It’s been a good year, both at the office and at home. On the home front, it’s been a particularly exciting year for my three kids. My daughter, Sara, moved back home from North Carolina with her husband, Jeremy. She went to law school in North Carolina and had been practicing law there for the past year. She recently took (and passed!) the Michigan bar exam, and she is joining my law firm as an attorney. I’m excited to have her home — and excited to have her on the team.
My middle son, Bryan, recently moved to Arlington, Virginia. We helped him move into a new place outside Washington, D.C. He’s working in D.C., helping to produce a TV show for ESPN. He has my dream job of watching sports videos all day! And my youngest son, Eric, graduates from college this winter and is going back to school for his master’s degree. He’ll be closing one chapter and opening another. In fact, it seems all my kids are doing that this year.
On the professional side of things, our firm has continued to grow and thrive. We’re still offering many of the same services you’ve come to know and rely on, but we’re doing them better than ever. We’ve found a good balance between growing and not getting too far ahead of ourselves.
As part of that growth, we started a new workshop series earlier this year: our Wednesday Workshop Series. You may have heard about it in one of our earlier newsletters, or you may have already attended one of the workshops. We hold a new workshop every other Wednesday, and so far, they’ve been a big hit. We’ve been able to get out there to reach our clients and the community at large. They’ve been a great way to educate the public and answer questions people have about estate planning and elder law.
I also wrote two books: “You’re Not Alone: Living with Alzheimer’s Disease” and “You’re Not Alone: Living as an Alzheimer’s Caregiver.” We’re always looking for new resources to make available to our clients, and books are an excellent resource. Just like the workshops, my goal is to inform and educate. Plus, books are easy to pass around to friends and family who may have questions about estate planning or elder law but aren’t quite comfortable in talking to an estate planning attorney just yet.
Another resource we developed this year is my new radio show! Earlier in the fall, I started a new radio show called “Senior Law Radio.” It airs every Sunday morning from 8–8:30 on WHMI 93.5 FM. The show is another great way to help inform and educate the public. I talk about everything from nursing home planning to home care planning. I also talk about wills, trusts, powers of attorney — the list goes on. The great thing about this show is that if you have any questions, you can call or email your question, and I may answer it on air!
As the year comes to a close, it’s a good time to reflect on everything that happened, and I encourage you to do just that. Examine what went well and what you accomplished, and start thinking about what you want to accomplish next year. While you ponder how the year went, don’t forget to review your estate plan and update it if necessary. What changed this year? Are there new family members? Has there been a change in your finances? Or changes with your health?
I hope you have a wonderful holiday season, and I’ll see you in the new year!