Wills, trusts, powers of attorney, multi-generational planning, and business succession, structured to avoid probate where possible, to withstand probate where necessary, and to hold together across the generations.
Estate planning is at its best when it disappears from view: executed without drama during a client’s lifetime, and implemented efficiently when needed. The firm’s approach is practical: match the legal instruments to the client’s actual family, actual assets, and actual goals, rather than offering a menu of standardized documents.
For most families, a well-drafted revocable living trust paired with a pour-over will, powers of attorney, and medical directives constitutes the foundation of a sound plan. The firm prepares these instruments with attention to Michigan-specific issues: Lady Bird deeds for residential real estate, joint ownership considerations, and beneficiary designations that coordinate with the overall plan rather than working against it.
Families with children from prior marriages, blended family obligations, or multi-generational planning concerns require more careful drafting than the standard templates allow. The firm structures trusts that provide for a surviving spouse while protecting assets for the children of a prior marriage, generation-skipping arrangements where appropriate, and marital trust structures that address both estate tax considerations and the client’s actual family circumstances.
For clients who own closely held businesses, the estate plan and the business succession plan must work together. The firm coordinates trust and estate planning with buy-sell agreements, entity structure, and management transition documents, drawing on the firm’s Business & Bankruptcy Law practice where the transactional questions require it.
Durable powers of attorney (financial), patient advocate designations (medical), and HIPAA authorizations are often the most-used documents in any estate plan. The firm prepares these carefully, pays attention to the authority granted, and updates them as family circumstances change.
Many clients come to the firm with plans drafted years ago that no longer reflect their circumstances: the children have grown, the assets have changed, the original trustee is no longer appropriate. The firm reviews existing plans and either amends them or, where a comprehensive restatement is cleaner, rebuilds the plan from the current document forward.
A good estate plan is an act of imagination performed by the person best positioned to imagine well: the client themselves, advised by someone who has seen what happens when the imagination fails.
It depends on your assets, your family, and your goals. A will directs who receives your property, but assets passing under a will generally go through probate. A funded revocable living trust can let those assets pass outside probate, offer more privacy, and provide for management if you become incapacitated.
Michigan’s intestacy rules in the Estates and Protected Individuals Code decide who inherits, generally starting with a surviving spouse and descendants. The probate court appoints a personal representative, who may not be the person you would have chosen. Without a will, you also lose the chance to nominate a guardian for minor children.
A basic plan usually includes a will, a durable power of attorney for financial matters, and a patient advocate designation for medical decisions. Many plans also include a revocable living trust. Beneficiary designations on retirement accounts and life insurance should be coordinated with these documents, because they control who receives those assets regardless of what the will says.
Michigan does not currently impose a separate estate tax, and its inheritance tax applies only to estates of people who died before October 1, 1993. A federal estate tax applies to estates above an exemption amount that is set by federal law and has changed several times; ask us for the current figure.
Review your plan every few years and after major life events, such as a marriage, divorce, birth, death in the family, move to another state, or the purchase or sale of a business. Changes in the law can also make an older plan work differently than intended. Updating beneficiary designations is part of the review.
These answers are general information about Michigan and federal law, not legal advice about your situation. Contacting the firm does not create an attorney-client relationship.
The firm handles new matters on a consultative basis. Call the office, or send us a message through our contact form.