Episode Transcript
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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 (00:19):
Hello, and welcome to the David Carrier Show. This is
the special Memorial Day edition of the David Carrier Show.
And all I have to say about that is, Hey, God,
bless the people who gave, as Lincoln said, the last
full measure of devotion on the people who died, that
their nation might live.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
All that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
And as I've said before, my military history in my
family starts with my grandfather when he showed up from
Denmark and took him to Paris Island, put him on
a boat and send them right back to Europe. I
eventually became a drill instructor, but just for the duration
(00:59):
of the war.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Then he was out. My uh, you know, my dad.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
My uncle's World War Two, Korea, Vietnam, my own son
in Afghanistan, and I I was active duty in the
meantime in the in the eighties when we weren't actually
shooting at anybody except for Panama and Grenada. But anyway,
the Memorial Day is in my family. We all made
(01:24):
it back, all right. And some of us never went,
that would be me, but the rest went and you know,
all made it back. So no gold Star families and ours.
So we honored the gold star families who have those
who have died for the died for the country. And
that's what all those American flags are doing at the
(01:45):
at the cemeteries. Our boy Scout troop every every Memorial
Day on Monday tomorrow will be will be over in
Granton Township at the firehouse with the pancake breakfast.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Then we'll go down to the cemetery, read the list
of those who died in battle and you know, uh,
and there will be funny games for the kiddies. Of
course that the that the Scouts will run. And there's
a lot of you know, a lot of good good
stuff there over it. And like I said, that's that's
gonna be in Granton Township. Uh, that'll be tomorrow. And
(02:21):
of course there are there are Memorial Day things going
on pretty much anywhere you look. So you owe it
to yourself. Look, I mean there's it can be if
all you do is read the news, it can get
kind of depressing, okay, But if you actually get out
there and uh see some of what's going on, it's
(02:41):
it's reassuring. So so we'll have be a ping pong
it back and forth between the between the reassuring.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
There are boy Scouts still out there, Scouts still out there,
you know, carrying the flag and doing all the rest
and uh. And you know there are pancake breakfasts yet
to be had at the at the firehouse. So I
highly recommend the pancake breakfast there. But that's uh. And
for most of us, of course, Memorial Days turned into
sales and hot dogs and and you know, I don't
(03:12):
think that that's inappropriate. I think that is you know,
let's spare a thought for the people who made it possible.
Let's not let's not blow past the idea that the
reality that without people willing to do those things, the
things that most of us are not willing to do,
are not wanting to do. Without them, you wouldn't have
we wouldn't be where we are, especially in a world
(03:34):
that is as you know, as dangerous. You look around
you it's a dangerous world.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
It just it just is.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
And we're trying to make peace, trying to you know,
get get everything pulled together so that we don't have
to keep fighting. But you know, there's probably a million
more than a million people did in Central Europe. I mean,
who's so was that on your bingo card?
Speaker 3 (03:58):
You know that?
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Hey, that was that was going to happen lots of things.
The world is a dangerous place. That's just that's just
the fact of it.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
And without the people willing, without our fellow Americans willing
to make that sacrifice, it doesn't it doesn't maintain all right,
you can't maintain that. Just look around. It's not hard
to it's not hard to spot that it is difficult
to maintain peace, order, tranquility, all the things, all the
(04:28):
things creating the atmosphere in which in which you can
raise a family in which good things can happen. Creating
that atmosphere, creating that environment is not not a It's paradoxical,
isn't it.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
I mean we have to have that. We have the
deadliest weapons in the history of.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
The world on our side. Okay, we say, well, if
you're you know, it's the old if you want peace,
prepare for war. Well, that way you don't have to
fight one very I mean, that's very human, that's very,
very important to do. And you know, some people make cheap,
cheap political points. Oh you know, if you're all about peace,
(05:08):
how come you get all these weapons? Well, because there
are bad people in the world. Did you notice that.
I mean, read any history, you'll find that out. American
weakness means war. It's pretty much a one to one
and American strength means peace. That's how it is. Sorry
you don't like it, and that's true, that's true. You know,
(05:30):
really since since World War One, you want to say,
I mean, think about what was going on over there
was pretty bad till you know, till Pershing showed up
with the American Expeditionary Force, including my grandfather and.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Set it to rights to some extent. Okay.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
And you say World War II came from World War
One failed settlement and all the rest, Well, okay, but
still this is the time to remember the people, as
I say, to give thanks for what we have and
recognize where it came from. It didn't come from simply
good intentions. It didn't come from you know, thinking pure
(06:12):
and holy thoughts. It came from you know, grim men
willing to lay down their lives to make this happen.
And that's and some of them did, and some of
them did. And it's for those people, the ones, those
men and women who actually did lay down their lives
that we've got that, we've got Memorial Day, plus you
(06:33):
can get a great deal on a refrigerator.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
I mean why not? I mean what do you think
they died for? Right? I mean, remember what they did?
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Yes, absolutely, But to some extent, if you think about it,
Didn't they die so you could eat a hot dog
and not worry about it too much? Didn't they die
so that you can open up the cottage this weekend?
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Didn't they die?
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Didn't they sacrifice what they did sacrifice in order, as
I say, you get a bargain on major appliances. Isn't
that kind of what it was about, right, creating a
very unusual situation in the history of the world.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
You know, I do wonder. Yeah, I'm going off on Tana.
I'm rambling.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Every once in a while I'll get an email you're
rambling again. Yeah, okay, so I'm rambling.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
Assume me.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
I don't think people appreciate. I mean, maybe you guys do,
my listeners do, but I don't think there's a general
sense of appreciation for how unusual America is, how unusual
it is that people actually tolerate one another, that people
actually clean up after themselves, that we create a normalcy
(07:46):
where people without nobility, you know what I mean. It's
not just the kings and queens, the princes and whoever
that that can get ahead. I mean, the American middle
class enjoys the standard of living that unavailable to anybody
one hundred years ago. You know, most guys coming home
from World War two had an outhouse, right central heat,
(08:09):
central plumbing, you know, plumbing, indoor plumbing, central heat, and
now air conditioning and all the rest of the stuff.
There's no appreciation for how unusual it is that we've
created a society where people can actually express themselves, where
they can actually do a bunch of stuff. It's all
just taken, seems to me. It's all taken for granted,
(08:32):
and to some extent, it needs to be taken for granted.
It needs to be people don't in order to live
their lives viewing the things that they view as important,
that we view as important, you know, raising our families,
doing the good thing, you know, opening this swimming pool,
whatever it may be, right, we do have to have
(08:55):
space for that, right. We can't be on the edge
of back every time. And Memorial Day is for the
people who made that kind of normalcy, the boring middle
class whatever, you know, however they may want to put
it down, it's creating the environment where we can be boring,
(09:19):
Creating the environment where you can't have a hot dog,
Creating the environment where tinkering on your car or hanging
out with your family or whatever else is possible, because
in most of the world it's not possible. In some places,
they're out there machine gunning each other over the farm fields,
flat fields, where the rate of death is just it's unbelievable.
(09:42):
And now of course with drones, it just makes it
all the more horrific. Okay, So this is a good
time Memorial Day to remember those people who did that
for you. Go to a pancake breakfast. Why not spend
a few minutes, a few minutes, an hour maybe with
other folks just like you. Right, go to the cemetery,
(10:06):
plant the flag, look at the flag, think about the
you know, when we call the role at so many
little cemeteries. That's what they're doing. You know, you go,
you raise the flag, you sing a song, you know
the the national anthem, you read the role of those
who died. You know, do it. It doesn't hurt, and
(10:27):
maybe it'll help. Remember how we got to this point.
You've been listening to the David Carrier Show on David Carrier.
Your Family's Personal Attorney.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
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 (10:46):
Well, come back to the David Carrier Show on David Carrier.
Your Family's Personal Toorny inviting you to a Three Secrets Workshop.
These are the workshops that kick off the process. These
are the workshops where you know, as bad as you
thought it.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
Would, it's worse. Oh my god, it's terrible.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Anyway, the Three Secrets way, what is actually going on
out there?
Speaker 3 (11:09):
These are they're informative.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
It takes about an hour or so and you can't
buy anything at the Three Secrets Workshop. Can't buy anything,
but if you if you go to one, you will
be better informed than I would say most lawyers about
what's actually going on. I would definitely say that, and
(11:32):
maybe they're informed, but just don't perceive the issue.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
I don't know. I don't know. Is it a perception issue?
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Is it a who knows who knows but comes up
with three secrets workshop? Go to the website Davidcarrier Law
dot com and you can ask that AI expert that
I was telling you about that that little robot there
or whatever it is, that that sounds somewhat like me
because it was trained on, it was trained down a
bunch of my stuff, and just just ask you when's
(12:00):
the next workshop. We were working the bugs out of it.
We did have We've had a couple of times when
people set appointments when the AI think set an appointment
for somebody and and didn't tell the I don't know,
the left end, didn't tell the left robot, didn't tell
the right robot whatever, and people showed up and it
(12:20):
was like, oh, well, the robot set my set my appointment.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
Here I am.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
It's like, oh well, and we covered it. It wasn't
it wasn't a problem. But but you can actually set
an appointment with that. You can sign up for the
workshop very easy to very easy to do. Let's go
to the website David Carrier Law. David Carrier see how
arrogant I am. I've got my own law Davidcarrier Law
dot com. And on David Carrier Law dot com you
(12:47):
can sign up for one of our workshops. Those workshops
are at the the Mothership of course in the Grand Rapids,
or up in Norton Shores, down in Portage and over
in Holland. So it's always always an easy drive. And
we've really re engineered the whole way that this estate
(13:10):
planning gets done. As I mentioned last hour, we signed
up our first twenty partners. We decided to go that route.
We decided that in order myself and two partners in
Florida and in Pennsylvania. We've been working on this for
a couple of years now because it's very troubling the
(13:34):
fact that most people have a customary, traditional state plan
maybe throw a lady bird dad in and the inadequacy
of that kind of planning, the inadequacy of it to
what people actually need, especially in this day and age,
is just is phenomenal. You know, if you go back,
(13:57):
I forget how many thousands of years there's a woman
who was wife of an official in Pharaoh's Egypt, right,
who wrote a will basically a will and disinheriting her
kids to the extent that she could because after their
father died, they didn't take care of her and.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
She was pissed. Well, you know, same old problems.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Thousands a year later, same old problems, right, And that
was a will. And and then Shakespeare course had a
will where he left his bed to his wife, his
second best bed to his maybe she maybe she only
other one, and he was just giving her the second.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Abraham Lincoln wrote wills. Okay, we've had wills for a
very what seems like a very long time. You know,
if you look at it geologically or whatever, it's not
very long. But you know, we've had him and Abraham Lincoln.
The pharaoh would recognize the wills that most people are
doing right now, because the notion is I've got stuff,
(15:01):
and when I die, I want that stuff to go
to somebody else, but I'm not going to be around
to give it to them. I want to hang on
to it till I die. But then I wanted to
go to a particular place, and this was the Pharaoh's lady.
I want to dictate who gets it. Okay, because those
(15:21):
guys it neglected me, And okay, you're fa the and
this is true. This is the way that it worked
back in Pharaoh. And I say it's true. I can't
read hieroglyphics.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
I don't know. I have to I have to rely
on the scholars.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
But what they say is that that this will said, Okay,
you still get your father's two thirds.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
I can't.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
I can't take that away from you. I would if
I could, but I can't. So you're still going to
get your father's two thirds. But my one third is
going to I don't know the sewing circle or I
don't know whatever it was, whoever it was, she gave
it to her forget. But but kids have been neglected
full of parents, apparently for thousands of years, and parents
(16:03):
have taken it out of the inheritance as retribution again
for thousands of years. That's a very old that's a
very old problem, leaving stuff to people, very old problem.
So we've got techniques that have been used now, as
I say, for hundreds thousands of years, right, and we
(16:24):
haven't made hardly any progress on that. Well, the world
has changed. People have a lot more stuff than they
used to have. And you know, when the average age
was thirty five, guess what the average life expects isn't
thirty five anymore. Okay, there's a whole another set of
concerns that Wills just can't address, cannot address. Okay, that
(16:48):
the typical customary. I love that word customary. It's like,
why in the world would you do anything that's customary? Oh,
let me figure out what everybody else is doing, and
then I'll mimic that, I will ape that, and then
that way I'll be customary, and I'll i'll be in
the herd, and then we won't have to worry about it.
Do you know why zebra's are striped? Incidentally, this is important.
(17:12):
Why does zebras have black and white stripes? And everybody's like, oh,
for camouflage? Oh yeah, what the heck is black and white?
Out on the serengetti a right on the savannah? What
is black and white? But it is camouflage. And what
it is every zebra looks like every other zebra, which
makes it very difficult for the lions to pick them off.
(17:33):
It's when it's distinctive, that's what you know. So what
they found was they put they hit these zebras, they
painted a stripe, you know, they painted a blotch on them,
all of a sudden. As soon as the or they
nicked the ear, you know, so they the researchers could
identify with zebra they were looking at. As soon as
they did that, the lions all attacked that particular zebra. Okay,
(17:56):
So if you want to be a zebra and just
fall into the herd, do what's customary, what everybody else does,
all right, Well, the lions won't find you, but you
won't get anything unique accomplished. You've been working your whole
life to do good things, to support your family. Well
right now with long term care and all the rest
(18:16):
of it, typical the usual zebra, all right, goes broke.
Well you want to go broke. You want to be
zebra that goes broke. Who might have stop you, but
you don't have to. You can stand out. You can
actually do things that are not customary, that are not
the way things are always done. Now it's legal, right
and and sure we've had to go to the Court
(18:39):
of Appeals on a couple of occasions, at least one
that I'm immediately accessible to me in my fading memory.
But when you do it correctly, when you follow the rules,
you've earned it already. Why not non customarily get what
you're entitled to. Customary thing is to give up. Yeah,
(19:02):
I don't want to be customary as far as that goes.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
No thanks, You've.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Been listening to the David Carrier Show. I'm David Carrier,
your family's personal attorney.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
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 (19:20):
Well, come back to the David Carrier Show. I'm David Carrier,
your family's personal attorney. Now is the time to give
us a call. Six one six seven seven four two
four two four. That's six one, six, seven, seven four
twenty four, twenty four to twenty four. We'll get your question,
comment or concern on the air. But but we do
(19:42):
have some we do have some what do you call
elder law questions? Right, so let's get to some of these.
My mom got what can be done? My mom gots
served with court papers by case bank. Well, there's no
such bank. It's the typo anyway, by a particular bank
for a credit card however, she has advanced dementia. How
(20:05):
is this result because she cannot even leave the house. Well,
here's the thing. It was a mom's credit card and
mom signed off on it. That mom is obligated to pay.
She is obligated to pay. However, the question is how
much does she owe and what is mom's income?
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Right.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
One of the things that I think is frequently overlooked.
It's sort of asset protection one oh one. So here's
what I think everybody should do this. You get a
Social Security check once a month, right, every month social
Security comes in that social Security money before you get it,
(20:45):
when you get it, after you get it. If you
invest it right, the social security proceeds.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
Right.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
So it's the money that you get from the government
plus anything that's built up.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
It's proceeds from it. Right.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
Cannot be taken in a way. Right, So you can
have all the judgments in the world, they can't take
your social security right. It's very basic. It works every time, fundamental.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
Right. But here's the problem.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
What if your IRA, your pension, and the Social Security
all pay into the same account. What if they all
pay into the same account. What if you have a
CD or you have savings that you've built up, okay,
and you spend on a current basis, you spend your
Social Security, but you have this other money sitting over
(21:37):
there in some kind of account. Well, if you do that,
if you have that setup, which is a very typical setup, okay,
and you get sued, car accident, whatever it may be,
whatever it may be, credit card debt, whatever, then they
can take that other money. But if it was social
Security money, they can't take it. So here's what we've
(21:58):
set up for a lot of clients. Recommend the clients
that we can't do it ourselves, but what we have
them do is set up a new account, a new
account with your for your direct deposit social Security and
nothing else, not pension, not IRA, nothing else. This is
a direct deposit account just for your Social Security money.
(22:20):
And it should be an investment account so you can
put it in the S and P five hundred whatever else.
So the money goes into that account, all right. Then
what you do is you let the money accumulate in
that account. You say, well, how am I going to live?
The answer is take the other money that you've got,
like in your checking account, or you've got fifty thousand dollars.
That's not earning any interest whatsoever. Techning account, right, and
(22:43):
pay that down all right. As that pays down, your
social Security balance builds up. Okay, and when you've got
this all set, so when that's all spent down and
you've got the fifty thousand, is now social Security proceeds.
No one can take that fifty thousand away from you.
They can't sue you and get it now. It's not
(23:05):
exempt for medicaid, not examt for medicaid doesn't help there.
But in this case right where lady didn't pay her
credit card debt, and it is so easy to get
five and six figures a debt on credit cards, it's unbelievable.
They pass them out like candy, hoping that you'll charge
up a bunch of stuff and a thirty percent interest.
(23:25):
Before you know it, it's more interest than anything else. Okay,
you already know this. Well, it's very easy for that
to happen. And then what people do is, rather than eat,
they use their social Security money and they pay the
thing because otherwise, and you get all the threatening calls
to build collectors. You get the threatening go oh, we're
going to come and take your money. Well not if
(23:46):
you've built up the social Security account, do you see?
So pretty soon everything that you've got, you're kind of
your day to day money is is either social Security
money directly or it's investment returns proceeds from the Social
Security all of which is off limits automatically. So then
(24:08):
you say, well, wait a second, how am I going
to live on this? You got me invested in this
social Security account whatever, How am I going to do that?
And the answer is your bill paying account is separate
from your social Security account. And what you do is
you figure out your budget. Yeah, you got to figure
out a budget and just automatic just do an automatic
(24:31):
transfer so that the money in the social security account
goes to the checking account. You know, just do an
electronic it's free, they'll set it up for you. So
every month you need five hundred dollars from the social
Security account to you know whatever, maybe it's fifteen hundred dollars,
I don't know, but from the social Security account to
(24:51):
the other one. And when you do that right now,
you're protected so that if there's a dimension situation going
on your spouse is send them money to the Bahamas
or whatever and run up some crazy dat then at
least you've got all the Social Security money, which is
completely completely off limits to any judgment or anything else. Okay,
(25:15):
so that's what we're going to do. Well, that's what
we're going to do there. My only asset is my home.
I heard a trust would be best for a seamless
transfer of property and avoiding probate. Should I do will
or trust? And what are the pros and the pros
and cons? Well, my suggestion is that first of all,
(25:35):
we realize that, you know, people talk about needing a will.
I've heard these ads, you know, oh you need a will.
Everybody's going to need a will. Well, really, really, you're
going to need a will. Guess what's going on with you? You
yourself when you need a will. What's going on with
(25:58):
you when you need a will?
Speaker 3 (26:00):
Dead?
Speaker 2 (26:01):
Okay, you yourself have passed on to your reward. Okay,
passed over the great Divide, you've hit the dusty trail.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
Whatever you want to say. That's when you need a will.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
Supposedly a will does nothing for you while you're alive,
I mean like zero. Like we've had people disinherited in
the will right because the kids were jerks, And then
the same jerk kid who got disinherited right shows up
in probate court to set aside power of attorney and
become guardian and been granted. Okay, so you say, well,
(26:35):
wait a second, I got the will here that says
he's not supposed to benefit. Yeah, come back and see
this when he's dead, because the will says that the
guardian kid now won't get anything. But that's not how
it Are you with me on this, that's not how
it works. So the will works when you're dead. And
do you need one? It's a good idea to have one.
(26:55):
I think it's a great idea to have one. Yeah,
you should have a will. You should be planning ahead.
But again again the question, what's the best way to
leave me home?
Speaker 3 (27:05):
That's what's not my home home and.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
Maybe they're a pirate, or what's the best way to
leave me home to meet kids? Will or trust? And
the answer is not the will. The will goes to probate,
all the rest with the trust. Okay, then we can
do a lot of other things. We can Number one,
recognize that you're not dead yet and we want to
preserve the house for you. What if you decide to
(27:31):
sell it what if you do need long term care.
We had a caller in the first hour. They're selling
you half a million dollar house to go into a
continuity care situation. Okay, fine, but now everything they've got,
the house, the proceeds from the house, is now at risk.
It's up in the air. What if they had done
a protection trust. And we talk about these in the
(27:53):
Three Secrets and in the Blueprint workshop workshops that we do.
What if they had done a protection trust so that
the house was off limits to the Medicaid for example,
or lawsuits and long term care? Right then you sell it.
Now you've got cash that is protected. So now you
apply for the benefits, it's all cash. You got that covered.
(28:16):
So the question is not which is the best tool.
A will is just a tool, a trust is just
a tool. My suggestion is, let's rethink what this whole
thing is about. It's not about first and foremost, it's
not about leaving stuff to kids. It's about making sure
that you're okay using that opportunity, you're planning opportunity, make
(28:39):
sure that you're okay, that your spouse is okay, first
and foremost, and then let's worry about the kids and
then the question is, depending on your own circumstances, is
the will the right tool? Is the trust the right tool?
What we have found is typically it's a combination of
wills and trust. You do both and that way we
(28:59):
take care of you, take care of business first, and
then the stuff goes to the kids in the right way.
Just leaving stuff to kids is not.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
A good way to do.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
The Ladybird deeds that people are doing, the beneficiary designations
that people are doing, man drives you nuts because of
the missed opportunities to do good things for the family.
The impulse I get, I want to support my family,
I want to support my kids and all the right.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
I get that. That's great.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
Let's do that, all right, but let's do it in
a way that benefits you and then the family as well,
on purpose, intentionally.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
That's the key.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
You've been listening to the David Carrier Show. I'm David Carrier,
your family's personal attorney, inviting you check out the website
Davidcarrier Law dot com.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
David's perking and working and taking your calls. Now this
is the David Carrier Show.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
Welcome back to the David Carrier Show. I'm David carrier,
your family's personal attorney. Now is the time to 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. Will get your question, comment or concern.
Speaker 3 (30:13):
On the air.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
So we've got a special needs trust. I will another
one of our emails. Right, we've got five minutes left,
so a little bit late for you to be calling
six one six seven seven four twenty four twenty four,
but you could do it if you want to. Special
needs trust I will be over the two thousand asset
limit for SSI after a settlement claim.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
This type of trust, I.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
Believe the so called D four A trust is what
would work best for me. So here's the thing. If
you are receiving benefits, if you're receiving Social Security benefits,
what have you, and all of a sudden you receive
a lump sum, you know, that's like a a what
(30:56):
do you want to call it? Inheritance or something like that.
Then when that happens, you're going to be bumped off
the benefits unless you do what's called medicaid. One of
the things you can do is this defour a trust.
Like the letter writer is talking about, and it's a
Medicaid payback trust. The idea is that you won't be
(31:17):
kicked off the Medicaid now, but and the money can
be used for your benefit for pretty much anything. But
at the end of the day, when you die, anything
left in the defour a trust goes to the government
to pay back Medicaid. Okay, so good way to maintain it.
To make sure that you don't have to go through,
(31:39):
make sure that you don't lose your benefits, then use
up the money and then go to go to the
next one.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
My mom wants to leave our childhood home. Here's another
one to me her daughter. She bought it before she
was married, so she's the only name on the deed.
Speaker 3 (31:56):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
Can she file a ladybor deed to leave her home
to me when she passes away? Does step dad have
to be on the lady bird deed even though he's
not on the actual deed? Well, Michigan law is pretty
clear that married people can own property separately and decide
what they want to do with their separate property. Originally,
in Michigan we had what's called what was called the
(32:19):
Married Women's Property Act. The Married Women's Property Act. Back
when wife meant female married person who's female, that's what
wife meant. Then the wife acquired a life estate in
one third of the husband's real estate. So if you
think about the think about it like this, two people,
(32:44):
they get married. The guy has a three hundred acre farm.
Three hundred acre farm. Right, this is back in the
eighteen hundreds, right, So spouse has a three hundred acre farm.
The wife is now entitled to and when they get married,
her our interest is one third life estate in the
(33:05):
three hundred acre farm. In other words, she gets the
produce from one hundred acres for the rest of her life,
just by getting married. Now more recently, we.
Speaker 3 (33:16):
I don't know what you went call it.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
Our thoughts on weddings and marriages and who can get
married to whom has evolved, right, And part of this
evolution was the Married Women's Property Act. Well, you got
to married couple there, which one's the woman? You know,
what is a woman? I guess that has become a question.
Well then they decided, see what we thought was they
(33:39):
would go to say any real estate owned by either
partner creates a life estate in the other partner. I
mean that would have been one way to do it, okay,
but they didn't go that, right, they just abolished the
whole thing. It's too complicated nowadays. So they just said,
no more dour rights. Every married person if they own
(34:02):
property separately right now, in a divorce, it counts, right.
But if you own property separately, you can give it
to whomever you to whomever you choose. If you're going
through probate because you did the will right now, there
are surviving spouse interests and stuff like that. But you know,
if you avoid probate, you've avoided that as well. So
(34:27):
does your mom have to? Can your mom give you
a lady burdid?
Speaker 3 (34:30):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (34:30):
But she could also And this would be the smart
thing to do, in my opinion, would be to do
the testamentary trust so that when you die, when mom dies,
it goes to trust, then it goes to you because
when you do it that way, mom can leave it
to you in trust, and then you can sell it
(34:51):
in the trust and so all the PIFAs and the
asbestos and god knows whatever is going on with the house,
right all the liability is left behind in the trust, okay,
and you're protected when you get the proceeds, which is
what you want it anyway, unless you want to move
in the house and then still again, having it in
(35:12):
trust would be the good thing. Now I'm a single
parent with a minor child.
Speaker 3 (35:18):
We'll get this one done.
Speaker 2 (35:20):
I will create a trust to hold and share they
state for beneficiaries under the age of thirty. I believe
this is a testamentary trust. Yeah, Testamentary last Will and
testament right. However, I also have a child's primary beneficiary
and all my major investment accounts and holdings. Dear God,
that's crazy. Does this overwrite the intention of the testamentary trust? Yes,
it absolutely does, because if there's nothing to go through probate,
(35:43):
and if you've got beneficiary designations, there's nothing to go
through probate, there's nothing for that to go into that
testamentary trust. Should I remove the beneficiary designations on my
accounts if I want them to pass into the trust, Well,
you have to, right, because if you leave them as is,
then yeah, they're not going to go because they're going
to go directly to the person that you named as beneficiary.
(36:04):
I like the testamentary trust. I don't like the idea
that once you're thirty years old. It's an outright distribution.
But hey, at least till thirty, I've got some I've
got some asset protection. The problem is that people don't
stop do not stop misbehaving just because they reach a
certain age. And sometimes people are just unfortunate. So there's
(36:25):
no way to know what the heck the situation is
going to be when they get to be a certain age.
And yet time after time, I mean, it's universal, it
seems like universal. The way the trust is set up
is it forces a distribution at a certain age unless
you meet. Sometimes there's criteria in there which nobody meets,
(36:48):
but it's too much of a hassle to actually do.
But generally speaking, at a certain age, the idea is
just hand them, hand them the money, just give him
the cash. The problem with that is you don't know
what's going on in their lives. Okay, when you say, oh,
just distribute the money. Because when they distribute the money,
(37:10):
now it's the kid's money. And if the kid has
failed to pay his taxes, got divorced, or has other debts,
there goes the there goes the assets. Okay, let's see,
I'll got two minutes. My father had a trust made
out no will, states the trust he wants everything to
(37:30):
split fifty to fifty to my sister. However, he has
a bank account with only his my sister's name on it.
He wanted to add my name to this account, but
bank told him that since my sister was on the account,
she'd have to be present for him to add all true,
so far right, he wanted to take some All the
party would have to do is present My sister unable
to be present for him to add my name, so
he could not add my name. Account has only his
(37:51):
sister's name on it. Trust states he wants everything to
split fifty to fifty. Would that include the bank account
even though my name is Donka. This is the same
question we just answered, and he answer is the beneficiary
designation trumps trumps a after death or will or trust
that says whatever it says, Because if there's nothing in
(38:11):
the trust, nothing in the trust, there's nothing for the trust.
Speaker 3 (38:15):
To act on.
Speaker 2 (38:16):
And if the money has already gone to sister because
sister's name was on the account, you are out of luck, Chuck, too.
Speaker 3 (38:23):
Bad, So sad.
Speaker 2 (38:24):
If Dad's going to do the and that beneficient you know,
putting the name on the deed. That's not a great
deal either. His sister can just empty the account anyway,
any one of your code okay. So the way to
do it is a trust account with trustees. That's the
way to make sure that your.
Speaker 3 (38:42):
Intention is honored.
Speaker 2 (38:44):
Even listening to the David Carrier Show on David Carrier,
your family's a personal attorney inviting you to the website
Davidcarrier Law dot com will see you at a three
secrets workshop.
Speaker 1 (39:02):
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
(39:24):
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 (00:19):
Hello, and welcome to the David Carrier Show. This is
the special Memorial Day edition of the David Carrier Show.
And all I have to say about that is, Hey, God,
bless the people who gave, as Lincoln said, the last
full measure of devotion on the people who died, that
their nation might live.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
All that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
And as I've said before, my military history in my
family starts with my grandfather when he showed up from
Denmark and took him to Paris Island, put him on
a boat and send them right back to Europe. I
eventually became a drill instructor, but just for the duration
(00:59):
of the war.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Then he was out. My uh, you know, my dad.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
My uncle's World War Two, Korea, Vietnam, my own son
in Afghanistan, and I I was active duty in the
meantime in the in the eighties when we weren't actually
shooting at anybody except for Panama and Grenada. But anyway,
the Memorial Day is in my family. We all made
(01:24):
it back, all right. And some of us never went,
that would be me, but the rest went and you know,
all made it back. So no gold Star families and ours.
So we honored the gold star families who have those
who have died for the died for the country. And
that's what all those American flags are doing at the
(01:45):
at the cemeteries. Our boy Scout troop every every Memorial
Day on Monday tomorrow will be will be over in
Granton Township at the firehouse with the pancake breakfast.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Then we'll go down to the cemetery, read the list
of those who died in battle and you know, uh,
and there will be funny games for the kiddies. Of
course that the that the Scouts will run. And there's
a lot of you know, a lot of good good
stuff there over it. And like I said, that's that's
gonna be in Granton Township. Uh, that'll be tomorrow. And
(02:21):
of course there are there are Memorial Day things going
on pretty much anywhere you look. So you owe it
to yourself. Look, I mean there's it can be if
all you do is read the news, it can get
kind of depressing, okay, But if you actually get out
there and uh see some of what's going on, it's
(02:41):
it's reassuring. So so we'll have be a ping pong
it back and forth between the between the reassuring.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
There are boy Scouts still out there, Scouts still out there,
you know, carrying the flag and doing all the rest
and uh. And you know there are pancake breakfasts yet
to be had at the at the firehouse. So I
highly recommend the pancake breakfast there. But that's uh. And
for most of us, of course, Memorial Days turned into
sales and hot dogs and and you know, I don't
(03:12):
think that that's inappropriate. I think that is you know,
let's spare a thought for the people who made it possible.
Let's not let's not blow past the idea that the
reality that without people willing to do those things, the
things that most of us are not willing to do,
are not wanting to do. Without them, you wouldn't have
we wouldn't be where we are, especially in a world
(03:34):
that is as you know, as dangerous. You look around
you it's a dangerous world.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
It just it just is.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
And we're trying to make peace, trying to you know,
get get everything pulled together so that we don't have
to keep fighting. But you know, there's probably a million
more than a million people did in Central Europe. I mean,
who's so was that on your bingo card?
Speaker 3 (03:58):
You know that?
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Hey, that was that was going to happen lots of things.
The world is a dangerous place. That's just that's just
the fact of it.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
And without the people willing, without our fellow Americans willing
to make that sacrifice, it doesn't it doesn't maintain all right,
you can't maintain that. Just look around. It's not hard
to it's not hard to spot that it is difficult
to maintain peace, order, tranquility, all the things, all the
(04:28):
things creating the atmosphere in which in which you can
raise a family in which good things can happen. Creating
that atmosphere, creating that environment is not not a It's paradoxical,
isn't it.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
I mean we have to have that. We have the
deadliest weapons in the history of.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
The world on our side. Okay, we say, well, if
you're you know, it's the old if you want peace,
prepare for war. Well, that way you don't have to
fight one very I mean, that's very human, that's very,
very important to do. And you know, some people make cheap,
cheap political points. Oh you know, if you're all about peace,
(05:08):
how come you get all these weapons? Well, because there
are bad people in the world. Did you notice that.
I mean, read any history, you'll find that out. American
weakness means war. It's pretty much a one to one
and American strength means peace. That's how it is. Sorry
you don't like it, and that's true, that's true. You know,
(05:30):
really since since World War One, you want to say,
I mean, think about what was going on over there
was pretty bad till you know, till Pershing showed up
with the American Expeditionary Force, including my grandfather and.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Set it to rights to some extent. Okay.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
And you say World War II came from World War
One failed settlement and all the rest, Well, okay, but
still this is the time to remember the people, as
I say, to give thanks for what we have and
recognize where it came from. It didn't come from simply
good intentions. It didn't come from you know, thinking pure
(06:12):
and holy thoughts. It came from you know, grim men
willing to lay down their lives to make this happen.
And that's and some of them did, and some of
them did. And it's for those people, the ones, those
men and women who actually did lay down their lives
that we've got that, we've got Memorial Day, plus you
(06:33):
can get a great deal on a refrigerator.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
I mean why not? I mean what do you think
they died for? Right? I mean, remember what they did?
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Yes, absolutely, But to some extent, if you think about it,
Didn't they die so you could eat a hot dog
and not worry about it too much? Didn't they die
so that you can open up the cottage this weekend?
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Didn't they die?
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Didn't they sacrifice what they did sacrifice in order, as
I say, you get a bargain on major appliances. Isn't
that kind of what it was about, right, creating a
very unusual situation in the history of the world.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
You know, I do wonder. Yeah, I'm going off on Tana.
I'm rambling.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Every once in a while I'll get an email you're
rambling again. Yeah, okay, so I'm rambling.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
Assume me.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
I don't think people appreciate. I mean, maybe you guys do,
my listeners do, but I don't think there's a general
sense of appreciation for how unusual America is, how unusual
it is that people actually tolerate one another, that people
actually clean up after themselves, that we create a normalcy
(07:46):
where people without nobility, you know what I mean. It's
not just the kings and queens, the princes and whoever
that that can get ahead. I mean, the American middle
class enjoys the standard of living that unavailable to anybody
one hundred years ago. You know, most guys coming home
from World War two had an outhouse, right central heat,
(08:09):
central plumbing, you know, plumbing, indoor plumbing, central heat, and
now air conditioning and all the rest of the stuff.
There's no appreciation for how unusual it is that we've
created a society where people can actually express themselves, where
they can actually do a bunch of stuff. It's all
just taken, seems to me. It's all taken for granted,
(08:32):
and to some extent, it needs to be taken for granted.
It needs to be people don't in order to live
their lives viewing the things that they view as important,
that we view as important, you know, raising our families,
doing the good thing, you know, opening this swimming pool,
whatever it may be, right, we do have to have
(08:55):
space for that, right. We can't be on the edge
of back every time. And Memorial Day is for the
people who made that kind of normalcy, the boring middle
class whatever, you know, however they may want to put
it down, it's creating the environment where we can be boring,
(09:19):
Creating the environment where you can't have a hot dog,
Creating the environment where tinkering on your car or hanging
out with your family or whatever else is possible, because
in most of the world it's not possible. In some places,
they're out there machine gunning each other over the farm fields,
flat fields, where the rate of death is just it's unbelievable.
(09:42):
And now of course with drones, it just makes it
all the more horrific. Okay, So this is a good
time Memorial Day to remember those people who did that
for you. Go to a pancake breakfast. Why not spend
a few minutes, a few minutes, an hour maybe with
other folks just like you. Right, go to the cemetery,
(10:06):
plant the flag, look at the flag, think about the
you know, when we call the role at so many
little cemeteries. That's what they're doing. You know, you go,
you raise the flag, you sing a song, you know
the the national anthem, you read the role of those
who died. You know, do it. It doesn't hurt, and
(10:27):
maybe it'll help. Remember how we got to this point.
You've been listening to the David Carrier Show on David Carrier.
Your Family's Personal Attorney.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
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 (10:46):
Well, come back to the David Carrier Show on David Carrier.
Your Family's Personal Toorny inviting you to a Three Secrets Workshop.
These are the workshops that kick off the process. These
are the workshops where you know, as bad as you
thought it.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
Would, it's worse. Oh my god, it's terrible.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Anyway, the Three Secrets way, what is actually going on
out there?
Speaker 3 (11:09):
These are they're informative.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
It takes about an hour or so and you can't
buy anything at the Three Secrets Workshop. Can't buy anything,
but if you if you go to one, you will
be better informed than I would say most lawyers about
what's actually going on. I would definitely say that, and
(11:32):
maybe they're informed, but just don't perceive the issue.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
I don't know. I don't know. Is it a perception issue?
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Is it a who knows who knows but comes up
with three secrets workshop? Go to the website Davidcarrier Law
dot com and you can ask that AI expert that
I was telling you about that that little robot there
or whatever it is, that that sounds somewhat like me
because it was trained on, it was trained down a
bunch of my stuff, and just just ask you when's
(12:00):
the next workshop. We were working the bugs out of it.
We did have We've had a couple of times when
people set appointments when the AI think set an appointment
for somebody and and didn't tell the I don't know,
the left end, didn't tell the left robot, didn't tell
the right robot whatever, and people showed up and it
(12:20):
was like, oh, well, the robot set my set my appointment.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
Here I am.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
It's like, oh well, and we covered it. It wasn't
it wasn't a problem. But but you can actually set
an appointment with that. You can sign up for the
workshop very easy to very easy to do. Let's go
to the website David Carrier Law. David Carrier see how
arrogant I am. I've got my own law Davidcarrier Law
dot com. And on David Carrier Law dot com you
(12:47):
can sign up for one of our workshops. Those workshops
are at the the Mothership of course in the Grand Rapids,
or up in Norton Shores, down in Portage and over
in Holland. So it's always always an easy drive. And
we've really re engineered the whole way that this estate
(13:10):
planning gets done. As I mentioned last hour, we signed
up our first twenty partners. We decided to go that route.
We decided that in order myself and two partners in
Florida and in Pennsylvania. We've been working on this for
a couple of years now because it's very troubling the
(13:34):
fact that most people have a customary, traditional state plan
maybe throw a lady bird dad in and the inadequacy
of that kind of planning, the inadequacy of it to
what people actually need, especially in this day and age,
is just is phenomenal. You know, if you go back,
(13:57):
I forget how many thousands of years there's a woman
who was wife of an official in Pharaoh's Egypt, right,
who wrote a will basically a will and disinheriting her
kids to the extent that she could because after their
father died, they didn't take care of her and.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
She was pissed. Well, you know, same old problems.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Thousands a year later, same old problems, right, And that
was a will. And and then Shakespeare course had a
will where he left his bed to his wife, his
second best bed to his maybe she maybe she only
other one, and he was just giving her the second.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Abraham Lincoln wrote wills. Okay, we've had wills for a
very what seems like a very long time. You know,
if you look at it geologically or whatever, it's not
very long. But you know, we've had him and Abraham Lincoln.
The pharaoh would recognize the wills that most people are
doing right now, because the notion is I've got stuff,
(15:01):
and when I die, I want that stuff to go
to somebody else, but I'm not going to be around
to give it to them. I want to hang on
to it till I die. But then I wanted to
go to a particular place, and this was the Pharaoh's lady.
I want to dictate who gets it. Okay, because those
(15:21):
guys it neglected me, And okay, you're fa the and
this is true. This is the way that it worked
back in Pharaoh. And I say it's true. I can't
read hieroglyphics.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
I don't know. I have to I have to rely
on the scholars.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
But what they say is that that this will said, Okay,
you still get your father's two thirds.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
I can't.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
I can't take that away from you. I would if
I could, but I can't. So you're still going to
get your father's two thirds. But my one third is
going to I don't know the sewing circle or I
don't know whatever it was, whoever it was, she gave
it to her forget. But but kids have been neglected
full of parents, apparently for thousands of years, and parents
(16:03):
have taken it out of the inheritance as retribution again
for thousands of years. That's a very old that's a
very old problem, leaving stuff to people, very old problem.
So we've got techniques that have been used now, as
I say, for hundreds thousands of years, right, and we
(16:24):
haven't made hardly any progress on that. Well, the world
has changed. People have a lot more stuff than they
used to have. And you know, when the average age
was thirty five, guess what the average life expects isn't
thirty five anymore. Okay, there's a whole another set of
concerns that Wills just can't address, cannot address. Okay, that
(16:48):
the typical customary. I love that word customary. It's like,
why in the world would you do anything that's customary? Oh,
let me figure out what everybody else is doing, and
then I'll mimic that, I will ape that, and then
that way I'll be customary, and I'll i'll be in
the herd, and then we won't have to worry about it.
Do you know why zebra's are striped? Incidentally, this is important.
(17:12):
Why does zebras have black and white stripes? And everybody's like, oh,
for camouflage? Oh yeah, what the heck is black and white?
Out on the serengetti a right on the savannah? What
is black and white? But it is camouflage. And what
it is every zebra looks like every other zebra, which
makes it very difficult for the lions to pick them off.
(17:33):
It's when it's distinctive, that's what you know. So what
they found was they put they hit these zebras, they
painted a stripe, you know, they painted a blotch on them,
all of a sudden. As soon as the or they
nicked the ear, you know, so they the researchers could
identify with zebra they were looking at. As soon as
they did that, the lions all attacked that particular zebra. Okay,
(17:56):
So if you want to be a zebra and just
fall into the herd, do what's customary, what everybody else does,
all right, Well, the lions won't find you, but you
won't get anything unique accomplished. You've been working your whole
life to do good things, to support your family. Well
right now with long term care and all the rest
(18:16):
of it, typical the usual zebra, all right, goes broke.
Well you want to go broke. You want to be
zebra that goes broke. Who might have stop you, but
you don't have to. You can stand out. You can
actually do things that are not customary, that are not
the way things are always done. Now it's legal, right
and and sure we've had to go to the Court
(18:39):
of Appeals on a couple of occasions, at least one
that I'm immediately accessible to me in my fading memory.
But when you do it correctly, when you follow the rules,
you've earned it already. Why not non customarily get what
you're entitled to. Customary thing is to give up. Yeah,
(19:02):
I don't want to be customary as far as that goes.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
No thanks, You've.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Been listening to the David Carrier Show. I'm David Carrier,
your family's personal attorney.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
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 (19:20):
Well, come back to the David Carrier Show. I'm David Carrier,
your family's personal attorney. Now is the time to give
us a call. Six one six seven seven four two
four two four. That's six one, six, seven, seven four
twenty four, twenty four to twenty four. We'll get your question,
comment or concern on the air. But but we do
(19:42):
have some we do have some what do you call
elder law questions? Right, so let's get to some of these.
My mom got what can be done? My mom gots
served with court papers by case bank. Well, there's no
such bank. It's the typo anyway, by a particular bank
for a credit card however, she has advanced dementia. How
(20:05):
is this result because she cannot even leave the house. Well,
here's the thing. It was a mom's credit card and
mom signed off on it. That mom is obligated to pay.
She is obligated to pay. However, the question is how
much does she owe and what is mom's income?
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Right.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
One of the things that I think is frequently overlooked.
It's sort of asset protection one oh one. So here's
what I think everybody should do this. You get a
Social Security check once a month, right, every month social
Security comes in that social Security money before you get it,
(20:45):
when you get it, after you get it. If you
invest it right, the social security proceeds.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
Right.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
So it's the money that you get from the government
plus anything that's built up.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
It's proceeds from it. Right.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
Cannot be taken in a way. Right, So you can
have all the judgments in the world, they can't take
your social security right. It's very basic. It works every time, fundamental.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
Right. But here's the problem.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
What if your IRA, your pension, and the Social Security
all pay into the same account. What if they all
pay into the same account. What if you have a
CD or you have savings that you've built up, okay,
and you spend on a current basis, you spend your
Social Security, but you have this other money sitting over
(21:37):
there in some kind of account. Well, if you do that,
if you have that setup, which is a very typical setup, okay,
and you get sued, car accident, whatever it may be,
whatever it may be, credit card debt, whatever, then they
can take that other money. But if it was social
Security money, they can't take it. So here's what we've
(21:58):
set up for a lot of clients. Recommend the clients
that we can't do it ourselves, but what we have
them do is set up a new account, a new
account with your for your direct deposit social Security and
nothing else, not pension, not IRA, nothing else. This is
a direct deposit account just for your Social Security money.
(22:20):
And it should be an investment account so you can
put it in the S and P five hundred whatever else.
So the money goes into that account, all right. Then
what you do is you let the money accumulate in
that account. You say, well, how am I going to live?
The answer is take the other money that you've got,
like in your checking account, or you've got fifty thousand dollars.
That's not earning any interest whatsoever. Techning account, right, and
(22:43):
pay that down all right. As that pays down, your
social Security balance builds up. Okay, and when you've got
this all set, so when that's all spent down and
you've got the fifty thousand, is now social Security proceeds.
No one can take that fifty thousand away from you.
They can't sue you and get it now. It's not
(23:05):
exempt for medicaid, not examt for medicaid doesn't help there.
But in this case right where lady didn't pay her
credit card debt, and it is so easy to get
five and six figures a debt on credit cards, it's unbelievable.
They pass them out like candy, hoping that you'll charge
up a bunch of stuff and a thirty percent interest.
(23:25):
Before you know it, it's more interest than anything else. Okay,
you already know this. Well, it's very easy for that
to happen. And then what people do is, rather than eat,
they use their social Security money and they pay the
thing because otherwise, and you get all the threatening calls
to build collectors. You get the threatening go oh, we're
going to come and take your money. Well not if
(23:46):
you've built up the social Security account, do you see?
So pretty soon everything that you've got, you're kind of
your day to day money is is either social Security
money directly or it's investment returns proceeds from the Social
Security all of which is off limits automatically. So then
(24:08):
you say, well, wait a second, how am I going
to live on this? You got me invested in this
social Security account whatever, How am I going to do that?
And the answer is your bill paying account is separate
from your social Security account. And what you do is
you figure out your budget. Yeah, you got to figure
out a budget and just automatic just do an automatic
(24:31):
transfer so that the money in the social security account
goes to the checking account. You know, just do an
electronic it's free, they'll set it up for you. So
every month you need five hundred dollars from the social
Security account to you know whatever, maybe it's fifteen hundred dollars,
I don't know, but from the social Security account to
(24:51):
the other one. And when you do that right now,
you're protected so that if there's a dimension situation going
on your spouse is send them money to the Bahamas
or whatever and run up some crazy dat then at
least you've got all the Social Security money, which is
completely completely off limits to any judgment or anything else. Okay,
(25:15):
so that's what we're going to do. Well, that's what
we're going to do there. My only asset is my home.
I heard a trust would be best for a seamless
transfer of property and avoiding probate. Should I do will
or trust? And what are the pros and the pros
and cons? Well, my suggestion is that first of all,
(25:35):
we realize that, you know, people talk about needing a will.
I've heard these ads, you know, oh you need a will.
Everybody's going to need a will. Well, really, really, you're
going to need a will. Guess what's going on with you? You
yourself when you need a will. What's going on with
(25:58):
you when you need a will?
Speaker 3 (26:00):
Dead?
Speaker 2 (26:01):
Okay, you yourself have passed on to your reward. Okay,
passed over the great Divide, you've hit the dusty trail.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
Whatever you want to say. That's when you need a will.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
Supposedly a will does nothing for you while you're alive,
I mean like zero. Like we've had people disinherited in
the will right because the kids were jerks, And then
the same jerk kid who got disinherited right shows up
in probate court to set aside power of attorney and
become guardian and been granted. Okay, so you say, well,
(26:35):
wait a second, I got the will here that says
he's not supposed to benefit. Yeah, come back and see
this when he's dead, because the will says that the
guardian kid now won't get anything. But that's not how
it Are you with me on this, that's not how
it works. So the will works when you're dead. And
do you need one? It's a good idea to have one.
(26:55):
I think it's a great idea to have one. Yeah,
you should have a will. You should be planning ahead.
But again again the question, what's the best way to
leave me home?
Speaker 3 (27:05):
That's what's not my home home and.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
Maybe they're a pirate, or what's the best way to
leave me home to meet kids? Will or trust? And
the answer is not the will. The will goes to probate,
all the rest with the trust. Okay, then we can
do a lot of other things. We can Number one,
recognize that you're not dead yet and we want to
preserve the house for you. What if you decide to
(27:31):
sell it what if you do need long term care.
We had a caller in the first hour. They're selling
you half a million dollar house to go into a
continuity care situation. Okay, fine, but now everything they've got,
the house, the proceeds from the house, is now at risk.
It's up in the air. What if they had done
a protection trust. And we talk about these in the
(27:53):
Three Secrets and in the Blueprint workshop workshops that we do.
What if they had done a protection trust so that
the house was off limits to the Medicaid for example,
or lawsuits and long term care? Right then you sell it.
Now you've got cash that is protected. So now you
apply for the benefits, it's all cash. You got that covered.
(28:16):
So the question is not which is the best tool.
A will is just a tool, a trust is just
a tool. My suggestion is, let's rethink what this whole
thing is about. It's not about first and foremost, it's
not about leaving stuff to kids. It's about making sure
that you're okay using that opportunity, you're planning opportunity, make
(28:39):
sure that you're okay, that your spouse is okay, first
and foremost, and then let's worry about the kids and
then the question is, depending on your own circumstances, is
the will the right tool? Is the trust the right tool?
What we have found is typically it's a combination of
wills and trust. You do both and that way we
(28:59):
take care of you, take care of business first, and
then the stuff goes to the kids in the right way.
Just leaving stuff to kids is not.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
A good way to do.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
The Ladybird deeds that people are doing, the beneficiary designations
that people are doing, man drives you nuts because of
the missed opportunities to do good things for the family.
The impulse I get, I want to support my family,
I want to support my kids and all the right.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
I get that. That's great.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
Let's do that, all right, but let's do it in
a way that benefits you and then the family as well,
on purpose, intentionally.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
That's the key.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
You've been listening to the David Carrier Show. I'm David Carrier,
your family's personal attorney, inviting you check out the website
Davidcarrier Law dot com.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
David's perking and working and taking your calls. Now this
is the David Carrier Show.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
Welcome back to the David Carrier Show. I'm David carrier,
your family's personal attorney. Now is the time to 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. Will get your question, comment or concern.
Speaker 3 (30:13):
On the air.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
So we've got a special needs trust. I will another
one of our emails. Right, we've got five minutes left,
so a little bit late for you to be calling
six one six seven seven four twenty four twenty four,
but you could do it if you want to. Special
needs trust I will be over the two thousand asset
limit for SSI after a settlement claim.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
This type of trust, I.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
Believe the so called D four A trust is what
would work best for me. So here's the thing. If
you are receiving benefits, if you're receiving Social Security benefits,
what have you, and all of a sudden you receive
a lump sum, you know, that's like a a what
(30:56):
do you want to call it? Inheritance or something like that.
Then when that happens, you're going to be bumped off
the benefits unless you do what's called medicaid. One of
the things you can do is this defour a trust.
Like the letter writer is talking about, and it's a
Medicaid payback trust. The idea is that you won't be
(31:17):
kicked off the Medicaid now, but and the money can
be used for your benefit for pretty much anything. But
at the end of the day, when you die, anything
left in the defour a trust goes to the government
to pay back Medicaid. Okay, so good way to maintain it.
To make sure that you don't have to go through,
(31:39):
make sure that you don't lose your benefits, then use
up the money and then go to go to the
next one.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
My mom wants to leave our childhood home. Here's another
one to me her daughter. She bought it before she
was married, so she's the only name on the deed.
Speaker 3 (31:56):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
Can she file a ladybor deed to leave her home
to me when she passes away? Does step dad have
to be on the lady bird deed even though he's
not on the actual deed? Well, Michigan law is pretty
clear that married people can own property separately and decide
what they want to do with their separate property. Originally,
in Michigan we had what's called what was called the
(32:19):
Married Women's Property Act. The Married Women's Property Act. Back
when wife meant female married person who's female, that's what
wife meant. Then the wife acquired a life estate in
one third of the husband's real estate. So if you
think about the think about it like this, two people,
(32:44):
they get married. The guy has a three hundred acre farm.
Three hundred acre farm. Right, this is back in the
eighteen hundreds, right, So spouse has a three hundred acre farm.
The wife is now entitled to and when they get married,
her our interest is one third life estate in the
(33:05):
three hundred acre farm. In other words, she gets the
produce from one hundred acres for the rest of her life,
just by getting married. Now more recently, we.
Speaker 3 (33:16):
I don't know what you went call it.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
Our thoughts on weddings and marriages and who can get
married to whom has evolved, right, And part of this
evolution was the Married Women's Property Act. Well, you got
to married couple there, which one's the woman? You know,
what is a woman? I guess that has become a question.
Well then they decided, see what we thought was they
(33:39):
would go to say any real estate owned by either
partner creates a life estate in the other partner. I
mean that would have been one way to do it, okay,
but they didn't go that, right, they just abolished the
whole thing. It's too complicated nowadays. So they just said,
no more dour rights. Every married person if they own
(34:02):
property separately right now, in a divorce, it counts, right.
But if you own property separately, you can give it
to whomever you to whomever you choose. If you're going
through probate because you did the will right now, there
are surviving spouse interests and stuff like that. But you know,
if you avoid probate, you've avoided that as well. So
(34:27):
does your mom have to? Can your mom give you
a lady burdid?
Speaker 3 (34:30):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (34:30):
But she could also And this would be the smart
thing to do, in my opinion, would be to do
the testamentary trust so that when you die, when mom dies,
it goes to trust, then it goes to you because
when you do it that way, mom can leave it
to you in trust, and then you can sell it
(34:51):
in the trust and so all the PIFAs and the
asbestos and god knows whatever is going on with the house,
right all the liability is left behind in the trust, okay,
and you're protected when you get the proceeds, which is
what you want it anyway, unless you want to move
in the house and then still again, having it in
(35:12):
trust would be the good thing. Now I'm a single
parent with a minor child.
Speaker 3 (35:18):
We'll get this one done.
Speaker 2 (35:20):
I will create a trust to hold and share they
state for beneficiaries under the age of thirty. I believe
this is a testamentary trust. Yeah, Testamentary last Will and
testament right. However, I also have a child's primary beneficiary
and all my major investment accounts and holdings. Dear God,
that's crazy. Does this overwrite the intention of the testamentary trust? Yes,
it absolutely does, because if there's nothing to go through probate,
(35:43):
and if you've got beneficiary designations, there's nothing to go
through probate, there's nothing for that to go into that
testamentary trust. Should I remove the beneficiary designations on my
accounts if I want them to pass into the trust, Well,
you have to, right, because if you leave them as is,
then yeah, they're not going to go because they're going
to go directly to the person that you named as beneficiary.
(36:04):
I like the testamentary trust. I don't like the idea
that once you're thirty years old. It's an outright distribution.
But hey, at least till thirty, I've got some I've
got some asset protection. The problem is that people don't
stop do not stop misbehaving just because they reach a
certain age. And sometimes people are just unfortunate. So there's
(36:25):
no way to know what the heck the situation is
going to be when they get to be a certain age.
And yet time after time, I mean, it's universal, it
seems like universal. The way the trust is set up
is it forces a distribution at a certain age unless
you meet. Sometimes there's criteria in there which nobody meets,
(36:48):
but it's too much of a hassle to actually do.
But generally speaking, at a certain age, the idea is
just hand them, hand them the money, just give him
the cash. The problem with that is you don't know
what's going on in their lives. Okay, when you say, oh,
just distribute the money. Because when they distribute the money,
(37:10):
now it's the kid's money. And if the kid has
failed to pay his taxes, got divorced, or has other debts,
there goes the there goes the assets. Okay, let's see,
I'll got two minutes. My father had a trust made
out no will, states the trust he wants everything to
(37:30):
split fifty to fifty to my sister. However, he has
a bank account with only his my sister's name on it.
He wanted to add my name to this account, but
bank told him that since my sister was on the account,
she'd have to be present for him to add all true,
so far right, he wanted to take some All the
party would have to do is present My sister unable
to be present for him to add my name, so
he could not add my name. Account has only his
(37:51):
sister's name on it. Trust states he wants everything to
split fifty to fifty. Would that include the bank account
even though my name is Donka. This is the same
question we just answered, and he answer is the beneficiary
designation trumps trumps a after death or will or trust
that says whatever it says, Because if there's nothing in
(38:11):
the trust, nothing in the trust, there's nothing for the trust.
Speaker 3 (38:15):
To act on.
Speaker 2 (38:16):
And if the money has already gone to sister because
sister's name was on the account, you are out of luck, Chuck, too.
Speaker 3 (38:23):
Bad, So sad.
Speaker 2 (38:24):
If Dad's going to do the and that beneficient you know,
putting the name on the deed. That's not a great
deal either. His sister can just empty the account anyway,
any one of your code okay. So the way to
do it is a trust account with trustees. That's the
way to make sure that your.
Speaker 3 (38:42):
Intention is honored.
Speaker 2 (38:44):
Even listening to the David Carrier Show on David Carrier,
your family's a personal attorney inviting you to the website
Davidcarrier Law dot com will see you at a three
secrets workshop.
Speaker 1 (39:02):
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
(39:24):
visit Davidcarrier Law dot com.
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