Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
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 (00:20):
Hello, and welcome to the David Carrier Show. I'm David Carrier,
your family's retirement law specialist, personal attorney. I don't know
whatever else you want to throw on there. And why
do we say retirement law, because, frankly, if you're retired,
if you're looking to retire, if you wish you were retired,
if you know anybody who's retired, we can probably help out.
(00:43):
We used to call it a state planning an elder law,
which is true, not wrong. Real estate and business law. Yeah,
you have a question about that, more than happy to
have your give us a ringy dinghy at six one
six Who remembers that, huh six months six one six
seven seven four twenty four twenty four, And that's six
(01:04):
one six seven seven four twenty four twenty four. And
you know, last hour, we got a call on a
with a family friend calling in and it's an intro.
It was a really good call, I thought, because like,
why are we doing all this stuff? Why are we
(01:25):
planning for the future? And you know, like yo, you
bear said, the problem with predictions is they're all about
the future. The problem with planning is you don't know
what's going to happen. You don't know how it's going
to happen, you don't know how it's going to appear
to different people. There's a lot going on. It'd be
nice if all we had to do is one piece
of paper or one document, or if we knew what
(01:48):
the future held for us, things would make be a
lot easier. Anyway, I don't know if they make any
more sense, but I don't make big claims like that,
but certainly it would be it would be easier to
plan if we knew what was going to happen. The
point is we don't know what's going to happen, and
(02:09):
because we don't know what's going to happen, we have
to make our best guess and we have to provide
for as many alternatives. It is not at all unusual
for folks to ask when they look at the stack
of documents that we've done, oh, you know, that's so complex.
Do I really need that? And the answer is no,
(02:29):
you don't really need that. You don't need ninety percent
of what we do you're not going to use. Okay,
you're not going to use ninety percent of it. I
just don't know which ten percent you are going to use.
And maybe it's more than that, maybe it's twenty percent.
I don't know, maybe it's five percent. Who knows. The
point is the point is that when you really are
(02:52):
doing serious planning, you have to take account of things
that have high probability happening. Seventy percent, according to NIH,
seventy percent of us are going to wind up in
long term care at some point. Okay, in skilled are
going to require You don't have to wind up in
(03:12):
a residential care facility and get care at all. Family
members can provide it. Family members have historically provided an
awful lot of the care that people receive, because that's
the way it is now. Do you think it's still
that way. There used to be this thing called the
Sandwich generation. You may have heard of this. The idea
was that you had kids who were caring for their
(03:34):
own children and for their parents, and that was kind
of the sandwich of care, like you're the filling in
the sandwich. Get it. And that was the idea. And
I'm not saying that that doesn't happen. Still it does,
but not as much as it used to. It's a
it was a it was a norm, it was a standard.
(03:55):
It was what you expected, right, and what we were
trying to do lots of time was make things easier
for that sandwich generation. Okay, well, well that's yesterday's news. Okay,
that did happen. You just don't see it happening quite
so much anymore. It's not like people don't still help
out to some degree. But you know, I had a
(04:20):
guy for amost almost fifteen years. He went to Dad's house,
cleaned up Dad, got him ready for the day, and
then when he worked all day, then came home and
dad was in continent. He cleaned up the mass and
then then went home, right, no vacations for like ten
or fifteen years. We had three brothers who took eight
(04:41):
hour shifts with mom. Three of them, three sons. My
three sons right, took shifts with Mom eight hours a day,
and they did that for six or seven years before
mom's care finally got to the point where they needed
professional help. So it's not like that stuff didn't happen,
(05:02):
and it's not like it doesn't happen now. Spouses especially
will absolutely amaze you, astound you with the amount of
care that they provide for their spouses. And when two
thirds of Alzheimer's victims are women, it ain't all women
who are providing the care. Guys are doing it also. Okay,
that's reality, and I honor those people who are doing that. However,
(05:27):
we didn't. We aus boomers didn't have as many kids
as our parents did, which means that there are more
of us than there are of them. There are more
people who need care nowadays than people who are available
to be the filling in the sandwich. Okay, they're not
as many, and so now, what what are you going
(05:51):
to do? One of the good answers, right number one,
I believe in leaving people alone. I think people should
be on their own as much as they possibly can.
Good good, stay on your own, stay on your own,
make your own peanut butng jelly saying, which is, if
that's what you like for breakfast, go for it right,
make your own breakfast, make your own bed, clean your
own house, wonderful. Good, right, that doesn't cost us anything.
(06:15):
You know, we were paying this old security. We got
the Medicare, which you paid for. Taxpayers paid for that.
Taxpayers getting that.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Right.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
There's another program, Medicaid, which provides for that residential care,
and you paid for that too. But hey, if we
can avoid you needing it so much the better. Right.
You're not a sucker because you didn't get knee replacement. Yeah,
you know, everybody who needs a knee gets it, right,
(06:43):
that's what medicare is about. You need a hip, great, here,
we'll fix you up for that. But if you didn't
get one, don't feel bad about it. It's like a
good thing. So if you don't need long term care, great,
you don't need it, wonderful, let's not get it. But
it's there and you paid for for it. This is
that planning thing I'm talking about. I don't know who's
going to get the dementia. I don't know who's gonna
(07:05):
need a knee or a hip or a kidney or
whatever the heck it is, right, who knows? Who knows?
You know, they were testing that out for one of
his knees, you know, to get a knee replacement actually,
and they found out that he had this weird blood
disease that turned his blood to molasses or something. Okay,
(07:25):
so now they can't give him the knee, but now
he's gotten this therapy to you know, to fix the blood,
and then then the blood got better, and say, okay,
now you can have your knee.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Right.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Do you feel cheated because you didn't have that weird
whatever the heck it was metabolic thing that turns your
blood to molasses. You know, Oh, I didn't get the
molasses blood treatment. Good for you, mean, you didn't have
blood that was turned into blood. If your knees are
in good shape, wonderful. You didn't break your head, hurrah. Okay,
(07:56):
but it's there if you need it. Same way with
the Medicaid. It's there for the long term care if
you need it. If you need it, and when the
numbers are seventy percent of folks need on average three
years of care, guess what, you're probably gonna need it,
all right, more than people need knees or hips or
(08:17):
whatever else, you know, whatever else they're getting. Okay, that's
just the way it is. So we want to maintain
personal autonomy as long as we as long as we can.
All right, that's the key, and we plan ahead to
maintain that personal autonomy so that your decisions matter as
(08:40):
you live your life. Now, in order to make that happen,
you have to trust other people, because there may come
a point at which you cannot make decisions for yourself,
whether they're medical, residential, more generally speaking, healthcare, lifestyle, there
may come a point when you're not able to The
key is I want to push that point off as
(09:03):
far as possible. I didn't do an estate plan right
so that somebody could make those decisions for me when
I could still make them for myself. And that was
the issue with our first caller today. It was, Hey,
we got this guy. He wakes up, he makes his bed,
(09:25):
he likes to go, he likes to get the sizzlory brands.
I guess the fact that he's almost one hundred years old.
So what you know, the largest growing the largest growing
age cohort in America is people over one hundred. There
is a lot of them, and there's going to be
not one hundred and thirty like they found out what
the Social Security and stuff like that, but there are
(09:45):
a lot of folks who are who are getting old
older like that, and it doesn't mean age, doesn't mean competence.
It's not a one to one now, may have some dementia,
may have some need for help. Okay, need for help
is not you know, is not Oh scoop me out
(10:06):
of my house and put me in a facility. Now,
maybe it means that you know, you see, you've been
hoarding stuff and the house is full of junk, and
you know you haven't thrown away the pancakes from McDonald's
from you know, twenty years ago. Okay, that's a problem.
You know, we can recognize that problem if you're not
taking care of yourself, so we can recognize that as
being a problem. But if that's not the problem, if
(10:28):
you are really taking care of yourself, well you should
be able to do that and have set up so
that if you're ever not able to do that, then
we can step in and help out. That's the key.
So you're listening to the David Carrier Show. I'm David Carrier,
your family's personal attorney.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
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 (10:55):
Welcome back to the David Carrier Show. I'm David Carrier.
Your family please personal attorney. Now is the time give
us a call six one six seven seven four twenty
four twenty four. That's six one six seven seven four
twenty four twenty four. We'll get your question, comment or
concern on the air. So what goes into one of
(11:16):
these plays? Let's get back to basics here a little bit.
What is it we're what is it we're worried about?
What should we be concerned about? And sometimes you are like, oh,
I'm not worried about anything. I'm like, well, I'm good
for you. Well what are the sorts of things though
that we you know, as we go through life, you know,
and again retirement law. Okay, so if you're sixty plus,
(11:38):
if you're retired or wish you were or planned to
be someday, that's that's really who this really helps out. Now,
we got a whole other thing. If you have young
children and all the rest. We talk about that if
you want, but for me to talk about that, then
you have to call six one six seven seven four
twenty four twenty four. That's the deal. There are some
(12:00):
really really excellent things that can be done that aren't
being done for parents with minor children. I mean some really,
But you guys got other stuff on your mind. So
I'm talking to your mom and dad right now, I'm
talking to retirees. Okay. So there are four things that
I think should be done, which in my opinion, are
(12:22):
routinely not done. And my opinion is based on well,
thirty five years of doing this stuff. You know, I've
been practicing for what forty three years now, forty three years,
so that's a long time. That's kind of a long time.
But doing the focused on the long term care, the
(12:43):
estate planning and stuff that's been under my own name.
That's been thirty five years. Before that, I was working,
as you know, for a judge and then in the military,
so that was a lot of fun. Then a couple
of years with the big law firm before they booted
me out. Well deserved. I should have done it sooner,
(13:03):
but anyway, grateful for that experience and now a new experience.
We have Sharon on the line. Hello, Sharon, welcome to
the David Carrier Show.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
Good morning, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
You bet youa so right now, this is where you
say what the problem is.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
Yes, I'm been a lifelong Michigan resident, but now I
am a Florida resident. My will, ohka, and state planning
is all based in Michigan. But because I'm a Florida resident,
I'm curious. How important is it that I now have
a will that is based with a Florida attorney? Or
(13:42):
can I keep my will in Michigan? Does it affects
inheritance tax or anything?
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Nah, you don't have to worry about that. But Sharon,
do you own a home? Do you have stuff?
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Or your foot loosen fantasy free? Oh? Okay, then my quests.
My first question is why do you have a will
instead of a trust? Because a will is going to
go through probate.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
If you really want to know, it's because I'm a
bit lazy and I don't want to have to engage
with an attorney every time I sell a home or
buy a new property, or do any of those things
that we do frequently.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Sharon, my love, what are you thinking if you're buying
and selling properties and look, look, here's the deal, here's
the deal with the trust. Okay, When if you're buying
and selling properties, you just keep on buying and selling
your properties. The only difference when you have a trust.
And this is true of the asset protection trust, this
is true of the revocable living trust, this is true
(14:45):
of trusts in general. The only thing you do is
when you're selling or buying, you say, oh, by the way,
I have a trust. So you put Sharon trustee of
the Sharon Trust on my documents. That's it, okay, And
you don't have to engage with the lawyer. Huh. Put
(15:07):
your own name on it, don't you. Yes, well, it's
not complicated, all right, all right, really isn't complicated.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Sorry my primary question, Yeah, yeah, yeah, you did ask
the question.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
So here's what I can have. My will still in Florida, Michigan.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. In fact when we are obviously
we have clients move all over the place. Right, So
the one thing, and your will says, you know, apply
Michigan law to it. So to whatever extent Florida law
is going to conflict. If there is a problem, it's
going to be Michigan law that applies. All right. The
choice of law will be Michigan law, which is what
(15:49):
you want, because that's the law that you did. The
will under so full faith and credit under the Constitution.
Blah blah, you're fine. Here's the one thing that I
do recommend the same way with powers of attorney, right,
because generally speaking, we've got enough time to figure out
what should be going on. Okay. The one thing that
I do strongly recommend folks when they move out of
(16:10):
state to change is your healthcare power of attorney. And
the reason for that is I don't want an EMT
or er doctor or somebody trying to puzzle over oh
whatever am I supposed to do with Michigan the power
of attorney. What you want is a Florida power of
attorney for healthcare, right, for healthcare, so that it'll be
(16:33):
familiar to the people in the hospital, at the ambulance,
at the hospice wherever, right, so they'll recognize it as
a Florida document and there won't be any there won't
be any question. And the reason that's so important versus
the money, you know, the trust and the will and
(16:53):
financial power of attorney, is because seconds count when you're
talking about the healthcare stuff.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
Okay, yes, and I agree.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Yeah, So that's why I would say, get the get
the healthcare thing, redone in Florida, not because it's going
to be really substantially different, but simply because if it's Florida,
then it'll be familiar to the people that you want
to have it accepted by, right, you know, so that
(17:25):
the Florida dog. Oh yeah, it's just another Florida power
of returney cool. Right. You don't want Tom wondering what's
a bit different about Michigan, So that would be the
one thing.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
All right? Is there a way for you to suggest
the law practice I work with in Michigan to redo
some of my documents, recommend him offline to me, or
now I need to make some changes, whether it be
in Florida or in Michigan. I could use some help.
And I heard it on the radio that you were
starting your show today, and I thought, I'm going to
(17:55):
give a call.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Yay, excellent. So you want a Michigan law firm to
make these changes.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
I'm not sure you kind of compelled me that it
doesn't make a difference. I am curious about inheritance tax
and I thought it was more advantageous in Florida, So
I thought my will had to be from Florida to
take advantage of their better inheritance tax.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Michigan. Michigan ditched the inheritance tax back in what was
it ninety two. We haven't had an inheritance tax in forever.
In a day, and for another five or ten years.
I want to say, we had what's called a pickup
tax based on the federal but that phased out too.
So no, there's no inheritance or estate tax. Now you
(18:48):
you real estate mobile to you, you might have to
worry about federal estate tax. Are you married, Sharon? If
I could ask, yes, oh yes, okay, all right, so
you each have it's around thirteen million. I think it's
more than thirteen million now, but you have twenty six million.
Put it that way, twenty six million of estate plan
(19:10):
protection in a married couple. Okay, So you really don't
have to worry about the estate tax until you're pushing
twenty million or so, and then you really should start
thinking about it. But it's not gonna it's not gonna
bite you till it's over twenty six million. So okay,
you probably don't have to worry about a state tax either.
Now you have plenty of money to spend on lawyers.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
That's new information. My information is completely outdated. I'm glad
I called, but I do need to make a change
to my my wills, all right.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
So give us are yeah, yeah, I recommend me. Let
me give you the It's eight hundred three one seven
twenty eight twelve. Okay, it doesn't cost you anything to call,
all right.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
I will give a call a little later after the weekend,
and thank you from very much.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll have a little chit chat and
figure it out.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
Okay, all right, have a peaceful day.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
Thank you, Sharon, appreciate it. You've been listening to the
David Carriers Show. I'm David Carrier, your family's personal attorney.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
David's got the how too you're looking for. Just call
seven seven twenty four. This is the David Carrier Show.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
Well, come back to the David Carrier Show. I'm David Carrier,
your family's personal attorney. You know, here's the deal. We've
got folks who move all around.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Right.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
You just had a caller who's moved from Michigan to Florida.
Oh we can understand that choice, can't we. But they're
buying and selling and oh my goodness, the trust is
just so difficult, et cetera. Cetera. Well, maybe it is,
maybe it is. Well, I mean, you have trouble opening
the milk. You know, you have trouble operating your kurrk machine.
(20:57):
If you do well, trust might be beyond your level
of competence. But really, the trust part of it, when
you're buying and selling real estate is really pretty simple.
The notion that you have to consult an attorney every
time you do it. Now we do say because you
(21:17):
get a free phone call. Those are free phone call always.
You are free visit. Right, So if you are going
to sell your house, if you're a client and you're listening,
I'm not saying don't call us, call us. It just
doesn't cost you anything. And the point is, if you
call us before the transaction, right, we'll tell you what
you need to say to the title company. So it
(21:39):
doesn't cost you anything, all right, There's no cost to
use there's no fee or whatever just because you have
a just because you're using a trust, there isn't and
it's one additional piece of paperwork. It's no big deal. Seriously,
it's no big deal. So anyway, don't let that get
(22:00):
in the way of doing the trust and then saddle
to your family with having to go through probate or
doing this nonsense. See, here's the problem. Here's the problem
that you got right. So let's say you've done a
bunch of deeds, right, You've done the deeds, and then
you change your mind. Well, in some state, in Michigan,
you can do this thing that you can change your
(22:22):
mind on it, right, because it doesn't take effect till
after you've died. Great, that's that's a good thing. That's
a transfer on death deed. Great, but not all states
take it. Florida doesn't take it. You can't do it
in Florida. It is my understanding. I'm not licensed to
practice in Florida. And if I'm wrong, you know, call
me bad names, but but not my fault. Anyway. There
(22:45):
are many states, Pennsylvania and another one where you cannot
do the You can't do the lady bird or transfer
on death deed. Okay, So you're stuck with putting someone
irrevocably on your deed. Well, what if they die? What
if you know, they get divorced, if there's a bankruptcy,
what if? What if? And now you have this is
(23:08):
why your documents are three hundred pages long. Okay, because
all of the what ifs that exist out there. Now,
I didn't make the what ifs. The what ifs happen,
because they happen. That's life. If you haven't noticed it yet,
wake up and smell the coffee. I didn't. I didn't
do it, you know, I just but but I'm not
(23:30):
gonna I'm not going to soft pedal it, and I'm
not going to pretend it doesn't exist that I'm not
going to pretend that that what really happens doesn't happen.
And I think there's an awful lot of planning, so
called planning, that's done where you just assume that a
lot of stuff that actually happens doesn't happen. Not a
good way to not a good way to go about it.
(23:52):
But anyway, here's the point. We understand that are you
know that Americans move from here to there, hitherto on right,
hither and yon. And if we did in a state
plan that works great in Michigan but doesn't work anywhere else,
that's a problem, okay, because now you've got to redo it.
(24:13):
When you go somewhere else. You get you know, as
sharing you know our caller indicator. Oh, I got the
inheritance tax problem or something like this, which you don't
but the way that we design our plans with the
trust that qualifies for long term care, for the Medicaid
for the long term care, that's something that works in
(24:35):
all fifty states because it's based on the federal law.
Now you might say, you might say, oh, I'm going
to go to California, and I understand that it's all
free in California, which which it was. But now the
news that's coming out says, hey, you know how California
(24:56):
was using medicaid dollars federal money to do all other stuff?
Not so much. Okay, I don't know if you've noticed,
but there's been sort of a change in philosophy you
might say, about federal dollars in different states and stuff
like that. And it may or may not come as
(25:18):
a surprise to you that we're finding out that California
is not above the law, that the law doesn't bend
to meet the needs of California. So that you know,
federal programs that work somewhere in all forty nine states,
they work differently in California. Right. So my point is
(25:40):
that the trusts that follow federal law, and you used
to be able to say, oh, but look at California.
It's different. Now it's not going to be different much longer.
I don't think there's there's now indications that that Florida
is going to have to comply. So anyway, the point is,
if you move to forty nine in other states besides California,
(26:01):
and god knows why you'd ever want to move to California,
visit nice place to visit. Go see the intrepidence in Diego.
I highly recommend it. But but you don't want to
live there. You want to go to Florida, You want
to go to Arizona, South Carolina, wherever. Good because in
those sane states, the federal law that we base our
(26:21):
trusts on still operates. Okay, so it's it's not that hard,
number one, not that hard to have a trust. It's
actually once you've got it set up, now there's there's
a bunch of work in getting it set up, Which
is the first thing I think that distinguishes what I
would call a responsible estate plan from what most people
(26:42):
are doing, and that is number one is follow through
and follow up. People don't follow through. You get a
bunch of documents, you're happy because you paid the money
and now I've got a stack of documents. Who I
can check that off my bucket list. I'm done, which
isn't true because there's a whole bunch of follow through
that needs to get done, which is which you're being
(27:05):
told to do by the letter that's in that packet,
which you're not going to read. Okay, we don't kid
ourselves that. We don't kid ourselves about that. In fact,
we make sure that that is part of the deal. Okay,
that it's that it's a uh that the follow through
and follow up, what you're not going to do on
(27:25):
your own, is actually part of the process. Right now,
you can you know, you can sit down in your
traces and not just not do it. You know, you
can absolutely refuse. Well that's fine, you know, we can't
make you do anything. But but that's why our trusts
actually work, is because we have that follow through and
follow up. The second thing that we do that's differently
(27:45):
and it's based on the federal law, is we protect
the assets for long term care. Right because you know,
and everybody's like, oh, I want to stay at home, great,
let's stay at home, okay, because that's what that's what's
available when you have done this correctly and you're in
(28:06):
a PACE county, which almost every county now is PACED,
so it's available like all across the state, and it's
designed to keep you at home.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
Right.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
This is why we love the PACE program so much.
The third thing that we do is make sure that
your kids actually get the stuff all right. See, you
don't want to just send your kid a check because
you don't know what's going on with your kid, especially
when you're on when you've passed over, right, when you're
on the other side of the great divide, Right, you
(28:38):
don't know what's going on with your kid. Right, Maybe
they got into trouble, maybe something bad happened. Maybe maybe
maybe all these possibilities, right, so you don't have to
think about all the polities. Acknowledge that there are possibilities, Okay,
not that hard to make sure that none of the
bad stuff happens, right, Bad stuff can happen them to
(29:00):
your kids. Yeah, bad stuff can happen. Why add to it,
Why sacrifice what you've left to the kids. You don't
have to do that. And then the fourth thing, of course,
the fourth is we make sure to the extent that
you want us to you know, you've got to participate
in this, but we make sure that the IRA is
(29:22):
treated for what it is, which is the one middle
class tax break that actually works, that's actually a good deal,
and which is not available to very wealthy people or
people at the end the other end of the spectrum.
They don't benefit. Neither one of them, Neither one of
those groups benefit from the IRA four one K, all
(29:44):
those retirement plan assets, they don't, which is why forty
trillion dollars is owned by the middle class. Let's not
screw that one up. Even listening to the David Carrier
Show on David Carrier urging you to go to Davidcarrier
Law dot com. Sign up for one one of our
free workshops. We'll see you there.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
David's perking and working and taking your calls. Now, this
is the David Carrier Show.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
Welcome back to the David Carrier Show. Here's a fun fact.
Herb Balbert is still touring. Do you remember Herb Balbert
until you want to brass? Okay, Now, I talk about
people who are getting older, and seemingly some people think
just because you're older, you should wind up in a
long term Carrier Well, Herb Balbert. How old do you
(30:31):
think he is? I had to look it up. He's
ninety years old. Isn't that crazy? And he's still touring.
Don't you wish you'd be still touring when you're ninety
years old? I certainly plan to be anyway. Six one
six seven seven four twenty four to twenty four, that's
the number to call. Six one six seven seven four
twenty four twenty four in the in the waning minutes
(30:53):
of the of the David Carrier, of the David Carrier.
I can't tell you how good it is to be
back doing a live show instead of those pre recorded
best of We hate those, don't anyway. The workshops are
cranking along. They're really seeing a nice, uh nice rebound
from the from the winter time. Seeing a lot of
folks at the workshops. That's great, you know, and you
(31:17):
can too, so uh, just go to the website Davidcarrier
Law dot com. That's Davidcarrier law dot com to sign
up for a life planning workshop. We're doing them as
always in our up in Muskegan, of course, in the
Norton Shores Shor's office. You know. Surprisingly a very good
(31:41):
response up there, we've got packed workshops for the next
week or so, so you might have to push it
off a little bit. But go to the website Davidcarrier
Law dot com. Of course in Holland and the Holland
office and down in Portage, not to mention good old
Grand Rapids where you know, the mothership, the where it
all's started. And so we're we're keeping with that another
(32:03):
thing that we're that we're doing, you know, and you think, well,
what if I move to another state, what if something,
you know, how come everybody doesn't do it this way?
And that's a good question. I think it's a good question.
I think the answer is that it's difficult to do
planning the way we do the planning not for you
(32:23):
so much as for how do we make how do
we make it possible for regular folks to hang on
to what they have earned? How do we make it
possible for regular folks to get what they have paid for?
It's not that easy, okay? Yeah? And is it a
lot of pages? Yeah, it's a lot of pages, all right.
At the same time, it's something that an awful lot
(32:45):
of attorneys have said, you know, I'd like to do
something like that. So let me tell you what's what's
going on on that front. We've and I say we,
it's myself and a couple of partners and down in
Miami and over in Pittsburgh. We've now got I don't know,
(33:06):
twenty twenty five other law firms that we're training on
how to do this stuff this way. We're all doing it.
We've got another half a dozen law firms that are
that are implementing this kind of thing. Is it different, Yeah,
it's different. Is it customary? I hate that word customary.
(33:28):
Why would you ever want something that's customary? It's I mean, okay,
vitamin D milk, that would be a good thing. Yeah,
I'd like to cut. But even with that, you know,
it's all it's lactose this, and it's something that and whatever.
It's all kinds of different stuff. So why would you think,
Why would anybody think, why would any profession hold up
(33:51):
as its standard? Oh, we want mediocre, that's you know,
that's what customary is. Customary is mediocre. Oh, I would
like what everybody else has got because there's nothing special
about me or my family. It's all, you know, we're
all the same. Oh. And by the way, if you
do more than that, then, well, we're not so sure
(34:12):
about that, because mediocre is what you deserve, mediocre is
what you should have. That's that's what customary means to me.
I never understood it. I don't plan to understand it
anytime soon. And the good news is that this way
of doing it, you see, because here's the other here's
(34:32):
the other side of that. Right. It's like, well, now
understand that, over thirty five years, we've got I don't know,
twenty thousand some odd families who've done this kind of planning.
All right, we've done literally thousands of I think we're
around twenty five hundred something like that, medicaid applications. Okay,
that's a lot of medical twenty five hundred, I said, medicaid.
(34:54):
That's a lot of medicaid applications. Okay, and we with
less than half a person, we get what we asked
for because why because we followed the rules. It's all
about following the rules. I don't mind following the rules.
Give me the tell me what the game is, I'll
play it, okay, why not? Just don't ask me to
(35:16):
do it in a mediocre what everybody else is doing
kind of way, because that is not the way. In
my opinion, that's not the way too for middle class
families to succeed, because why because there's people out there
who don't like you. Okay, there's people out there who
will take advantage of you. There's people out there who
(35:37):
thinks you don't deserve what you have earned. You know,
am I telling you something you don't know? Is this
new look around? I mean, tell me it's different. I
don't think it's different. I think it's exactly what's happening,
and I think it's wrong, and I think that people
should stand up against it within the rules. All right.
(35:59):
I'm not saying, oh, you know, revolution or whatever. I'm
not saying that at all. I'm saying that if we
read the rules and using the rules, then we can
secure the middle class. We can secure for people who
work and save and do the good things. We can
make sure that those people don't go broke. Why the
(36:20):
hell wouldn't we do it? And the good news is
that that's a message that is spreading across the country.
Next month will be, like I say, we're presenting this
to I don't know. I think we've got like twenty three,
twenty four now, something like that anyway, a whole bunch
of law firms who are willing to re engineer their
(36:40):
processes to do things kind of the way I've been
doing it right along along with along with my partners
who are also using these methods. It's been a few
years that we've been working on this to actually bring
it out. It's not something I don't know why you
would care about it other than just to say it's like, yeah, well,
(37:03):
I want to do what everybody else is doing. Well,
people are finally waking up to the idea that going
broke just because you needed long term care right having
to pay back what you already paid for is not
the best deal in the world. In fact, it's offensive
and it's wrong, and we ought to do something about
it within the context of and I'm not talking about
(37:25):
changing the rules. I'm like, fine, you made the rules. Fine,
give me any set of rules. I'll obey the rules, right,
but unless they're totally ridiculous, and sometimes they are, then
I won't do that thing that you're telling me not
to do, but I'll do this other thing which I
can do. And again, this is the sort of thing
(37:48):
that has been upheld by the Court of appeal and
you'll get plenty of authority for what we're doing here.
And it's spreading nationally to the to the because we
got firms from New Jersey to Texas to Georgia, Florida,
you know, all over the place that are actually really
(38:09):
adopting and or will be adopting because you know, it's
been a long time to make sure that we got
it just right, that we could have other firms do
things the way I'm doing them, the way that my
partners are doing them in other states. It's not that weird.
It's different.
Speaker 3 (38:30):
That it is.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
It's not customary, it's not mediocre, it's not run of
the mill, plane, Jane, it's not that. It's what you
actually need to make sure that what you've worked for
remains yours and is a legacy to the future. And
that's what I got to say about that. Even listening
to the David Carrier Show, I'm David Carrier, your famili's
personal attorney.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
You've been listening to The David Carrier Show a lively
discussion addressing your questions and concerns, but not legal advice.
There is a big difference. So when making decisions that
affect your family, your property, or yourself. The best advice
is to seek good advice specific to your unique needs.
If you missed any of today's show, or would like
additional information about the law offices of David Carrier, please
(39:14):
visit Davidcarrier law dot com.
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 (00:20):
Hello, and welcome to the David Carrier Show. I'm David Carrier,
your family's retirement law specialist, personal attorney. I don't know
whatever else you want to throw on there. And why
do we say retirement law, because, frankly, if you're retired,
if you're looking to retire, if you wish you were retired,
if you know anybody who's retired, we can probably help out.
(00:43):
We used to call it a state planning an elder law,
which is true, not wrong. Real estate and business law. Yeah,
you have a question about that, more than happy to
have your give us a ringy dinghy at six one
six Who remembers that, huh six months six one six
seven seven four twenty four twenty four, And that's six
(01:04):
one six seven seven four twenty four twenty four. And
you know, last hour, we got a call on a
with a family friend calling in and it's an intro.
It was a really good call, I thought, because like,
why are we doing all this stuff? Why are we
(01:25):
planning for the future? And you know, like yo, you
bear said, the problem with predictions is they're all about
the future. The problem with planning is you don't know
what's going to happen. You don't know how it's going
to happen, you don't know how it's going to appear
to different people. There's a lot going on. It'd be
nice if all we had to do is one piece
of paper or one document, or if we knew what
(01:48):
the future held for us, things would make be a
lot easier. Anyway, I don't know if they make any
more sense, but I don't make big claims like that,
but certainly it would be it would be easier to
plan if we knew what was going to happen. The
point is we don't know what's going to happen, and
(02:09):
because we don't know what's going to happen, we have
to make our best guess and we have to provide
for as many alternatives. It is not at all unusual
for folks to ask when they look at the stack
of documents that we've done, oh, you know, that's so complex.
Do I really need that? And the answer is no,
(02:29):
you don't really need that. You don't need ninety percent
of what we do you're not going to use. Okay,
you're not going to use ninety percent of it. I
just don't know which ten percent you are going to use.
And maybe it's more than that, maybe it's twenty percent.
I don't know, maybe it's five percent. Who knows. The
point is the point is that when you really are
(02:52):
doing serious planning, you have to take account of things
that have high probability happening. Seventy percent, according to NIH,
seventy percent of us are going to wind up in
long term care at some point. Okay, in skilled are
going to require You don't have to wind up in
(03:12):
a residential care facility and get care at all. Family
members can provide it. Family members have historically provided an
awful lot of the care that people receive, because that's
the way it is now. Do you think it's still
that way. There used to be this thing called the
Sandwich generation. You may have heard of this. The idea
was that you had kids who were caring for their
(03:34):
own children and for their parents, and that was kind
of the sandwich of care, like you're the filling in
the sandwich. Get it. And that was the idea. And
I'm not saying that that doesn't happen. Still it does,
but not as much as it used to. It's a
it was a it was a norm, it was a standard.
(03:55):
It was what you expected, right, and what we were
trying to do lots of time was make things easier
for that sandwich generation. Okay, well, well that's yesterday's news. Okay,
that did happen. You just don't see it happening quite
so much anymore. It's not like people don't still help
out to some degree. But you know, I had a
(04:20):
guy for amost almost fifteen years. He went to Dad's house,
cleaned up Dad, got him ready for the day, and
then when he worked all day, then came home and
dad was in continent. He cleaned up the mass and
then then went home, right, no vacations for like ten
or fifteen years. We had three brothers who took eight
(04:41):
hour shifts with mom. Three of them, three sons. My
three sons right, took shifts with Mom eight hours a day,
and they did that for six or seven years before
mom's care finally got to the point where they needed
professional help. So it's not like that stuff didn't happen,
(05:02):
and it's not like it doesn't happen now. Spouses especially
will absolutely amaze you, astound you with the amount of
care that they provide for their spouses. And when two
thirds of Alzheimer's victims are women, it ain't all women
who are providing the care. Guys are doing it also. Okay,
that's reality, and I honor those people who are doing that. However,
(05:27):
we didn't. We aus boomers didn't have as many kids
as our parents did, which means that there are more
of us than there are of them. There are more
people who need care nowadays than people who are available
to be the filling in the sandwich. Okay, they're not
as many, and so now, what what are you going
(05:51):
to do? One of the good answers, right number one,
I believe in leaving people alone. I think people should
be on their own as much as they possibly can.
Good good, stay on your own, stay on your own,
make your own peanut butng jelly saying, which is, if
that's what you like for breakfast, go for it right,
make your own breakfast, make your own bed, clean your
own house, wonderful. Good, right, that doesn't cost us anything.
(06:15):
You know, we were paying this old security. We got
the Medicare, which you paid for. Taxpayers paid for that.
Taxpayers getting that.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Right.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
There's another program, Medicaid, which provides for that residential care,
and you paid for that too. But hey, if we
can avoid you needing it so much the better. Right.
You're not a sucker because you didn't get knee replacement. Yeah,
you know, everybody who needs a knee gets it, right,
(06:43):
that's what medicare is about. You need a hip, great, here,
we'll fix you up for that. But if you didn't
get one, don't feel bad about it. It's like a
good thing. So if you don't need long term care, great,
you don't need it, wonderful, let's not get it. But
it's there and you paid for for it. This is
that planning thing I'm talking about. I don't know who's
going to get the dementia. I don't know who's gonna
(07:05):
need a knee or a hip or a kidney or
whatever the heck it is, right, who knows? Who knows?
You know, they were testing that out for one of
his knees, you know, to get a knee replacement actually,
and they found out that he had this weird blood
disease that turned his blood to molasses or something. Okay,
(07:25):
so now they can't give him the knee, but now
he's gotten this therapy to you know, to fix the blood,
and then then the blood got better, and say, okay,
now you can have your knee.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Right.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Do you feel cheated because you didn't have that weird
whatever the heck it was metabolic thing that turns your
blood to molasses. You know, Oh, I didn't get the
molasses blood treatment. Good for you, mean, you didn't have
blood that was turned into blood. If your knees are
in good shape, wonderful. You didn't break your head, hurrah. Okay,
(07:56):
but it's there if you need it. Same way with
the Medicaid. It's there for the long term care if
you need it. If you need it, and when the
numbers are seventy percent of folks need on average three
years of care, guess what, you're probably gonna need it,
all right, more than people need knees or hips or
(08:17):
whatever else, you know, whatever else they're getting. Okay, that's
just the way it is. So we want to maintain
personal autonomy as long as we as long as we can.
All right, that's the key, and we plan ahead to
maintain that personal autonomy so that your decisions matter as
(08:40):
you live your life. Now, in order to make that happen,
you have to trust other people, because there may come
a point at which you cannot make decisions for yourself,
whether they're medical, residential, more generally speaking, healthcare, lifestyle, there
may come a point when you're not able to The
key is I want to push that point off as
(09:03):
far as possible. I didn't do an estate plan right
so that somebody could make those decisions for me when
I could still make them for myself. And that was
the issue with our first caller today. It was, Hey,
we got this guy. He wakes up, he makes his bed,
(09:25):
he likes to go, he likes to get the sizzlory brands.
I guess the fact that he's almost one hundred years old.
So what you know, the largest growing the largest growing
age cohort in America is people over one hundred. There
is a lot of them, and there's going to be
not one hundred and thirty like they found out what
the Social Security and stuff like that, but there are
(09:45):
a lot of folks who are who are getting old
older like that, and it doesn't mean age, doesn't mean competence.
It's not a one to one now, may have some dementia,
may have some need for help. Okay, need for help
is not you know, is not Oh scoop me out
(10:06):
of my house and put me in a facility. Now,
maybe it means that you know, you see, you've been
hoarding stuff and the house is full of junk, and
you know you haven't thrown away the pancakes from McDonald's
from you know, twenty years ago. Okay, that's a problem.
You know, we can recognize that problem if you're not
taking care of yourself, so we can recognize that as
being a problem. But if that's not the problem, if
(10:28):
you are really taking care of yourself, well you should
be able to do that and have set up so
that if you're ever not able to do that, then
we can step in and help out. That's the key.
So you're listening to the David Carrier Show. I'm David Carrier,
your family's personal attorney.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
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 (10:55):
Welcome back to the David Carrier Show. I'm David Carrier.
Your family please personal attorney. Now is the time give
us a call six one six seven seven four twenty
four twenty four. That's six one six seven seven four
twenty four twenty four. We'll get your question, comment or
concern on the air. So what goes into one of
(11:16):
these plays? Let's get back to basics here a little bit.
What is it we're what is it we're worried about?
What should we be concerned about? And sometimes you are like, oh,
I'm not worried about anything. I'm like, well, I'm good
for you. Well what are the sorts of things though
that we you know, as we go through life, you know,
and again retirement law. Okay, so if you're sixty plus,
(11:38):
if you're retired or wish you were or planned to
be someday, that's that's really who this really helps out. Now,
we got a whole other thing. If you have young
children and all the rest. We talk about that if
you want, but for me to talk about that, then
you have to call six one six seven seven four
twenty four twenty four. That's the deal. There are some
(12:00):
really really excellent things that can be done that aren't
being done for parents with minor children. I mean some really,
But you guys got other stuff on your mind. So
I'm talking to your mom and dad right now, I'm
talking to retirees. Okay. So there are four things that
I think should be done, which in my opinion, are
(12:22):
routinely not done. And my opinion is based on well,
thirty five years of doing this stuff. You know, I've
been practicing for what forty three years now, forty three years,
so that's a long time. That's kind of a long time.
But doing the focused on the long term care, the
(12:43):
estate planning and stuff that's been under my own name.
That's been thirty five years. Before that, I was working,
as you know, for a judge and then in the military,
so that was a lot of fun. Then a couple
of years with the big law firm before they booted
me out. Well deserved. I should have done it sooner,
(13:03):
but anyway, grateful for that experience and now a new experience.
We have Sharon on the line. Hello, Sharon, welcome to
the David Carrier Show.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
Good morning, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
You bet youa so right now, this is where you
say what the problem is.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
Yes, I'm been a lifelong Michigan resident, but now I
am a Florida resident. My will, ohka, and state planning
is all based in Michigan. But because I'm a Florida resident,
I'm curious. How important is it that I now have
a will that is based with a Florida attorney? Or
(13:42):
can I keep my will in Michigan? Does it affects
inheritance tax or anything?
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Nah, you don't have to worry about that. But Sharon,
do you own a home? Do you have stuff?
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Or your foot loosen fantasy free? Oh? Okay, then my quests.
My first question is why do you have a will
instead of a trust? Because a will is going to
go through probate.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
If you really want to know, it's because I'm a
bit lazy and I don't want to have to engage
with an attorney every time I sell a home or
buy a new property, or do any of those things
that we do frequently.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Sharon, my love, what are you thinking if you're buying
and selling properties and look, look, here's the deal, here's
the deal with the trust. Okay, When if you're buying
and selling properties, you just keep on buying and selling
your properties. The only difference when you have a trust.
And this is true of the asset protection trust, this
is true of the revocable living trust, this is true
(14:45):
of trusts in general. The only thing you do is
when you're selling or buying, you say, oh, by the way,
I have a trust. So you put Sharon trustee of
the Sharon Trust on my documents. That's it, okay, And
you don't have to engage with the lawyer. Huh. Put
(15:07):
your own name on it, don't you. Yes, well, it's
not complicated, all right, all right, really isn't complicated.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Sorry my primary question, Yeah, yeah, yeah, you did ask
the question.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
So here's what I can have. My will still in Florida, Michigan.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. In fact when we are obviously
we have clients move all over the place. Right, So
the one thing, and your will says, you know, apply
Michigan law to it. So to whatever extent Florida law
is going to conflict. If there is a problem, it's
going to be Michigan law that applies. All right. The
choice of law will be Michigan law, which is what
(15:49):
you want, because that's the law that you did. The
will under so full faith and credit under the Constitution.
Blah blah, you're fine. Here's the one thing that I
do recommend the same way with powers of attorney, right,
because generally speaking, we've got enough time to figure out
what should be going on. Okay. The one thing that
I do strongly recommend folks when they move out of
(16:10):
state to change is your healthcare power of attorney. And
the reason for that is I don't want an EMT
or er doctor or somebody trying to puzzle over oh
whatever am I supposed to do with Michigan the power
of attorney. What you want is a Florida power of
attorney for healthcare, right, for healthcare, so that it'll be
(16:33):
familiar to the people in the hospital, at the ambulance,
at the hospice wherever, right, so they'll recognize it as
a Florida document and there won't be any there won't
be any question. And the reason that's so important versus
the money, you know, the trust and the will and
(16:53):
financial power of attorney, is because seconds count when you're
talking about the healthcare stuff.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
Okay, yes, and I agree.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Yeah, So that's why I would say, get the get
the healthcare thing, redone in Florida, not because it's going
to be really substantially different, but simply because if it's Florida,
then it'll be familiar to the people that you want
to have it accepted by, right, you know, so that
(17:25):
the Florida dog. Oh yeah, it's just another Florida power
of returney cool. Right. You don't want Tom wondering what's
a bit different about Michigan, So that would be the
one thing.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
All right? Is there a way for you to suggest
the law practice I work with in Michigan to redo
some of my documents, recommend him offline to me, or
now I need to make some changes, whether it be
in Florida or in Michigan. I could use some help.
And I heard it on the radio that you were
starting your show today, and I thought, I'm going to
(17:55):
give a call.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Yay, excellent. So you want a Michigan law firm to
make these changes.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
I'm not sure you kind of compelled me that it
doesn't make a difference. I am curious about inheritance tax
and I thought it was more advantageous in Florida, So
I thought my will had to be from Florida to
take advantage of their better inheritance tax.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Michigan. Michigan ditched the inheritance tax back in what was
it ninety two. We haven't had an inheritance tax in forever.
In a day, and for another five or ten years.
I want to say, we had what's called a pickup
tax based on the federal but that phased out too.
So no, there's no inheritance or estate tax. Now you
(18:48):
you real estate mobile to you, you might have to
worry about federal estate tax. Are you married, Sharon? If
I could ask, yes, oh yes, okay, all right, so
you each have it's around thirteen million. I think it's
more than thirteen million now, but you have twenty six million.
Put it that way, twenty six million of estate plan
(19:10):
protection in a married couple. Okay, So you really don't
have to worry about the estate tax until you're pushing
twenty million or so, and then you really should start
thinking about it. But it's not gonna it's not gonna
bite you till it's over twenty six million. So okay,
you probably don't have to worry about a state tax either.
Now you have plenty of money to spend on lawyers.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
That's new information. My information is completely outdated. I'm glad
I called, but I do need to make a change
to my my wills, all right.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
So give us are yeah, yeah, I recommend me. Let
me give you the It's eight hundred three one seven
twenty eight twelve. Okay, it doesn't cost you anything to call,
all right.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
I will give a call a little later after the weekend,
and thank you from very much.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll have a little chit chat and
figure it out.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
Okay, all right, have a peaceful day.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
Thank you, Sharon, appreciate it. You've been listening to the
David Carriers Show. I'm David Carrier, your family's personal attorney.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
David's got the how too you're looking for. Just call
seven seven twenty four. This is the David Carrier Show.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
Well, come back to the David Carrier Show. I'm David Carrier,
your family's personal attorney. You know, here's the deal. We've
got folks who move all around.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Right.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
You just had a caller who's moved from Michigan to Florida.
Oh we can understand that choice, can't we. But they're
buying and selling and oh my goodness, the trust is
just so difficult, et cetera. Cetera. Well, maybe it is,
maybe it is. Well, I mean, you have trouble opening
the milk. You know, you have trouble operating your kurrk machine.
(20:57):
If you do well, trust might be beyond your level
of competence. But really, the trust part of it, when
you're buying and selling real estate is really pretty simple.
The notion that you have to consult an attorney every
time you do it. Now we do say because you
(21:17):
get a free phone call. Those are free phone call always.
You are free visit. Right, So if you are going
to sell your house, if you're a client and you're listening,
I'm not saying don't call us, call us. It just
doesn't cost you anything. And the point is, if you
call us before the transaction, right, we'll tell you what
you need to say to the title company. So it
(21:39):
doesn't cost you anything, all right, There's no cost to
use there's no fee or whatever just because you have
a just because you're using a trust, there isn't and
it's one additional piece of paperwork. It's no big deal. Seriously,
it's no big deal. So anyway, don't let that get
(22:00):
in the way of doing the trust and then saddle
to your family with having to go through probate or
doing this nonsense. See, here's the problem. Here's the problem
that you got right. So let's say you've done a
bunch of deeds, right, You've done the deeds, and then
you change your mind. Well, in some state, in Michigan,
you can do this thing that you can change your
(22:22):
mind on it, right, because it doesn't take effect till
after you've died. Great, that's that's a good thing. That's
a transfer on death deed. Great, but not all states
take it. Florida doesn't take it. You can't do it
in Florida. It is my understanding. I'm not licensed to
practice in Florida. And if I'm wrong, you know, call
me bad names, but but not my fault. Anyway. There
(22:45):
are many states, Pennsylvania and another one where you cannot
do the You can't do the lady bird or transfer
on death deed. Okay, So you're stuck with putting someone
irrevocably on your deed. Well, what if they die? What
if you know, they get divorced, if there's a bankruptcy,
what if? What if? And now you have this is
(23:08):
why your documents are three hundred pages long. Okay, because
all of the what ifs that exist out there. Now,
I didn't make the what ifs. The what ifs happen,
because they happen. That's life. If you haven't noticed it yet,
wake up and smell the coffee. I didn't. I didn't
do it, you know, I just but but I'm not
(23:30):
gonna I'm not going to soft pedal it, and I'm
not going to pretend it doesn't exist that I'm not
going to pretend that that what really happens doesn't happen.
And I think there's an awful lot of planning, so
called planning, that's done where you just assume that a
lot of stuff that actually happens doesn't happen. Not a
good way to not a good way to go about it.
(23:52):
But anyway, here's the point. We understand that are you
know that Americans move from here to there, hitherto on right,
hither and yon. And if we did in a state
plan that works great in Michigan but doesn't work anywhere else,
that's a problem, okay, because now you've got to redo it.
(24:13):
When you go somewhere else. You get you know, as
sharing you know our caller indicator. Oh, I got the
inheritance tax problem or something like this, which you don't
but the way that we design our plans with the
trust that qualifies for long term care, for the Medicaid
for the long term care, that's something that works in
(24:35):
all fifty states because it's based on the federal law.
Now you might say, you might say, oh, I'm going
to go to California, and I understand that it's all
free in California, which which it was. But now the
news that's coming out says, hey, you know how California
(24:56):
was using medicaid dollars federal money to do all other stuff?
Not so much. Okay, I don't know if you've noticed,
but there's been sort of a change in philosophy you
might say, about federal dollars in different states and stuff
like that. And it may or may not come as
(25:18):
a surprise to you that we're finding out that California
is not above the law, that the law doesn't bend
to meet the needs of California. So that you know,
federal programs that work somewhere in all forty nine states,
they work differently in California. Right. So my point is
(25:40):
that the trusts that follow federal law, and you used
to be able to say, oh, but look at California.
It's different. Now it's not going to be different much longer.
I don't think there's there's now indications that that Florida
is going to have to comply. So anyway, the point is,
if you move to forty nine in other states besides California,
(26:01):
and god knows why you'd ever want to move to California,
visit nice place to visit. Go see the intrepidence in Diego.
I highly recommend it. But but you don't want to
live there. You want to go to Florida, You want
to go to Arizona, South Carolina, wherever. Good because in
those sane states, the federal law that we base our
(26:21):
trusts on still operates. Okay, so it's it's not that hard,
number one, not that hard to have a trust. It's
actually once you've got it set up, now there's there's
a bunch of work in getting it set up, Which
is the first thing I think that distinguishes what I
would call a responsible estate plan from what most people
(26:42):
are doing, and that is number one is follow through
and follow up. People don't follow through. You get a
bunch of documents, you're happy because you paid the money
and now I've got a stack of documents. Who I
can check that off my bucket list. I'm done, which
isn't true because there's a whole bunch of follow through
that needs to get done, which is which you're being
(27:05):
told to do by the letter that's in that packet,
which you're not going to read. Okay, we don't kid
ourselves that. We don't kid ourselves about that. In fact,
we make sure that that is part of the deal. Okay,
that it's that it's a uh that the follow through
and follow up, what you're not going to do on
(27:25):
your own, is actually part of the process. Right now,
you can you know, you can sit down in your
traces and not just not do it. You know, you
can absolutely refuse. Well that's fine, you know, we can't
make you do anything. But but that's why our trusts
actually work, is because we have that follow through and
follow up. The second thing that we do that's differently
(27:45):
and it's based on the federal law, is we protect
the assets for long term care. Right because you know,
and everybody's like, oh, I want to stay at home, great,
let's stay at home, okay, because that's what that's what's
available when you have done this correctly and you're in
(28:06):
a PACE county, which almost every county now is PACED,
so it's available like all across the state, and it's
designed to keep you at home.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
Right.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
This is why we love the PACE program so much.
The third thing that we do is make sure that
your kids actually get the stuff all right. See, you
don't want to just send your kid a check because
you don't know what's going on with your kid, especially
when you're on when you've passed over, right, when you're
on the other side of the great divide, Right, you
(28:38):
don't know what's going on with your kid. Right, Maybe
they got into trouble, maybe something bad happened. Maybe maybe
maybe all these possibilities, right, so you don't have to
think about all the polities. Acknowledge that there are possibilities, Okay,
not that hard to make sure that none of the
bad stuff happens, right, Bad stuff can happen them to
(29:00):
your kids. Yeah, bad stuff can happen. Why add to it,
Why sacrifice what you've left to the kids. You don't
have to do that. And then the fourth thing, of course,
the fourth is we make sure to the extent that
you want us to you know, you've got to participate
in this, but we make sure that the IRA is
(29:22):
treated for what it is, which is the one middle
class tax break that actually works, that's actually a good deal,
and which is not available to very wealthy people or
people at the end the other end of the spectrum.
They don't benefit. Neither one of them, Neither one of
those groups benefit from the IRA four one K, all
(29:44):
those retirement plan assets, they don't, which is why forty
trillion dollars is owned by the middle class. Let's not
screw that one up. Even listening to the David Carrier
Show on David Carrier urging you to go to Davidcarrier
Law dot com. Sign up for one one of our
free workshops. We'll see you there.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
David's perking and working and taking your calls. Now, this
is the David Carrier Show.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
Welcome back to the David Carrier Show. Here's a fun fact.
Herb Balbert is still touring. Do you remember Herb Balbert
until you want to brass? Okay, Now, I talk about
people who are getting older, and seemingly some people think
just because you're older, you should wind up in a
long term Carrier Well, Herb Balbert. How old do you
(30:31):
think he is? I had to look it up. He's
ninety years old. Isn't that crazy? And he's still touring.
Don't you wish you'd be still touring when you're ninety
years old? I certainly plan to be anyway. Six one
six seven seven four twenty four to twenty four, that's
the number to call. Six one six seven seven four
twenty four twenty four in the in the waning minutes
(30:53):
of the of the David Carrier, of the David Carrier.
I can't tell you how good it is to be
back doing a live show instead of those pre recorded
best of We hate those, don't anyway. The workshops are
cranking along. They're really seeing a nice, uh nice rebound
from the from the winter time. Seeing a lot of
folks at the workshops. That's great, you know, and you
(31:17):
can too, so uh, just go to the website Davidcarrier
Law dot com. That's Davidcarrier law dot com to sign
up for a life planning workshop. We're doing them as
always in our up in Muskegan, of course, in the
Norton Shores Shor's office. You know. Surprisingly a very good
(31:41):
response up there, we've got packed workshops for the next
week or so, so you might have to push it
off a little bit. But go to the website Davidcarrier
Law dot com. Of course in Holland and the Holland
office and down in Portage, not to mention good old
Grand Rapids where you know, the mothership, the where it
all's started. And so we're we're keeping with that another
(32:03):
thing that we're that we're doing, you know, and you think, well,
what if I move to another state, what if something,
you know, how come everybody doesn't do it this way?
And that's a good question. I think it's a good question.
I think the answer is that it's difficult to do
planning the way we do the planning not for you
(32:23):
so much as for how do we make how do
we make it possible for regular folks to hang on
to what they have earned? How do we make it
possible for regular folks to get what they have paid for?
It's not that easy, okay? Yeah? And is it a
lot of pages? Yeah, it's a lot of pages, all right.
At the same time, it's something that an awful lot
(32:45):
of attorneys have said, you know, I'd like to do
something like that. So let me tell you what's what's
going on on that front. We've and I say we,
it's myself and a couple of partners and down in
Miami and over in Pittsburgh. We've now got I don't know,
(33:06):
twenty twenty five other law firms that we're training on
how to do this stuff this way. We're all doing it.
We've got another half a dozen law firms that are
that are implementing this kind of thing. Is it different, Yeah,
it's different. Is it customary? I hate that word customary.
(33:28):
Why would you ever want something that's customary? It's I mean, okay,
vitamin D milk, that would be a good thing. Yeah,
I'd like to cut. But even with that, you know,
it's all it's lactose this, and it's something that and whatever.
It's all kinds of different stuff. So why would you think,
Why would anybody think, why would any profession hold up
(33:51):
as its standard? Oh, we want mediocre, that's you know,
that's what customary is. Customary is mediocre. Oh, I would
like what everybody else has got because there's nothing special
about me or my family. It's all, you know, we're
all the same. Oh. And by the way, if you
do more than that, then, well, we're not so sure
(34:12):
about that, because mediocre is what you deserve, mediocre is
what you should have. That's that's what customary means to me.
I never understood it. I don't plan to understand it
anytime soon. And the good news is that this way
of doing it, you see, because here's the other here's
(34:32):
the other side of that. Right. It's like, well, now
understand that, over thirty five years, we've got I don't know,
twenty thousand some odd families who've done this kind of planning.
All right, we've done literally thousands of I think we're
around twenty five hundred something like that, medicaid applications. Okay,
that's a lot of medical twenty five hundred, I said, medicaid.
(34:54):
That's a lot of medicaid applications. Okay, and we with
less than half a person, we get what we asked
for because why because we followed the rules. It's all
about following the rules. I don't mind following the rules.
Give me the tell me what the game is, I'll
play it, okay, why not? Just don't ask me to
(35:16):
do it in a mediocre what everybody else is doing
kind of way, because that is not the way. In
my opinion, that's not the way too for middle class
families to succeed, because why because there's people out there
who don't like you. Okay, there's people out there who
will take advantage of you. There's people out there who
(35:37):
thinks you don't deserve what you have earned. You know,
am I telling you something you don't know? Is this
new look around? I mean, tell me it's different. I
don't think it's different. I think it's exactly what's happening,
and I think it's wrong, and I think that people
should stand up against it within the rules. All right.
(35:59):
I'm not saying, oh, you know, revolution or whatever. I'm
not saying that at all. I'm saying that if we
read the rules and using the rules, then we can
secure the middle class. We can secure for people who
work and save and do the good things. We can
make sure that those people don't go broke. Why the
(36:20):
hell wouldn't we do it? And the good news is
that that's a message that is spreading across the country.
Next month will be, like I say, we're presenting this
to I don't know. I think we've got like twenty three,
twenty four now, something like that anyway, a whole bunch
of law firms who are willing to re engineer their
(36:40):
processes to do things kind of the way I've been
doing it right along along with along with my partners
who are also using these methods. It's been a few
years that we've been working on this to actually bring
it out. It's not something I don't know why you
would care about it other than just to say it's like, yeah, well,
(37:03):
I want to do what everybody else is doing. Well,
people are finally waking up to the idea that going
broke just because you needed long term care right having
to pay back what you already paid for is not
the best deal in the world. In fact, it's offensive
and it's wrong, and we ought to do something about
it within the context of and I'm not talking about
(37:25):
changing the rules. I'm like, fine, you made the rules. Fine,
give me any set of rules. I'll obey the rules, right,
but unless they're totally ridiculous, and sometimes they are, then
I won't do that thing that you're telling me not
to do, but I'll do this other thing which I
can do. And again, this is the sort of thing
(37:48):
that has been upheld by the Court of appeal and
you'll get plenty of authority for what we're doing here.
And it's spreading nationally to the to the because we
got firms from New Jersey to Texas to Georgia, Florida,
you know, all over the place that are actually really
(38:09):
adopting and or will be adopting because you know, it's
been a long time to make sure that we got
it just right, that we could have other firms do
things the way I'm doing them, the way that my
partners are doing them in other states. It's not that weird.
It's different.
Speaker 3 (38:30):
That it is.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
It's not customary, it's not mediocre, it's not run of
the mill, plane, Jane, it's not that. It's what you
actually need to make sure that what you've worked for
remains yours and is a legacy to the future. And
that's what I got to say about that. Even listening
to the David Carrier Show, I'm David Carrier, your famili's
personal attorney.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
You've been listening to The David Carrier Show a lively
discussion addressing your questions and concerns, but not legal advice.
There is a big difference. So when making decisions that
affect your family, your property, or yourself. The best advice
is to seek good advice specific to your unique needs.
If you missed any of today's show, or would like
additional information about the law offices of David Carrier, please
(39:14):
visit Davidcarrier law dot com.
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