust. Who's going to be the beneficiary of

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the trust after your death? Well, people always ask a question, though,

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if I set up this rivcal what about taxes? Do

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my taxes change? So let's just briefly mention good news.

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If you have a revocable trust, your taxes don't change.

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You're going to still report your income just like you

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always have on your regular tax returns. Now in Michigan.

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What are the legal requirements in Michigan for creating a trust. Well,

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in Michigan, we have a statue called EPIC. It's the

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Estates and Protected Individual Codes. EPIC is an abbreviation of that.

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That is basically the statute that controls what is required

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in order to have a legal trust in the stated mission,

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So to create a valid trust one you have to

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be at least eighteen years old, and you have to

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have legal capacity, which simply means that you understand what

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you're doing and your trust will do. So it's not

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very complicated. There are not a lot of requirements now. Normally, though,

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when you have a living trust prepared for you, we're

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going to make sure that that trust is in fact

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notarized when you sign it. And that is because if

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for any reason the trust or a portion of the

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trust ever had be recorded with the Registered Deeds Office,

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we need to make sure that it has been properly notarized.

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But you in Michigan can actually have if you think

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about it, in oral trust. But obviously the difficulty with

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that is how do you prove after your death? How

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does some prove what the trust was supposed to say,

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which is why Obviously it's going to be reduced to writing, now,

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why should you have a living trust? So there's going

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to be a few times that certainly in our office,

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we're going to look at recommending that you have a

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living trust. One if you become incapacitated. Let's say you're

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in the hospital for an experienced expended period of time,

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or maybe you have some health issues or down the road,

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maybe even some dementia where somebody else needs to manage

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the estate for you. A revocable living trust can manage

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that estate and use the estate to take care of

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you then after your death, though essentially that trust is

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going to allow for a generally smoother, more private distribution

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of your estate. That can be helpful. Let's say you

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have a spouse with dementia and you die, so someone

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else needs to manage that estate for your spouse. Or

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maybe you have minor children or grandchildren. You don't want

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them to receive their inheritance maybe till they graduate from college,

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so a trust can be used to manage the estate

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for them. Maybe you have a special needs child and

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now you've got some special needs planning issues where you

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don't want them to lose their Government benefits. We can

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look at considering a revocable living trust for you as

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a tool for providing benefits to that child or maybe

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another example, you just might have some beneficiaries who just

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aren't great with money, they don't know how to manage money,

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and so you're essentially creating the trust to protect them

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from themselves. Now, trust can also help avoid probate. I've

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had previous episodes of this program. I've talked about probate,

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about what it is, what people are concerned about probate.

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They're normally concerned about how expensive it can be to

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go through probate, that it's a public record of whatever

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you owned. When things go through probate, it can be

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time consuming, all of those kinds of things. But if

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you have a living trust and it is properly funded,

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then the trustee can manage and distribute them generally more

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quickly because they don't have to go to the probate court.

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So protecting your privacy and a great deal of efficiency

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in settling your estate. Another example second marriages. Maybe you

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have a second marriage and you and your spouse are saying, look,

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upon your death, you want your estate to go to

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your You want your spouse to be supported after your death,

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but ultimately, on your spouse's death, you want to make

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your estate go to your children, not your spouse's children.

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A very common use of a revocable living trust. And finally,

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one other consideration, and talked about this in previous episodes.

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In Michigan, we have a medicaid a state recovery law

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that's essentially where the state of Michigan says, look, if

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we pay for you to be in that nursing home

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after you die, we want our money back well, and

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appropriate trust can be used to avoid that Medicaid estate

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recovery law. So let's summarize, if you will, a living

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trust gives you control now, protection later, and peace of

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mind throughout. And it's not just for the ultra wealthy.

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You notice in this entire program, I didn't talk about

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how big your state is, and I always asked that question.

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It seems when I do a summonar Tom, how big

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does my estate have to be in order to have

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a living trust. It's not a question of how large

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is your state. That might factor into if we have

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federal state tax issues, but it's really not a question

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of how large your state is. It's what are your

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goals in putting your estate plan together? And oftentimes that

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living trust is going to make it much easier for

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your loved ones who are going to be tasked with

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settling the estate. So if you're curious about whether or

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not a trust makes for you, or if you're ready

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to start planning, please visit our website doylapc dot com.

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There you're going to find information about how you can

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schedule a consultation with us, and you have the opportunity

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ability to download our free estate planning guidebook. Well, I think, well,

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let's talk about a little bit more than that. If

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you will, if you will, on the other side of

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this brief musical interlude, if you will, I was told

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that in a podcast kind of when you're changing segments

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of your podcast, a brief musical interlude is a good idea.

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Lets the listeners know that you're kind of moving on.

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So our moving on today is a call to action,

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Amanda and I would be honored to have the opportunity

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to help you protect your loved ones by perhaps putting

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together a state plan, a mending a current plan that

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you have, or assisting you in settling and a state again.

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At Doyle LOOFPC dot com. You're going to find complete

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information about how to schedule an in person consultation that

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can be in ground, rapids or lancing. Virtual consultations wherever

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you happen to be in this great state of Michigan

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can be via zoom or telephone, so we can likely

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be of assistance to you wherever you happen to be located.

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Also at Doyle LAWPC dot com, you're going to find

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our Legal Store. So let's say you only need one document.

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Maybe you only need a new power of attorney for

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your healthcare. You don't need an entire state plan. Could

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you already have other things in place? Check out the

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Legal Store because through our Legal Store you have the

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ability to download or I'm sorry not to download, to

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order and then ultimately received via email individual legal documents

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such as healthcare powers of attorney, durable powers of attorney,

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certificates of trust, et cetera. So all of that information

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again is available at Doyle LAWPC dot com. Tuesday with

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Tom has been brought to you by the estate planning

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attorneys at Doyle Law PC to learn how we can

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help you with your estate plan or with settling a

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loved one's estate. Please call us today at five one

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seven three two three seven three sixty six. That's five

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one seven three two three seven three sixty six.