Legally Speaking
by Amanda Roggenbuck

Editor's Note: Amanda Roggenbuck is an attorney practicing law in her Cass City office as well as spending time with clients in Deckerville. Roggenbuck's ties to the Thumb are great. The daughter of Clifford and Carol Roggenbuck, Amanda grew up in Port Hope. Roggenbuck achieved her grade school education at the Red School before graduating from Harbor Beach High School.

Roggenbuck's credentials include graduating from Michigan State University where she achieved a Bachelor of Arts Degree with a concentration in Political Science. She then went on to graduate from Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Lansing where she earned her Juris Doctor with a dual concentration in General Practice and Solo and Small Firm and Litigation. Roggenbuck's continuing legal education cover the following topics: planning techniques for the taxable estate; fundamentals of estate planning; estate planning for retirement assets; preparing estate and gift-tax returns and post-death tax planning; and estate and financial planning for elderly or disabled clients.

Through this column Amanda Roggenbuck will provide answers to your many questions regarding law and its effect on your life and that of your friends and family.

1. Below I have listed some of the most common areas of concern that my clients usually raise:
   • Providing enough cash to meet your estate obligations like funeral expenses, taxes, and debts remaining or acquired as a result of death
   • Caring for your family after your death
   • Transferring your farm or business
   • Reducing taxes and administration costs
   • Providing an education for your children
   • Leaving a bequest to a church or charity
   
   An effective estate plan will address these and other concerns you may have.
   
   
2. There are documents necessary to prepare your estate plan. Remember it is always important to trust your estate planner. This person has to have access to your financial information and your most personal wishes to effectively plan for your future. Some of the documents you should provide your estate planner include the following (For each person these documents may change and others may be included as well.):
   
   
   • Prior wills
   • Deeds to property
   • Trust agreements
   • Gift tax returns
   • Divorce decrees and prenuptial or postnuptial agreements, marital or community-property agreements
   • Life-insurance contracts
   • An inventory of savings, stocks, bonds and securities
   • Your pension information
   • Business agreements or contract.
     
     
3. There are many components to a complete estate plan. A durable power of attorney is one; it is a document that is in effect until your death or revocation of the document. You may authorize someone to handle your business and financial affairs if you are not able to yourself. This document is extinguished when you pass away.
   
   
4. Another component of a complete estate plan is the medical power of attorney; this document is effective during your period of medical incapacitation. For example, if you suffer from a stroke and are unable to communicate, this document allows you to make choices about the manner and way in which you will be treated. You may indicate preferences for things such as hospital and hospice care, along with duration and extent of life support services.

Amanda Roggenbuck can be reached at her Cass City office at 989-872-8881, with office hours Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. She also has office hours by appointment in Deckerville in the former Sanilac County Bank Building. Amanda would be happy to answer your questions in this column, and will address them as space allows. Please send your questions to editor@lakeshoreguardian.com or by mail to The Lakeshore Guardian, 9697 Purdy Road, Harbor Beach, MI 48441.