Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
He served at the Pentagon as an army jag. He
graduated from Notre Dame and has two law degrees from
Boston University and Georgetown University. He's been practicing law for
over thirty years. He's your family's personal attorney. It's time
for the David Carrier Show.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Hello, and welcome to the David Carrier Show. I'm David Carrier,
your family's personal attorney. And you have found a place
where we talk about a state planning, elder law, retirement law,
real estate and business law. That's right, retirement in case,
in case you've retired, you want to retire, you wish
you had retired. You know somebody who's retired. Right for
(00:56):
folks who have to figure out, well, I got so
much last, I'm getting my Social Security, I'm on my Medicare.
I'm good to go for the next amount of time
until some point, as my father would say, right, So
the question is how do we make it last? How
do we make sure that you don't go broke? You
(01:16):
haven't been broke yet, Well, how do we make sure?
How do we make sure that you hang on? You
hang on to what you got, You paid off the house,
you're close to it, and a lot of people still
paying a little bit of mortgage on there anyway, and sometimes,
of course, you we'll go ahead and put a home
we relining a credit on there to deduct the interest.
But now apparently American made cars are going to have
(01:38):
tax deductible interest. That'll be interesting. Why not. So anyway,
six one six seven seven four twenty four twenty four.
That's six one six seven seven four twenty four twenty four.
That's the number to call if you'd like to get
your question, comment or concern on the air. I saw,
you know, lots of bipartisanship now going on. Our our
(02:00):
governor out to out to the Oval Office honor guests
and you know, getting along with getting along with the
president there, and we're going to keep self for DJO
open and you know, keep those invasive species out of
the out of the Great Lakes, out of Lake Michigan.
You know, it's makes your herd. You know, it makes
(02:21):
you feel good to see people working together done that,
and you know that's so that's a wonderful thing. Glad
to uh glad to see that co operation. UH co
operation going on bodes well for the future. It seems
like it seems like to me, so good for good
for I mean, I've had my policy differences, obviously, but
(02:42):
this is not the place for politics. It's a place
for unity and celebration. So let's celebrate the unity that
we saw that we saw going on there. Yay. Some
people say okay, some people say, well, you know, you
guys keep saying you're so different. At least I keep
saying that, you know, what is it? That's what is
(03:03):
it that's different about the approach that we take to
the whole planning process. And I hate to call it
a state planning and I hate to call it elder
law because both of those are really kind of wide
of the mark. A state planning, of course, is how
you plan for the leftovers when you're dead. Your state
(03:24):
is the leftover stuff when you're no longer around to
use or enjoy it. And older law is like me,
we wants to be elderly anyway. Don't you hate it
when you're reading a magazine, you know about some something
bad that happened, Oh the elderly person was, and then
you read the age and it's like, oh, younger than
(03:47):
I am. I don't know how I feel about that.
So I don't feel about that. Think about retirement planning instead.
How about that? Because retirement, well, you have to be
alive to be retired, all right, Sure, you have to
be around, you have to you have to be alive,
you have to have some stuff, you have to be
taking charge of your life. And that's what that's what
(04:09):
this planning process is all about. There are four elements
of it. Four. Now, get out your know paths and
write this down. So if you're getting dressed for church
right about now, which you keep telling me you are
so okay good, maybe write it in, you know, shave
cream on the mirror. How about that? You could do
that anyway. The four things we do. Number one is
(04:30):
follow through and follow up. Okay, an awful lot of
estate plans, I would say, the vast majority ninety plus percent. Oh,
where's your scientific survey on that? My scientific survey is
the estate plans that I see come through the office
over the last thirty five years. And you can count
on the fingers of one hand how many have been
(04:51):
really fully funded, ready to go exactly the way it
should be. Maybe two hands. It's been thirty five years.
After all, most of the time of state planning, the
things that people bring in don't reflect what they actually want,
at least when you ask them about what they want.
And it's very different than what's on the page. I mean,
that's one thing. The other is that even if what's
(05:15):
on the page kind of reflects what they said they wanted,
it's based on a lack of information about what's available.
Plus most of the time there's no follow through. Right,
you get this trust and it doesn't have anything in
it but the house. Right, but maybe it has a
checking account, right, But we didn't really plan ahead for
(05:38):
or we did a ladybird deed. Ladybirdded which, believe me,
lady birded is very useful, very helpful in the correct circumstance,
but not for everybody. It's a specific tool for a
specific situation. Right. But people think, and by people I
mean attorneys as well. You know, they think it's the
magic wind, you wave the magic bond and then hey,
(05:59):
it's all done. All you need, all you need is,
all you need is love. Beatles told us that. But
you need more than a lady bird deed. Okay. Anyway,
long story short, Most of the state plans, the vast majority,
we say, in ninety plus percent way more than ninety
percent on the website we say ninety six percent. Well
maybe it's ninety eight percent. Okay, maybe it's ninety two percent.
(06:22):
It's directionally accurated, it's in the ballpark. So here's here's
the idea. If you followed through, and then as time
goes by, if we follow up. So like last Friday,
we're doing a trust review workshop. We send out the letters,
you know, to folks. Come on in, let's talk about
(06:42):
what has happened since you did your estate plan. You know,
maybe it was ten years ago, maybe it was fifteen
years ago. We still get folks coming back in to
up and say, what is going on with the estate plan?
Does it still does it still fit? If it's a
good fit, wonderful. If it's not, well, let's do what
needs to be done to fix it up. And new
(07:05):
paper costs money, Yeah, it does. It cost money to
do new paper to redo the documents from five to ten,
fifteen years ago based on change circumstances. I don't want
this kid involved. I do want that kid involved. I
you know, I have more, I have less, all different
kinds of things, right, but there should be follow up.
(07:28):
You know, this plan that you've got, and I know,
I know how it gets. I know how most people
use it. They get it, they put it in the basement,
they forget about it, Okay, And I know that that's
the case because the vast majority ones I get they're
all moldy. They you know, they get that. They got
that basement smell. You know, that basement smell that's been
(07:50):
down there. It gets kind of kind of sort of
like the cottage before you open it in the in
the summertime, you know what I mean. It's got that
tang to it, that special aroma of aging. I imagine
the Pyramids were like this for a while, you know,
but those thousands of years ago, I'm small quite the same. Anyway.
(08:12):
The point is, you get it might as well be
hieroglyphics on a tablet, which incidentally, I think it was
like seven thousand years ago. There was a There was
a will, you know, a will, just like the will
you're doing nowadays. Seven thousand years ago, this lady wrote
her will and it must have been chipped into tablets, right,
because nothing survives that long. But she was disinheriting her kids.
(08:34):
Get this, she was a widow. Get this, she was
a widow and her kids. You know, she counted this.
That's why here all the time. Oh, my kids will
take care of me when I'm old. Really well, seven
thousand years ago, the kids did not take care of
their mom, and so she did a will that says
you're disinherited. She disinherited them to the extent, you know,
(08:56):
the two kids. I guess it was that. I don't
read hieroglyphics.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
What do I know.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
I just depend on the Egyptologists to tell me what
it was. But apparently she was very upset at their neglect,
and so she disinherited them. So you think nothing's new
under the sun, You would be correct. There is nothing
new under the sun except the hopeful delusion that our
kids were somehow gonna who never did it before, that
(09:20):
somehow when we really need care, they're gonna do it.
They're gonna step up. Well, they weren't doing it in
ancient Egypt, and some kids do it. Some kids do it.
That's that's for sure. That Sandwich generation, where the kids
were caring for parents and their own children, that was
a real thing. We were pretty much past that period
(09:41):
my experience. You don't see it very much anymore sometimes sometimes,
but rare unusual. You just don't You just don't see
it hardly at all. Anyway. The point is you need.
It's not enough to get a stack of documents that
you know, you hope we're gonna work, you think you're
gonna work, you wish you're gonna work, and then just
(10:02):
leave it. You have to follow through. You have to
follow up because if you don't, the dain thing ain't
gonna work. And then where are you? The answer is nowhere.
You got troubles. The estate plan isn't gonna work. There
are three more things that you need to do to
have what I would call a good plan. This is
what we're dedicated to at the at the firm is
(10:26):
making sure that you have all four so that your
retirement right is as successful as it can be, and
so that as you move ahead, as your family moves
ahead through the mists of time, right, you've maximized the
good things you've done as much as you can right
to first fulfill yourself and then the kids. If you
(10:49):
have any questions, give us a call. Six one six
seven seven four twenty four twenty four. That's sixty one,
six seven seven four twenty four to twenty four. Will
get your question, comment or concern on the air, or
go to the website Davidcarrier Law dot com.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
This hour of the David Carrier Show is pro bono,
so call in now at seven seven twenty four, twenty four.
This is the David Carrier Show.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Welcome back to the David Carrier Show. I'm still David Carrier,
your family's personal attorney, and I have bad news, bad
news for everybody. The show was up for an award
at the Michigan Association of Broadcasters or maybe and no,
we didn't even make the finals. However, that guy with
the pointsett is and now with the simple by gardening
(12:02):
simplified Rick vised he made it. We didn't make it.
What does that tell you? I don't know people like
Gardner's more than lawyers or whatever. I'll have to I
will soldier on. Don't worry. I'm not I'm not. Uh yeah,
I am totally depressed and unhappy about it. Yeah yeah,
(12:22):
actually so prayers that would be nice on you know, whenever,
whenever you get around to it. So yeah, so no
awards for us this year. Anyway. We've got Scott on
the line. Hello Scott, Welcome to the David Carrier Show.
It has never gotten an award.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
Ever, don't worry for for us listeners, you are top quality,
award caliber, so don't worry about that. You're winner in
our book. I have a and by the way, time
runs together here, but I think you were gone for
a couple of weeks. But welcome back. If I just
happened to catch a couple of broadcasts its a while ago.
(12:59):
About a good time away.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Now, that's that's where I feel very bad about that.
I'm committed to the Live Sunday. But my uh, I've
got a junior in high school and so we're out
visiting colleges and uh, oh my god. You can't believe
what colleges cost these days. It's unbelievable. But fortunately he's
a small kid, so hopefully you do. You know, we're
(13:23):
looking for the scholarships crossing fingers. Now, if I had
an award winning radio show, maybe they'd loosen the wallet.
What do you think?
Speaker 3 (13:30):
But well, yeah, wow, good luck for decisions. We wish
you wisdom and that's profit for sure.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Thank you. So how can I help we quick question?
I called a while ago and we had a we
have a deed by atia hip.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
Actually they have a deed that has a writer first refusal,
and the family decided just to sell the house rather
than any to do anything with the trust. And thank god,
they're just gonna They're just gonna sell it. But this
is a question, it's very specific questions when it comes
to this writer first refusal written into the d document.
(14:07):
Are we supposed to notify if we put up for
sale and someone makes an offer, are we supposed to
notify the party that has that writer first refusal? Or
what's our what's our legal obligations under that.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
I got to tell you that's really odd and I
don't think that's enforceable. I mean, a deed, a deed
is supposed to do one thing, not multiple things. The
deed is not a future performance contract. The deed is
a conveyance of a is a conveyance and that can
be subject to recall. Right, So the enhanced life estate
(14:42):
deed is where I give you, I give you this,
but I retain an enhanced life estate. And you can
do that because there's a specific provision in Michigan law
from back in the eighteen forties that allows you to
do that. Okay, some states don't have it because it's
not a fundamental part of a of a real estate conveyance.
(15:03):
So I'd be kind of surprised. I haven't done the research, obviously,
but I'd be very surprised if a if a writer
first refusal in a deed was enforceable. On the other hand,
litigation is what litigation is. I mean, we've got judges
out there who think they run the country. Okay, well,
I mean it's America. Everybody can sue for whatever they
(15:27):
want to sue for. And I wonder if the title
insurance company would be happy without a release from the
person who had the writer first refusal. So I don't
I don't really think that when it comes to a
knockdown drag out in court that someone with the writer
(15:48):
first refusal would be able to because I don't think
it was proper to express that in a deed. I
really don't. But I've never been wrong before, so this
might be the first time, and there might be some
case law out there that says that it is enforceable.
I really doubt it. I really really doubt it. But
in any event, I don't think you're going to be
(16:10):
able to get title insurance without a release from the
person who had the writer first refusal. So and it's
probably going to be I would I would think that
it would be a lot easier to get the release,
you know, give the notice, get the release. It would
be a lot easier than worrying whether or not this
(16:30):
was going to come back on you. Because if you're
a title insurance company and you've got something like that
in there, they're not going to just issue a no
exceptions policy. They're going to say, oh, yeah, well we'll
we'll ensure the title accept that this writer first refusal.
If something goes sideways on that, don't look at us.
(16:51):
In fact, I don't think you'll be able to get
the I don't think a title insurance company would write
over something like that. I think you need to get
the release, okay, you know, because because you know, deeds
are not deeds are not evaluated when they're recorded. That
if it's got a sign your block and it looks
like a notary, they're going to record it whatever it says, okay. Basically,
(17:15):
so this.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Is another just a very narrow question on this one,
and again again find if you don't know. But when
it comes to when we go to market, the house.
Is that right or its something we have to disclose
in a cellar discorsure statement.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
I would say yes because you know, here, here's the
here's the thing with seller's disclosure statements. Okay, there's a
line on there is Has there been evidence of water
in the basement? Okay. The answer to that question is yes,
always yes. In Michigan has more fresh water than God. Right,
(17:57):
So I mean you always excuse me for saying God,
but I mean you always say yes. Some dampness is
how you it's how you explain it. You always say
yes to that question. The other question is have there
been structural modifications, alterations, or repairs done without necessary permits
(18:19):
or licensed personnel. The answer to that question is always yes. Okay,
if you change the light switch, if you put in
a ceiling fan, you probably had to have a permit
and a licensed electrician and blah blah blah. You go
to handy Andy on a weekend, everyone in there is
doing structural modifications, alterations, or repairs and they're not licensed.
(18:39):
So you always say yes to those two questions. All right,
just word too wise and then and then you know,
are you in the area of shooting galleries? Aircraft or
always say yes to that because why not you don't know,
you didn't do the research around a five mile radius.
Maybe there is a gun range somewhere that you never
heard of before. Okay, So again I always say yes,
(19:01):
and so on the seller's disclosure statement, you always want
to put any anything that's real that you know about,
as well as things that you don't know about, and
just say yes because they'll buy it anyway. It's not
like no one ditches a house that they want to
buy because, you know, because of the dampness or something.
(19:23):
Nobody does that. But later on, right when they leave
a window open and they change the landscaping and now
the river comes through the window, they're going to blame
you for it if you didn't put you know, yeah,
there's evidence of water in the basement. You always put
that in. Okay, So I would definitely disclose it up front.
(19:44):
Much better to deal with it then than they come
back on you. You know, you want to in the
cellars and you know, sellers disclosure statement not supposed to
be enforceable as promises that you made representations, but people
do it all the time. Again, in a absolute attitude
of caution, you always put that stuff in. Okay, Scott, Okay,
(20:08):
fair enough.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
I appreciate it. I know my family thinks I'm being
a little bit too picky when it comes to these details.
But hell no.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Hell no, no, no, no, no no, you are not
being too picky. No no no, You're just being prudent.
That's how things. That's how the alligators bite you in
you know where.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
Right. Thank you for the time.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
I appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
You have a great day.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
Thank you, Thanks you too. You've been listening to the
David Carrier Show. I'm David Carrier, your family's personal attorney.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
David's got the how to you're looking for. Just call
seven seven four twenty four twenty four. This is the
David Carrier Show.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
Welcome back to the David Carrier Show. The show that
is good medicine. That's right, Uh medicine all right, bon Jovi,
let's go for it anyway. Uh six one six seven
seven four twenty four twenty four. If you want some
good medicine seven seven four two four two four, that's right,
(21:30):
Area code sixty one six seven seven four twenty four
twenty four will get your question, comment or concern on
the air. Now here's a here's a handy handy tip,
or you can go to the website Davidcarrier Law dot com.
Davidcarrier law dot com. We've got an AI artificial intelligence
(21:51):
bot on there. It's not it's not the usual chatbot. Uh.
It actually gives you answers now not legal advice, No,
but it's a lot better. Give it a try. Give
it a try. Just you gotta wait like ten or
twenty seconds for the thing to pop up, and then
there are some pre done questions for you can click
(22:12):
on one of those or just ask free form. I mean,
give it a try. Really, it doesn't cost anything, and
it's amazing. I think it's amazing. I mean you may
think it's who cares, but I suggest to give it
a try. Anyway, we're just talking with Scott, and Scott's
got a deed. His family's got a deed and they're
(22:32):
selling something, some real estate, and written into the deed
is a writer for first refusal, which I don't think
he can do. And indeed, a deed is a conveyance right.
And you can retain a life estate and enhanced life estate.
You can do that, but can you actually create contractual
obligations in indeed, I think the answer to that is
(22:53):
pretty clearly, no, you can't. But here's the question, and
he's was wondering about what you put on the sellers
of the square lure statement and the families kind of
getting on them a little bit. Oh, you know, you're
being too you're being to whatever. Here's the problem with
a lot of this. Okay, it's not it's not the
(23:15):
case that everything always goes wrong. Okay, So people do
these lady bird deeds, which I think are nuts to
rely on those, Okay, now I understand that. Or they
do all the kids on the deed, and they do
all kinds of stuff. People do all kinds of stuff, right,
(23:37):
that may have disastrous, catastrophic, apocalyptic consequences, right, they do them.
And the the problem from my perspective is they get
away with it, right, They get away with doing these things,
(23:58):
which is why they are perpetuated by the people. Why
do people keep doing the same things that fail over
and over again? Well, because nobody brags about the failures. Right,
there's a failure of knowledge of communication, what have you? Right?
And and it's not it's not arsenic, you know what
(24:22):
I mean, it's not poison all the time. It's Russian roulette,
is what it is. Oh. See, my grandpa lived to
eighty three and he smoked two packs of Pall Malls
unfiltered every day. Yeah, okay, I guess that means that
cigarettes are good for you. You could live to eighty
three like your uncle. I had not who lived to
advanced age. Right. And the reason I said, Paul mall
(24:45):
because that's what she smoked, right, unfiltered, for since the
since the forties. All right, does that mean it's a
good idea. No, it doesn't make it a good idea. Now,
my uncle, her husband, he out of emphysema, right, you know,
I don't think it was lung cancer quite yet, but
and he's so it's like, don't tell me that this
(25:09):
stuff is no problem, or that it works or whatever,
simply because sometimes it works. The key is that people
get away with it, all right. The whole point of
planning is that you're not relying on the four leaf chamra,
you know, the four leaf clover, right, You're not relying
on your luck. You're not relying on Oh it'll probably
(25:32):
work out, okay, Uh, it'll be okay, maybe it will
be maybe it will be okay, yeah, maybe, but maybe not?
And did you cover down? Did you? And where you
cannot reliably evaluate the consequences? How often? Like I was
(25:56):
been challenging, well, how do you know it's ninety six percent? Well,
here's the here's how I figured it. Right. The eighty
twenty rule says that eighty percent of the time people
fail in whatever it is they're doing. Eighty percent of
the time, twenty percent succeed. And the eighty twenty rule
is a fractal so it keeps applying. So if you
take eighty twenty of the twenty percent, right, so you
(26:20):
know eighty twenty eighty percent of folks have no estate
plan worth the name. Okay, let's take the twenty percent
who have done something, right, I really done something. And
you know, you can look at survey, Oh, fifty percent
of people have wills. Yeah, people lie, okay, lie of surveys.
Do you have a will? Oh yeah, I got a will?
Let me see it. Okay, I think it's a lot
(26:43):
closer to twenty percent. All right, then you do it
eighty twenty on the twenty percent, you get to ninety
six percent, you know, succeed and the ninety six percent fail.
That's that's kind of my thought process. But there's nothing
I've got what forty plus years at this, Nothing I've
seen in my lifetime contradicts that view. I mean, that
(27:06):
is that is the way. That is the way it goes.
So when Scott calls on and he's like, oh, should
we look about this, we look at that. Yes, yes
you should. And when everybody else, the ninety six percent
around you, your family members are saying, oh, Scott, you're
just nervous in Nella, you're just worrying about nothing, It's like, no, Scott,
(27:26):
you're not worrying about nothing. What you're worried about. What
you're smart to be thinking about is the consequences. Right,
you know we all speed, don't we don't we all
drive too fast? You know you do? We all do.
Ninety six percent of the time people drive too fast.
What's the consequence of driving too fast? Well, usually there
(27:47):
isn't one, you know, Like I said Lego telling Scott,
we're out looking at colleges, right, so we're driving around
on the highway. Unbelievable, the number of people driving eighty
miles an hour, right or eighty plus mile an hour.
It's like they go right, yeah, it's unbelievable. Okay, well
did you get away with it? You're only supposed to
(28:09):
drive seventy Did you get away with driving eighty or
eighty three or seventy five? Did you get away with it? Yeah,
you got away with it, all right, get eating crash.
If there wasn't a police officer give you a ticket,
you got away with it, all right. But if they decide, hey,
we're really going to enforce this, or your tire blows
out or something, then the thing you got away with
(28:32):
turns into a huge disaster, much worse because of the
way the way you did it, See what I mean?
I mean so much of life is like that, right.
Whereas if you are focused on what you're doing, and look,
if you you know, if you perk the car, or
you boil the egg for eight minutes instead of ten,
(28:55):
all right, well so what it's a little bit loose.
Or if you do it for twelve instead of ten,
you know, at ten minute egg, you boil it for
twelve minutes? Of the oak is hard? Okay, not that
big a deal, right, But when we're dealing with things
of great consequence, great consequence, like what if this real
estate deal go sideways. What if the person who has
(29:17):
the writer first refusal, right, you don't approach them all
the rest of it, and they have been keeping an
eye You don't know, they've been keeping an eye on
that property over the years. Oh, just can't wait till
it comes up for sale. I'm going to get right
in there and buy it. Now you got a lawsuit
on your hands. Was it not worth reaching out to
that person to find out about releasing the writer first refusal?
(29:40):
Was it? That was a bad thing? Okay? And chances are,
chances are fifty to fifty eighty ninety whatever the heck,
get whatever, the chances are that that deal will go smoothly.
The person with the writer first refusal forgot about it.
It'll never be an issue, but it might be an issue.
(30:00):
And if you don't deal with it when it's staring
you in the face, what are you thinking? That's That's
the thing with this whole estate retirement law, all the
rest of this. It's like so easy just to say, mem,
it'll be okay, Well, how do you know it'll be okay?
And guess what? It usually isn't okay. Now there's a
nobody likes to talk about how things go sideways except me,
(30:22):
I guess, but they do go sideways, and we don't
want you to get away with it. We want you
to have it done correctly. That's the point. You've been
listening to the David Carrier Show. I'm David Carrier, your
family's personal attorney, another.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
DA and working and taking your Now, this is the
David Carrier Show.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
And you need a shoulder. I need a soldier.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
But I'm here to take a stand.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Because we can. Welcome back to the David Carrier Show.
I'm David Carrier, your family's personal retirement law specialist. Six
one six seven seven four twenty four twenty four. That's
the number to call. Six one six seven seven four
twenty four twenty four. I want to talk about the
(31:29):
four four ways we're different. Oh, yes, four ways. Four
things that you should be looking for. Put it that way.
I want to put it that way. Four things you
should be looking for. And guess what, we're the only
ones who do it. So there you are. Anyway, the
four things you should be looking for. Number one, follow through,
follow up. Make sure that your estate plan actually works
(31:50):
and that there's a plan for the next thirty five years,
so that as things change, you will be informed. How
do we do this weekly newsletter? That's how we do
it WI weekly. Come on in, call in whatever. It's
not just a radio show. We do two hours at
various offices for trust reviews. You know, come on in,
(32:11):
We'll take your question. They usually go more than two hours.
You don't have to be there the whole time. Get
your question answered in book on out of there. That's fine,
But that's how we commit ourselves to following up. That's
part of the It's not just enough to have a
bunch of documents. You gotta follow up with them. The
second thing is we don't pretend that long term care
(32:34):
isn't that's a double negative for you. Everybody else pretends
that long term care doesn't exist, that long term care
is not an issue, that asset protection will take care
of itself. That has not been my experience. Okay, it
hasn't been the experience either of most people in the
great state of Michigan, or I would dare say, the
United States. How do I know that logic and common sense?
(32:58):
Does logic and common sense come for anything? Seems to
me it should, all right, But if the National Institute
of Health says that seventy percent of folks when you're
sixty five, you have a seventy percent chance three years
of long term of skilled nursing care. That's what they
say on the website. You've heard me say this before.
Have you ever gone to the website and actually looked
at you should long term care dot gov. All right,
(33:19):
that's where you'll find what I'm talking about, and twenty
percent needed five years or more. Okay, Well, if you
ignore that, don't be surprised when you go broke. I'm
you know, there's just an ad about losing family farms.
One of the reasons we're losing family farms is because
when Grandpa gets dementia, right or grandma does, we don't
(33:43):
put them in a rocket chair on the front porch
anymore or up in the attic. No, we put them
in a you know, six twelve, eighteen thousand dollars a
month nursing home. All right, now, I'm not saying we
shouldn't put him in long term care. But what I
am saying is, if you want to where the family
farm is going, it's going away at ten acres at
(34:04):
a slice to pay for long term care. All that
happens really really really, yes, it really really happens. Talk
to any nursing home administrator in an agricultural area. All right,
they will tell you. How do I know they'll tell
you because clients have told me that. That's what they
tell you. When you say, well, how am I supposed
(34:24):
to pay for this? Well, you know everybody else is
selling off the farm. Get busy. Okay, there goes the
family farm. So anyway, long term care. We're concerned about,
how do you pay for long term care? And the
answer is, just like Social Security, just like Medicare, you've
already paid for it. Okay, a middle class has already
(34:46):
paid for long term care through taxes. You paid the taxes,
you get the benefit. Now it's turning out there's all
kinds of people you never imagined are also getting the benefits,
despite the fact they never paid any taxes. You know,
they make stuff up. Okay, I'm not talking about that.
I don't think those people are entitled to the Diddley squad.
(35:06):
But that's not you. You're the ones paying for them.
And all of a sudden it becomes fair and righteous
and good that you should not get a payback on
your taxes. Think about this, Think about how bizarre this is,
because this is the experience I have workshop after workshop
when we talk about the fact that through Medicaid, Medicaid,
(35:28):
let me say that word again, Medicaid. Through Medicaid, you
have already paid for long term care. Now you have
to jump through their hoops like anything else, you got
to jump through their hoops in order to qualify for it. Yes, indeed.
But the reaction is often Oh, that's too good to
be true. Oh that's too good. Oh it couldn't work
that way, blah blah, Okay, fine, how weird is it?
(35:51):
How bizarre is it that we're in a society where
you think it's ridiculous that you might actually get a
payback on your taxes, that you might actually get a
benefit you could actually use right from the money that
you give to the government. And it's like, think about
(36:14):
the low expectations that you have, right, Oh, I'm you know,
I pay my taxes, why so they can spend it
on somebody else. That's the way it works. And now
you're telling me I'm going to get a benefit that
will actually help me preserve my lifetime of work and
benefit my family and on and on. Oh, that's ridiculous.
(36:36):
It couldn't possibly be think about that for a moment.
That that's the situation we're in. That it's that is,
it is ludicrous. It's unbelievable that you might actually get
a benefit. Now you take for granted that other people,
(36:57):
other people are going to you know, do whatever, other
people are gonna benefit from your the money that you
pay in. You take that for granted. Well, of course, yeah,
those people are getting well, of course they're getting it. Well,
those people are getting it overseas well. Of course they're
getting it. They were starving or are these people getting it? Well,
of course they're getting it. And it turns out that
the grifters in DC are actually getting ninety percent of
(37:17):
it or some ridiculous percentage. You know. All I know
is what I read in the papers, right, But but
we all accept that. Well, well, yeah, I guess that's
the way it works. And here I am saying to you,
oh guess what, it doesn't have to be that way.
Maybe you should get some of the benefit for what
(37:38):
you paid for. Oh, that's ridiculous. Oh that couldn't that's
too good to be true. Well, you know, we've got
thousands of examples where not too good to be true.
As a matter of fact, it actually works every time
you work it. But the biggest hurdle is not legal technical.
It's not so much a legal technical problem that we've got.
(38:00):
It's a middle class people have a difficult time accepting
that there might be actually something good for them that
comes from the government. Now, we got over it with
so security, We got over it with Medicare. Okay, But
that's very obvious, you know, because it shows up in
your paycheck every day, every paycheck you ever received, they
(38:21):
withheld for it, right, I mean, so that's pretty obvious.
And you're paying right now, you're paying for your medicare.
So that's obvious too, Right, it's very obvious that these
things are being paid for. Maybe it's maybe that's what
it is. Maybe it's just less obvious because the Medicaid
comes out of the general taxes and which it doesn't either.
(38:43):
I mean, there's there's special withholdings for that. But still
it's hard to see. It's more difficult too, It's more
difficult to see, but it always, you know, it's a
worthwhile thing to think about, right, The idea that seventy
percent of folks, whatever the number is I'm just going
(39:06):
nih seventy percent of folks three years of skilled care. Well,
how are you gonna pay for it? When any level
of care? You know, you call up the service, any
level of care is thirty bucks an hour. That used
to be our ns. Registered nurses are going for over
one hundred bucks an hour now pretty much anywhere you
call if you can find one. All right, So how
(39:27):
are you gonna how are you gonna do that? Your
kid's gonna do that? Really you really think?
Speaker 1 (39:31):
So?
Speaker 2 (39:32):
Huh? Maybe maybe who am I to? Who am I
to say? Uh? But I'd be a little bit slow.
I'll counting on that one. So how's it gonna how's
it gonna happen?
Speaker 3 (39:43):
You know?
Speaker 2 (39:44):
Well, I just go broke because that's that's okay. I
expect to go broke. Maybe maybe that's the way you
do it. And what happens once you're going broke because
most folks go broke very much more quickly than they imagine. Okay,
so what if we actually planned ahead? What if you're
a statement so number one, follow through, follow up? Your
estate plan is actually going to do what we think
(40:05):
it's going to do because we follow through when we
set it up and then we follow up later on
so it doesn't go off the rails. Second thing, long
term care. We provide for the one threat, the one
big threat that you have. You've been listening to the
David Carrier Show on David Carrier. Your family's personal attorney.
He served at the Pentagon as an army jag. He
graduated from Notre Dame and has two law degrees from
Boston University and Georgetown University. He's been practicing law for
over thirty years. He's your family's personal attorney. It's time
for the David Carrier Show.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Hello, and welcome to the David Carrier Show. I'm David Carrier,
your family's personal attorney. And you have found a place
where we talk about a state planning, elder law, retirement law,
real estate and business law. That's right, retirement in case,
in case you've retired, you want to retire, you wish
you had retired. You know somebody who's retired. Right for
(00:56):
folks who have to figure out, well, I got so
much last, I'm getting my Social Security, I'm on my Medicare.
I'm good to go for the next amount of time
until some point, as my father would say, right, So
the question is how do we make it last? How
do we make sure that you don't go broke? You
(01:16):
haven't been broke yet, Well, how do we make sure?
How do we make sure that you hang on? You
hang on to what you got, You paid off the house,
you're close to it, and a lot of people still
paying a little bit of mortgage on there anyway, and sometimes,
of course, you we'll go ahead and put a home
we relining a credit on there to deduct the interest.
But now apparently American made cars are going to have
(01:38):
tax deductible interest. That'll be interesting. Why not. So anyway,
six one six seven seven four twenty four twenty four.
That's six one six seven seven four twenty four twenty four.
That's the number to call if you'd like to get
your question, comment or concern on the air. I saw,
you know, lots of bipartisanship now going on. Our our
(02:00):
governor out to out to the Oval Office honor guests
and you know, getting along with getting along with the
president there, and we're going to keep self for DJO
open and you know, keep those invasive species out of
the out of the Great Lakes, out of Lake Michigan.
You know, it's makes your herd. You know, it makes
(02:21):
you feel good to see people working together done that,
and you know that's so that's a wonderful thing. Glad
to uh glad to see that co operation. UH co
operation going on bodes well for the future. It seems
like it seems like to me, so good for good
for I mean, I've had my policy differences, obviously, but
(02:42):
this is not the place for politics. It's a place
for unity and celebration. So let's celebrate the unity that
we saw that we saw going on there. Yay. Some
people say okay, some people say, well, you know, you
guys keep saying you're so different. At least I keep
saying that, you know, what is it? That's what is
(03:03):
it that's different about the approach that we take to
the whole planning process. And I hate to call it
a state planning and I hate to call it elder
law because both of those are really kind of wide
of the mark. A state planning, of course, is how
you plan for the leftovers when you're dead. Your state
(03:24):
is the leftover stuff when you're no longer around to
use or enjoy it. And older law is like me,
we wants to be elderly anyway. Don't you hate it
when you're reading a magazine, you know about some something
bad that happened, Oh the elderly person was, and then
you read the age and it's like, oh, younger than
(03:47):
I am. I don't know how I feel about that.
So I don't feel about that. Think about retirement planning instead.
How about that? Because retirement, well, you have to be
alive to be retired, all right, Sure, you have to
be around, you have to you have to be alive,
you have to have some stuff, you have to be
taking charge of your life. And that's what that's what
(04:09):
this planning process is all about. There are four elements
of it. Four. Now, get out your know paths and
write this down. So if you're getting dressed for church
right about now, which you keep telling me you are
so okay good, maybe write it in, you know, shave
cream on the mirror. How about that? You could do
that anyway. The four things we do. Number one is
(04:30):
follow through and follow up. Okay, an awful lot of
estate plans, I would say, the vast majority ninety plus percent. Oh,
where's your scientific survey on that? My scientific survey is
the estate plans that I see come through the office
over the last thirty five years. And you can count
on the fingers of one hand how many have been
(04:51):
really fully funded, ready to go exactly the way it
should be. Maybe two hands. It's been thirty five years.
After all, most of the time of state planning, the
things that people bring in don't reflect what they actually want,
at least when you ask them about what they want.
And it's very different than what's on the page. I mean,
that's one thing. The other is that even if what's
(05:15):
on the page kind of reflects what they said they wanted,
it's based on a lack of information about what's available.
Plus most of the time there's no follow through. Right,
you get this trust and it doesn't have anything in
it but the house. Right, but maybe it has a
checking account, right, But we didn't really plan ahead for
(05:38):
or we did a ladybird deed. Ladybirdded which, believe me,
lady birded is very useful, very helpful in the correct circumstance,
but not for everybody. It's a specific tool for a
specific situation. Right. But people think, and by people I
mean attorneys as well. You know, they think it's the
magic wind, you wave the magic bond and then hey,
(05:59):
it's all done. All you need, all you need is,
all you need is love. Beatles told us that. But
you need more than a lady bird deed. Okay. Anyway,
long story short, Most of the state plans, the vast majority,
we say, in ninety plus percent way more than ninety
percent on the website we say ninety six percent. Well
maybe it's ninety eight percent. Okay, maybe it's ninety two percent.
(06:22):
It's directionally accurated, it's in the ballpark. So here's here's
the idea. If you followed through, and then as time
goes by, if we follow up. So like last Friday,
we're doing a trust review workshop. We send out the letters,
you know, to folks. Come on in, let's talk about
(06:42):
what has happened since you did your estate plan. You know,
maybe it was ten years ago, maybe it was fifteen
years ago. We still get folks coming back in to
up and say, what is going on with the estate plan?
Does it still does it still fit? If it's a
good fit, wonderful. If it's not, well, let's do what
needs to be done to fix it up. And new
(07:05):
paper costs money, Yeah, it does. It cost money to
do new paper to redo the documents from five to ten,
fifteen years ago based on change circumstances. I don't want
this kid involved. I do want that kid involved. I
you know, I have more, I have less, all different
kinds of things, right, but there should be follow up.
(07:28):
You know, this plan that you've got, and I know,
I know how it gets. I know how most people
use it. They get it, they put it in the basement,
they forget about it, Okay, And I know that that's
the case because the vast majority ones I get they're
all moldy. They you know, they get that. They got
that basement smell. You know, that basement smell that's been
(07:50):
down there. It gets kind of kind of sort of
like the cottage before you open it in the in
the summertime, you know what I mean. It's got that
tang to it, that special aroma of aging. I imagine
the Pyramids were like this for a while, you know,
but those thousands of years ago, I'm small quite the same. Anyway.
(08:12):
The point is, you get it might as well be
hieroglyphics on a tablet, which incidentally, I think it was
like seven thousand years ago. There was a There was
a will, you know, a will, just like the will
you're doing nowadays. Seven thousand years ago, this lady wrote
her will and it must have been chipped into tablets, right,
because nothing survives that long. But she was disinheriting her kids.
(08:34):
Get this, she was a widow. Get this, she was
a widow and her kids. You know, she counted this.
That's why here all the time. Oh, my kids will
take care of me when I'm old. Really well, seven
thousand years ago, the kids did not take care of
their mom, and so she did a will that says
you're disinherited. She disinherited them to the extent, you know,
(08:56):
the two kids. I guess it was that. I don't
read hieroglyphics.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
What do I know.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
I just depend on the Egyptologists to tell me what
it was. But apparently she was very upset at their neglect,
and so she disinherited them. So you think nothing's new
under the sun, You would be correct. There is nothing
new under the sun except the hopeful delusion that our
kids were somehow gonna who never did it before, that
(09:20):
somehow when we really need care, they're gonna do it.
They're gonna step up. Well, they weren't doing it in
ancient Egypt, and some kids do it. Some kids do it.
That's that's for sure. That Sandwich generation, where the kids
were caring for parents and their own children, that was
a real thing. We were pretty much past that period
(09:41):
my experience. You don't see it very much anymore sometimes sometimes,
but rare unusual. You just don't You just don't see
it hardly at all. Anyway. The point is you need.
It's not enough to get a stack of documents that
you know, you hope we're gonna work, you think you're
gonna work, you wish you're gonna work, and then just
(10:02):
leave it. You have to follow through. You have to
follow up because if you don't, the dain thing ain't
gonna work. And then where are you? The answer is nowhere.
You got troubles. The estate plan isn't gonna work. There
are three more things that you need to do to
have what I would call a good plan. This is
what we're dedicated to at the at the firm is
(10:26):
making sure that you have all four so that your
retirement right is as successful as it can be, and
so that as you move ahead, as your family moves
ahead through the mists of time, right, you've maximized the
good things you've done as much as you can right
to first fulfill yourself and then the kids. If you
(10:49):
have any questions, give us a call. Six one six
seven seven four twenty four twenty four. That's sixty one,
six seven seven four twenty four to twenty four. Will
get your question, comment or concern on the air, or
go to the website Davidcarrier Law dot com.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
This hour of the David Carrier Show is pro bono,
so call in now at seven seven twenty four, twenty four.
This is the David Carrier Show.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Welcome back to the David Carrier Show. I'm still David Carrier,
your family's personal attorney, and I have bad news, bad
news for everybody. The show was up for an award
at the Michigan Association of Broadcasters or maybe and no,
we didn't even make the finals. However, that guy with
the pointsett is and now with the simple by gardening
(12:02):
simplified Rick vised he made it. We didn't make it.
What does that tell you? I don't know people like
Gardner's more than lawyers or whatever. I'll have to I
will soldier on. Don't worry. I'm not I'm not. Uh yeah,
I am totally depressed and unhappy about it. Yeah yeah,
(12:22):
actually so prayers that would be nice on you know, whenever,
whenever you get around to it. So yeah, so no
awards for us this year. Anyway. We've got Scott on
the line. Hello Scott, Welcome to the David Carrier Show.
It has never gotten an award.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
Ever, don't worry for for us listeners, you are top quality,
award caliber, so don't worry about that. You're winner in
our book. I have a and by the way, time
runs together here, but I think you were gone for
a couple of weeks. But welcome back. If I just
happened to catch a couple of broadcasts its a while ago.
(12:59):
About a good time away.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Now, that's that's where I feel very bad about that.
I'm committed to the Live Sunday. But my uh, I've
got a junior in high school and so we're out
visiting colleges and uh, oh my god. You can't believe
what colleges cost these days. It's unbelievable. But fortunately he's
a small kid, so hopefully you do. You know, we're
(13:23):
looking for the scholarships crossing fingers. Now, if I had
an award winning radio show, maybe they'd loosen the wallet.
What do you think?
Speaker 3 (13:30):
But well, yeah, wow, good luck for decisions. We wish
you wisdom and that's profit for sure.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Thank you. So how can I help we quick question?
I called a while ago and we had a we
have a deed by atia hip.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
Actually they have a deed that has a writer first refusal,
and the family decided just to sell the house rather
than any to do anything with the trust. And thank god,
they're just gonna They're just gonna sell it. But this
is a question, it's very specific questions when it comes
to this writer first refusal written into the d document.
(14:07):
Are we supposed to notify if we put up for
sale and someone makes an offer, are we supposed to
notify the party that has that writer first refusal? Or
what's our what's our legal obligations under that.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
I got to tell you that's really odd and I
don't think that's enforceable. I mean, a deed, a deed
is supposed to do one thing, not multiple things. The
deed is not a future performance contract. The deed is
a conveyance of a is a conveyance and that can
be subject to recall. Right, So the enhanced life estate
(14:42):
deed is where I give you, I give you this,
but I retain an enhanced life estate. And you can
do that because there's a specific provision in Michigan law
from back in the eighteen forties that allows you to
do that. Okay, some states don't have it because it's
not a fundamental part of a of a real estate conveyance.
(15:03):
So I'd be kind of surprised. I haven't done the research, obviously,
but I'd be very surprised if a if a writer
first refusal in a deed was enforceable. On the other hand,
litigation is what litigation is. I mean, we've got judges
out there who think they run the country. Okay, well,
I mean it's America. Everybody can sue for whatever they
(15:27):
want to sue for. And I wonder if the title
insurance company would be happy without a release from the
person who had the writer first refusal. So I don't
I don't really think that when it comes to a
knockdown drag out in court that someone with the writer
(15:48):
first refusal would be able to because I don't think
it was proper to express that in a deed. I
really don't. But I've never been wrong before, so this
might be the first time, and there might be some
case law out there that says that it is enforceable.
I really doubt it. I really really doubt it. But
in any event, I don't think you're going to be
(16:10):
able to get title insurance without a release from the
person who had the writer first refusal. So and it's
probably going to be I would I would think that
it would be a lot easier to get the release,
you know, give the notice, get the release. It would
be a lot easier than worrying whether or not this
(16:30):
was going to come back on you. Because if you're
a title insurance company and you've got something like that
in there, they're not going to just issue a no
exceptions policy. They're going to say, oh, yeah, well we'll
we'll ensure the title accept that this writer first refusal.
If something goes sideways on that, don't look at us.
(16:51):
In fact, I don't think you'll be able to get
the I don't think a title insurance company would write
over something like that. I think you need to get
the release, okay, you know, because because you know, deeds
are not deeds are not evaluated when they're recorded. That
if it's got a sign your block and it looks
like a notary, they're going to record it whatever it says, okay. Basically,
(17:15):
so this.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Is another just a very narrow question on this one,
and again again find if you don't know. But when
it comes to when we go to market, the house.
Is that right or its something we have to disclose
in a cellar discorsure statement.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
I would say yes because you know, here, here's the
here's the thing with seller's disclosure statements. Okay, there's a
line on there is Has there been evidence of water
in the basement? Okay. The answer to that question is yes,
always yes. In Michigan has more fresh water than God. Right,
(17:57):
So I mean you always excuse me for saying God,
but I mean you always say yes. Some dampness is
how you it's how you explain it. You always say
yes to that question. The other question is have there
been structural modifications, alterations, or repairs done without necessary permits
(18:19):
or licensed personnel. The answer to that question is always yes. Okay,
if you change the light switch, if you put in
a ceiling fan, you probably had to have a permit
and a licensed electrician and blah blah blah. You go
to handy Andy on a weekend, everyone in there is
doing structural modifications, alterations, or repairs and they're not licensed.
(18:39):
So you always say yes to those two questions. All right,
just word too wise and then and then you know,
are you in the area of shooting galleries? Aircraft or
always say yes to that because why not you don't know,
you didn't do the research around a five mile radius.
Maybe there is a gun range somewhere that you never
heard of before. Okay, So again I always say yes,
(19:01):
and so on the seller's disclosure statement, you always want
to put any anything that's real that you know about,
as well as things that you don't know about, and
just say yes because they'll buy it anyway. It's not
like no one ditches a house that they want to
buy because, you know, because of the dampness or something.
(19:23):
Nobody does that. But later on, right when they leave
a window open and they change the landscaping and now
the river comes through the window, they're going to blame
you for it if you didn't put you know, yeah,
there's evidence of water in the basement. You always put
that in. Okay, So I would definitely disclose it up front.
(19:44):
Much better to deal with it then than they come
back on you. You know, you want to in the
cellars and you know, sellers disclosure statement not supposed to
be enforceable as promises that you made representations, but people
do it all the time. Again, in a absolute attitude
of caution, you always put that stuff in. Okay, Scott, Okay,
(20:08):
fair enough.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
I appreciate it. I know my family thinks I'm being
a little bit too picky when it comes to these details.
But hell no.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Hell no, no, no, no, no no, you are not
being too picky. No no no, You're just being prudent.
That's how things. That's how the alligators bite you in
you know where.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
Right. Thank you for the time.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
I appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
You have a great day.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
Thank you, Thanks you too. You've been listening to the
David Carrier Show. I'm David Carrier, your family's personal attorney.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
David's got the how to you're looking for. Just call
seven seven four twenty four twenty four. This is the
David Carrier Show.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
Welcome back to the David Carrier Show. The show that
is good medicine. That's right, Uh medicine all right, bon Jovi,
let's go for it anyway. Uh six one six seven
seven four twenty four twenty four. If you want some
good medicine seven seven four two four two four, that's right,
(21:30):
Area code sixty one six seven seven four twenty four
twenty four will get your question, comment or concern on
the air. Now here's a here's a handy handy tip,
or you can go to the website Davidcarrier Law dot com.
Davidcarrier law dot com. We've got an AI artificial intelligence
(21:51):
bot on there. It's not it's not the usual chatbot. Uh.
It actually gives you answers now not legal advice, No,
but it's a lot better. Give it a try. Give
it a try. Just you gotta wait like ten or
twenty seconds for the thing to pop up, and then
there are some pre done questions for you can click
(22:12):
on one of those or just ask free form. I mean,
give it a try. Really, it doesn't cost anything, and
it's amazing. I think it's amazing. I mean you may
think it's who cares, but I suggest to give it
a try. Anyway, we're just talking with Scott, and Scott's
got a deed. His family's got a deed and they're
(22:32):
selling something, some real estate, and written into the deed
is a writer for first refusal, which I don't think
he can do. And indeed, a deed is a conveyance right.
And you can retain a life estate and enhanced life estate.
You can do that, but can you actually create contractual
obligations in indeed, I think the answer to that is
(22:53):
pretty clearly, no, you can't. But here's the question, and
he's was wondering about what you put on the sellers
of the square lure statement and the families kind of
getting on them a little bit. Oh, you know, you're
being too you're being to whatever. Here's the problem with
a lot of this. Okay, it's not it's not the
(23:15):
case that everything always goes wrong. Okay, So people do
these lady bird deeds, which I think are nuts to
rely on those, Okay, now I understand that. Or they
do all the kids on the deed, and they do
all kinds of stuff. People do all kinds of stuff, right,
(23:37):
that may have disastrous, catastrophic, apocalyptic consequences, right, they do them.
And the the problem from my perspective is they get
away with it, right, They get away with doing these things,
(23:58):
which is why they are perpetuated by the people. Why
do people keep doing the same things that fail over
and over again? Well, because nobody brags about the failures. Right,
there's a failure of knowledge of communication, what have you? Right?
And and it's not it's not arsenic, you know what
(24:22):
I mean, it's not poison all the time. It's Russian roulette,
is what it is. Oh. See, my grandpa lived to
eighty three and he smoked two packs of Pall Malls
unfiltered every day. Yeah, okay, I guess that means that
cigarettes are good for you. You could live to eighty
three like your uncle. I had not who lived to
advanced age. Right. And the reason I said, Paul mall
(24:45):
because that's what she smoked, right, unfiltered, for since the
since the forties. All right, does that mean it's a
good idea. No, it doesn't make it a good idea. Now,
my uncle, her husband, he out of emphysema, right, you know,
I don't think it was lung cancer quite yet, but
and he's so it's like, don't tell me that this
(25:09):
stuff is no problem, or that it works or whatever,
simply because sometimes it works. The key is that people
get away with it, all right. The whole point of
planning is that you're not relying on the four leaf chamra,
you know, the four leaf clover, right, You're not relying
on your luck. You're not relying on Oh it'll probably
(25:32):
work out, okay, Uh, it'll be okay, maybe it will
be maybe it will be okay, yeah, maybe, but maybe not?
And did you cover down? Did you? And where you
cannot reliably evaluate the consequences? How often? Like I was
(25:56):
been challenging, well, how do you know it's ninety six percent? Well,
here's the here's how I figured it. Right. The eighty
twenty rule says that eighty percent of the time people
fail in whatever it is they're doing. Eighty percent of
the time, twenty percent succeed. And the eighty twenty rule
is a fractal so it keeps applying. So if you
take eighty twenty of the twenty percent, right, so you
(26:20):
know eighty twenty eighty percent of folks have no estate
plan worth the name. Okay, let's take the twenty percent
who have done something, right, I really done something. And
you know, you can look at survey, Oh, fifty percent
of people have wills. Yeah, people lie, okay, lie of surveys.
Do you have a will? Oh yeah, I got a will?
Let me see it. Okay, I think it's a lot
(26:43):
closer to twenty percent. All right, then you do it
eighty twenty on the twenty percent, you get to ninety
six percent, you know, succeed and the ninety six percent fail.
That's that's kind of my thought process. But there's nothing
I've got what forty plus years at this, Nothing I've
seen in my lifetime contradicts that view. I mean, that
(27:06):
is that is the way. That is the way it goes.
So when Scott calls on and he's like, oh, should
we look about this, we look at that. Yes, yes
you should. And when everybody else, the ninety six percent
around you, your family members are saying, oh, Scott, you're
just nervous in Nella, you're just worrying about nothing, It's like, no, Scott,
(27:26):
you're not worrying about nothing. What you're worried about. What
you're smart to be thinking about is the consequences. Right,
you know we all speed, don't we don't we all
drive too fast? You know you do? We all do.
Ninety six percent of the time people drive too fast.
What's the consequence of driving too fast? Well, usually there
(27:47):
isn't one, you know, Like I said Lego telling Scott,
we're out looking at colleges, right, so we're driving around
on the highway. Unbelievable, the number of people driving eighty
miles an hour, right or eighty plus mile an hour.
It's like they go right, yeah, it's unbelievable. Okay, well
did you get away with it? You're only supposed to
(28:09):
drive seventy Did you get away with driving eighty or
eighty three or seventy five? Did you get away with it? Yeah,
you got away with it, all right, get eating crash.
If there wasn't a police officer give you a ticket,
you got away with it, all right. But if they decide, hey,
we're really going to enforce this, or your tire blows
out or something, then the thing you got away with
(28:32):
turns into a huge disaster, much worse because of the
way the way you did it, See what I mean?
I mean so much of life is like that, right.
Whereas if you are focused on what you're doing, and look,
if you you know, if you perk the car, or
you boil the egg for eight minutes instead of ten,
(28:55):
all right, well so what it's a little bit loose.
Or if you do it for twelve instead of ten,
you know, at ten minute egg, you boil it for
twelve minutes? Of the oak is hard? Okay, not that
big a deal, right, But when we're dealing with things
of great consequence, great consequence, like what if this real
estate deal go sideways. What if the person who has
(29:17):
the writer first refusal, right, you don't approach them all
the rest of it, and they have been keeping an
eye You don't know, they've been keeping an eye on
that property over the years. Oh, just can't wait till
it comes up for sale. I'm going to get right
in there and buy it. Now you got a lawsuit
on your hands. Was it not worth reaching out to
that person to find out about releasing the writer first refusal?
(29:40):
Was it? That was a bad thing? Okay? And chances are,
chances are fifty to fifty eighty ninety whatever the heck,
get whatever, the chances are that that deal will go smoothly.
The person with the writer first refusal forgot about it.
It'll never be an issue, but it might be an issue.
(30:00):
And if you don't deal with it when it's staring
you in the face, what are you thinking? That's That's
the thing with this whole estate retirement law, all the
rest of this. It's like so easy just to say, mem,
it'll be okay, Well, how do you know it'll be okay?
And guess what? It usually isn't okay. Now there's a
nobody likes to talk about how things go sideways except me,
(30:22):
I guess, but they do go sideways, and we don't
want you to get away with it. We want you
to have it done correctly. That's the point. You've been
listening to the David Carrier Show. I'm David Carrier, your
family's personal attorney, another.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
DA and working and taking your Now, this is the
David Carrier Show.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
And you need a shoulder. I need a soldier.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
But I'm here to take a stand.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Because we can. Welcome back to the David Carrier Show.
I'm David Carrier, your family's personal retirement law specialist. Six
one six seven seven four twenty four twenty four. That's
the number to call. Six one six seven seven four
twenty four twenty four. I want to talk about the
(31:29):
four four ways we're different. Oh, yes, four ways. Four
things that you should be looking for. Put it that way.
I want to put it that way. Four things you
should be looking for. And guess what, we're the only
ones who do it. So there you are. Anyway, the
four things you should be looking for. Number one, follow through,
follow up. Make sure that your estate plan actually works
(31:50):
and that there's a plan for the next thirty five years,
so that as things change, you will be informed. How
do we do this weekly newsletter? That's how we do
it WI weekly. Come on in, call in whatever. It's
not just a radio show. We do two hours at
various offices for trust reviews. You know, come on in,
(32:11):
We'll take your question. They usually go more than two hours.
You don't have to be there the whole time. Get
your question answered in book on out of there. That's fine,
But that's how we commit ourselves to following up. That's
part of the It's not just enough to have a
bunch of documents. You gotta follow up with them. The
second thing is we don't pretend that long term care
(32:34):
isn't that's a double negative for you. Everybody else pretends
that long term care doesn't exist, that long term care
is not an issue, that asset protection will take care
of itself. That has not been my experience. Okay, it
hasn't been the experience either of most people in the
great state of Michigan, or I would dare say, the
United States. How do I know that logic and common sense?
(32:58):
Does logic and common sense come for anything? Seems to
me it should, all right, But if the National Institute
of Health says that seventy percent of folks when you're
sixty five, you have a seventy percent chance three years
of long term of skilled nursing care. That's what they
say on the website. You've heard me say this before.
Have you ever gone to the website and actually looked
at you should long term care dot gov. All right,
(33:19):
that's where you'll find what I'm talking about, and twenty
percent needed five years or more. Okay, Well, if you
ignore that, don't be surprised when you go broke. I'm
you know, there's just an ad about losing family farms.
One of the reasons we're losing family farms is because
when Grandpa gets dementia, right or grandma does, we don't
(33:43):
put them in a rocket chair on the front porch
anymore or up in the attic. No, we put them
in a you know, six twelve, eighteen thousand dollars a
month nursing home. All right, now, I'm not saying we
shouldn't put him in long term care. But what I
am saying is, if you want to where the family
farm is going, it's going away at ten acres at
(34:04):
a slice to pay for long term care. All that
happens really really really, yes, it really really happens. Talk
to any nursing home administrator in an agricultural area. All right,
they will tell you. How do I know they'll tell
you because clients have told me that. That's what they
tell you. When you say, well, how am I supposed
(34:24):
to pay for this? Well, you know everybody else is
selling off the farm. Get busy. Okay, there goes the
family farm. So anyway, long term care. We're concerned about,
how do you pay for long term care? And the
answer is, just like Social Security, just like Medicare, you've
already paid for it. Okay, a middle class has already
(34:46):
paid for long term care through taxes. You paid the taxes,
you get the benefit. Now it's turning out there's all
kinds of people you never imagined are also getting the benefits,
despite the fact they never paid any taxes. You know,
they make stuff up. Okay, I'm not talking about that.
I don't think those people are entitled to the Diddley squad.
(35:06):
But that's not you. You're the ones paying for them.
And all of a sudden it becomes fair and righteous
and good that you should not get a payback on
your taxes. Think about this, Think about how bizarre this is,
because this is the experience I have workshop after workshop
when we talk about the fact that through Medicaid, Medicaid,
(35:28):
let me say that word again, Medicaid. Through Medicaid, you
have already paid for long term care. Now you have
to jump through their hoops like anything else, you got
to jump through their hoops in order to qualify for it. Yes, indeed.
But the reaction is often Oh, that's too good to
be true. Oh that's too good. Oh it couldn't work
that way, blah blah, Okay, fine, how weird is it?
(35:51):
How bizarre is it that we're in a society where
you think it's ridiculous that you might actually get a
payback on your taxes, that you might actually get a
benefit you could actually use right from the money that
you give to the government. And it's like, think about
(36:14):
the low expectations that you have, right, Oh, I'm you know,
I pay my taxes, why so they can spend it
on somebody else. That's the way it works. And now
you're telling me I'm going to get a benefit that
will actually help me preserve my lifetime of work and
benefit my family and on and on. Oh, that's ridiculous.
(36:36):
It couldn't possibly be think about that for a moment.
That that's the situation we're in. That it's that is,
it is ludicrous. It's unbelievable that you might actually get
a benefit. Now you take for granted that other people,
(36:57):
other people are going to you know, do whatever, other
people are gonna benefit from your the money that you
pay in. You take that for granted. Well, of course, yeah,
those people are getting well, of course they're getting it. Well,
those people are getting it overseas well. Of course they're
getting it. They were starving or are these people getting it? Well,
of course they're getting it. And it turns out that
the grifters in DC are actually getting ninety percent of
(37:17):
it or some ridiculous percentage. You know. All I know
is what I read in the papers, right, But but
we all accept that. Well, well, yeah, I guess that's
the way it works. And here I am saying to you,
oh guess what, it doesn't have to be that way.
Maybe you should get some of the benefit for what
(37:38):
you paid for. Oh, that's ridiculous. Oh that couldn't that's
too good to be true. Well, you know, we've got
thousands of examples where not too good to be true.
As a matter of fact, it actually works every time
you work it. But the biggest hurdle is not legal technical.
It's not so much a legal technical problem that we've got.
(38:00):
It's a middle class people have a difficult time accepting
that there might be actually something good for them that
comes from the government. Now, we got over it with
so security, We got over it with Medicare. Okay, But
that's very obvious, you know, because it shows up in
your paycheck every day, every paycheck you ever received, they
(38:21):
withheld for it, right, I mean, so that's pretty obvious.
And you're paying right now, you're paying for your medicare.
So that's obvious too, Right, it's very obvious that these
things are being paid for. Maybe it's maybe that's what
it is. Maybe it's just less obvious because the Medicaid
comes out of the general taxes and which it doesn't either.
(38:43):
I mean, there's there's special withholdings for that. But still
it's hard to see. It's more difficult too, It's more
difficult to see, but it always, you know, it's a
worthwhile thing to think about, right, The idea that seventy
percent of folks, whatever the number is I'm just going
(39:06):
nih seventy percent of folks three years of skilled care. Well,
how are you gonna pay for it? When any level
of care? You know, you call up the service, any
level of care is thirty bucks an hour. That used
to be our ns. Registered nurses are going for over
one hundred bucks an hour now pretty much anywhere you
call if you can find one. All right, So how
(39:27):
are you gonna how are you gonna do that? Your
kid's gonna do that? Really you really think?
Speaker 1 (39:31):
So?
Speaker 2 (39:32):
Huh? Maybe maybe who am I to? Who am I
to say? Uh? But I'd be a little bit slow.
I'll counting on that one. So how's it gonna how's
it gonna happen?
Speaker 3 (39:43):
You know?
Speaker 2 (39:44):
Well, I just go broke because that's that's okay. I
expect to go broke. Maybe maybe that's the way you
do it. And what happens once you're going broke because
most folks go broke very much more quickly than they imagine. Okay,
so what if we actually planned ahead? What if you're
a statement so number one, follow through, follow up? Your
estate plan is actually going to do what we think
(40:05):
it's going to do because we follow through when we
set it up and then we follow up later on
so it doesn't go off the rails. Second thing, long
term care. We provide for the one threat, the one
big threat that you have. You've been listening to the
David Carrier Show on David Carrier. Your family's personal attorney.
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