Estate planning is the process of anticipating and arranging for the disposal of an estate. Estate planning typically attempts to eliminate uncertainties over the administration of a probate and maximize the value of the estate by reducing taxes and other expenses. Estate planning attorneys advise clients on their options for disposition of real and personal property after death, and create any number of necessary documents pertaining to the estate and finances of the client -- including wills and trusts. Estate planning law attorneys also assist clients in setting out their end-of-life health care wishes through living wills and health care powers of attorney.
Petoskey is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also known as "P-town" or "the P. " As of the 2000 census, the city population was 6,080. It is the county seat of Emmet County. Petoskey and the surrounding area are notable for being the setting of several of the Nick Adams stories by Ernest Hemingway, who spent his childhood summers on nearby Walloon Lake, as well as being the place where for Calliope, the protagonist of Jeffrey Eugenides' Middlesex, events take a severe and lasting turn. Petoskey is also famous for a high concentration of Petoskey stones, the state stone of Michigan. Petoskey is the birthplace of information theorist Claude Shannon and Civil War historian Bruce Catton and is the boyhood home of singer/songwriter Sufjan Stevens. The name "Petoskey" is said to mean "where the light shines through the clouds" in the language of the Odawa Indians, who are the original inhabitants. The Petoskey stone and the city were named after Chief Ignatius Petosega (1787-1885), who founded the community. Petosega's father was a French Canadian fur trader and his mother was an Odawa (Ottawa) Indian. This city was the northern terminus of the Chicago and West Michigan Railway.