Common estate blunders include:
Failure to plan to maintain control over your affairs in the event of incapacity. Failure to plan for minor children, including naming back-up parents. Failure to take advantage of available estate tax exemptions. Failure to protect and preserve an inheritance through Personal Asset Trusts. Failure to plan for real estate located outside Michigan. Failure to protect qualified retirement plans from unnecessary taxation. Failure to understand that a will requires probate administration of assets passing by the will. Unnecessarily exposing assets to loss to bankruptcy, divorce, and/or lawsuits by improperly use of joint tenancy. Failure to update estate plans as laws and life circumstances change.