Blog - Michael Bailey Law, LLC

Coloradans: You Deserve To Have Your Estate Planning Questions Answered

In November of 2022, we spent Thanksgiving in Kansas City with friends. We drove out the Saturday prior to the week of Thanksgiving and planned to spend the entire week with our friends. Neither I, nor my wife, planned to work during the week of Thanksgiving. However, the Sunday before Thanksgiving, my wife’s second level supervisor called her at 8 pm to let her know they were going to have a company wide meeting on Monday, and that the company she worked for was likely to shut down. That was quite an unexpected phone call for my wife. She attended the virtual company wide meeting on … [Read more...]

The Year Is Ending, Not You – Get Your Estate Plan Started Now!

Christmas is upon us…in just two days! Christmas carols and songs (like I wrote about in my last blog post) are still playing, but they are soon to end, and we will then all move on to the New Year’s celebration after Christrmas. Sometimes the holidays seem so fleeting and come and go so quickly. I hope everyone has their shopping done, or you have all planned for how to get your shopping done. I hear stories about certain in-laws of mine that like to get their shopping done on Christmas Eve, which sounds exciting and fun to me, but also sounds dicey! Sometimes when shopping at the last … [Read more...]

Santa Claus is Coming To Town and Other Cautionary Tales for Estate Planning from Christmas Songs

Growing up, we sang a lot of Christmas Carols and a lot of Christmas songs in my family, and in other settings. I liked some of them, and others were not my favorites. For instance, the song “Santa Claus is Comin to Town” contains the following lyrics: “He Sees You When You’re Sleeping. He Knows When You’re Awake. He Knows If You’ve Been Bad Or Good, So Be Good For Goodness’ Sake” I am fairly certain that the song is just trying to get kids to behave during the Christmas season, so that they will be able to get presents from Santa Claus, but as an adult, I am not sure I really want to … [Read more...]

Supporting Worthy Causes in Your Will or Trust…on Colorado Gives Day

For the past few years, my church has set up “Giving Machines” along the 16th Street Mall in Downtown Denver between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The “Giving Machines” are like vending machines that allow people to purchase items or services for those in need. A person can purchase food for a poor family, or socks, shoes, or other items to be donated…I have even seen where a person can purchase a chicken or a goat and have that donated to a less fortunate family. These temporary “Giving Machines” are not always well understood, or well publicized. As such, we members of the church will go … [Read more...]

Why Your Estate Plan Will Work (in Colorado) Even If Someone Doesn’t Like It

My wife likes to talk about love languages, and how everybody’s love language can be different. Some people want physical affection, while others prefer gifts, and still others want you to spend time with them. I am not nearly as into the differences in love languages as she is, or as some people are, but I did get an interesting, almost Halloween-y lesson in love languages just a week ago. I had come home from work and went to change out of work clothes. I gathered my other clothes, and went to sit down on the bed to remove my shoes, when out of the corner of my eye, I noticed … [Read more...]

What to Expect When You’re Expecting and Planning…to Die!

My oldest daughter is currently enrolled in an AP United States history class. She took an AP World history class and enjoyed it quite a lot. This year, her AP United States history class has been a little more difficult for her. She has struggled with reading the textbook and taking notes, which seemed to be one of her favorite parts about her class last year. My wife and I asked her what the difference was, and she talked about how the textbook this year included so many things that it was hard to determine what was important to take away from the reading. I asked to take a look at the … [Read more...]

How the Estate Planning Process Benefits You – And What Does This Have To Do With Cookies?

How the Estate Planning Process Benefits You - And What Does This Have To Do With Cookies? I am not a huge baker. I cook fairly well, but I don’t really bake as much. My daughter loves to bake, and she makes cookies often. I get to benefit from her making cookies, as I get to eat the cookies at the end. Eating the cookies is an obvious benefit to me, and I see this as similar to estate planning. Setting up an estate plan has many benefits, like letting your family and loved ones know exactly who will receive assets after you pass away, and also who will be in charge. These benefits are … [Read more...]

Why “Mobile” Estate Planning Is Good for You

As a maxim of life, it is harder to hit a moving target than a stationary one. So, why would it then be true that “mobile” estate planning is good for you, possibly even better than “stationary” estate planning? The answer has more to do with what it means that I provide “mobile” estate planning services, than we are moving while planning your estate. “Mobile” estate planning is not estate planning done while in motion, but rather has to do with me coming to see you where you are, making life more convenient. Over the years, I have met clients in many different places. I have met … [Read more...]

Avoiding The “Danger Zone” in Estate Planning

In my last blog post, I discussed what I learned about estate planning from the movie “Top Gun: Maverick” and I mentioned the song by Kenny Loggins, “Danger Zone.” The mere phrase “Danger Zone” got me thinking about what zones exist in estate planning that are danger zones. Of course, in the “Top Gun” movies, the air combat scenes needed to take place in the “danger zone” of an active combat zone. If not, the combat scenes would have been quite anti-climactic. The jet fighting scenes were quite cool and fun, but that is great for a movie, not for your estate plan. You want to be in a … [Read more...]

Lessons From Top Gun: Maverick: A Change In Your Relationships Means An Update In Your Estate Plan

I, along with a lot of other people, saw the movie “Top Gun: Maverick” this summer. The movie came out 36 years after the original “Top Gun” movie. Without giving away too many spoilers for the movie, the main character and hero, Maverick, was the same, but many of the other characters around him had changed. I am one who enjoyed both movies, but because I am who I am - I compare things to estate planning, I saw parallels between the two movies and estate planning. Both movies start with a sequence on the deck of an aircraft carrier, with combat aircraft being prepared and launched. The … [Read more...]