Burgess & Sweeney Law

Estate Planning & Elder Law Attorneys in Frankenmuth, Michigan

Burgess & Sweeney Law, P.C. helps individuals and families prepare for incapacity, organize the transfer of property, address long-term-care concerns, and manage the legal responsibilities that follow a death. Located in Frankenmuth, the firm’s work encompasses estate planning, elder law, special-needs planning, guardianships and conservatorships, Medicaid planning, and probate and trust administration.

The firm prepares wills, trusts, durable financial powers of attorney, and healthcare powers of attorney. Its broader experience with real estate, agricultural property, and business succession can also be relevant when a family’s most important assets include a home, farm, or closely held business.

Planning needs often change as families move through different stages of life. Parents may need to name decision-makers and arrange for a child’s future. Older adults may be concerned about remaining at home, moving into assisted living, paying for nursing care, or protecting a spouse from financial hardship. After a death, a personal representative or trustee may need help understanding unfamiliar duties while the family is still grieving. Burgess & Sweeney works with clients across these connected situations rather than treating each document or court proceeding in isolation.

Preparing for Incapacity Before a Crisis

An estate plan is not limited to instructions that take effect after death. Durable financial and healthcare powers of attorney identify who may step in when someone needs help or becomes unable to make decisions independently.

A financial power of attorney can authorize a trusted person to manage financial and property matters. A healthcare power of attorney addresses medical decisions. Having valid documents in place may allow family members to help without first asking the probate court to appoint a guardian or conservator.

Without advance planning, a sudden illness, injury, or cognitive decline can leave relatives uncertain about who has legal authority. A spouse or adult child may discover that a family relationship alone does not provide the ability to manage another person’s accounts or make all necessary decisions. Burgess & Sweeney helps clients choose appropriate decision-makers and document that authority before an emergency occurs.

The firm also handles guardianship and conservatorship proceedings when advance documents are absent or no longer provide an adequate solution. A guardian is generally responsible for personal and care decisions, while a conservator manages property and financial affairs. These appointments involve probate-court oversight and continuing responsibilities, including reports or accountings after the appointment.

Wills, Trusts, and the Transfer of Family Property

Burgess & Sweeney prepares both wills and trusts and discusses the differences between them with clients. The appropriate structure depends on the family, the assets involved, and the client’s goals.

A will can provide instructions for probate property and identify the people who should carry out those instructions. A trust may be useful when property needs to be managed over time, when a beneficiary should not receive an inheritance outright, or when a family wants certain assets transferred outside the regular probate process.

Estate planning also requires attention to how property is owned. A will does not necessarily control an asset that passes through joint ownership, a beneficiary designation, or another transfer arrangement. This is especially important for real estate. The wording of a deed can determine whether an owner’s interest passes automatically to another owner or becomes part of the deceased person’s estate.

The firm advises clients about different forms of real-estate ownership and prepares deeds, including enhanced life-estate deeds commonly called Lady Bird deeds. Its real-estate work also includes assisting with purchases and sales. That experience can help families coordinate their estate documents with the ownership of a home, farm, or other land rather than assuming that signing a will completes the plan.

Protecting a Family Member With Special Needs

An outright inheritance can create problems for a person with a disability who receives Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income, or another means-tested benefit. It may also place substantial assets under the control of someone who cannot manage them independently.

Burgess & Sweeney provides special-needs planning for families who want to include a child or other beneficiary with a disability in an estate plan. A properly structured special-needs trust can hold assets for that person’s benefit while supplementing rather than replacing qualifying public assistance.

The firm works with third-party special-needs trusts funded by parents, grandparents, or other people. It also addresses trusts funded with the beneficiary’s own money, such as assets received through an inheritance or settlement. Different trust arrangements carry different requirements and may determine what happens to funds remaining after the beneficiary’s death.

This planning can provide a more reliable structure than leaving money to another relative with an informal request to use it for the person with a disability. It allows the estate plan to identify a trustee, establish enforceable instructions, and preserve resources for expenses or opportunities not covered by government programs.

Long-Term Care and Medicaid Planning

When an older family member begins needing more assistance, relatives may have to compare in-home care, adult foster care, assisted living, and skilled nursing care. Each setting presents different financial and benefit questions. Medicare, Medicaid, veterans’ benefits, private insurance, and personal funds do not pay for the same services under the same conditions.

Burgess & Sweeney works with people receiving care at home, in assisted-living facilities, and in nursing homes, as well as families anticipating that additional care may soon be necessary. Its elder-law services include Medicaid planning and assistance with the application process.

For married couples, long-term-care planning often involves the needs of both spouses. When one spouse requires nursing-home care, the spouse remaining at home may be worried about preserving enough income and property to remain financially secure. The couple’s asset ownership, beneficiary designations, and estate documents may all affect the available options.

The firm advises clients about planning tools intended to preserve resources for a community spouse, including solely-for-the-benefit trusts when appropriate. It also addresses the possibility that the spouse living at home could die before the spouse receiving institutional care. Without coordinated planning, an inheritance or beneficiary designation could unexpectedly change the nursing-home spouse’s financial circumstances and Medicaid eligibility.

Homes, Caregiving, and Estate Recovery

The family home often creates difficult questions when long-term care becomes necessary. Relatives may wonder whether the property should be retained, sold, placed in a trust, or transferred to a child. A transfer intended to avoid probate can have unintended Medicaid consequences, while keeping the property may leave the family responsible for taxes, insurance, maintenance, and other expenses.

Burgess & Sweeney examines real-estate ownership as part of elder-law planning. This includes considering how the timing and form of a transfer may affect Medicaid eligibility, estate recovery, probate, and the rights of the person who continues living in the home.

The firm also counsels families about Medicaid estate recovery after a beneficiary’s death. A personal representative who receives a claim must understand the estate’s responsibilities before distributing property. Depending on the circumstances, collection may be deferred or an exemption or hardship procedure may be relevant. These matters should be evaluated before estate assets are transferred to beneficiaries.

Care arrangements within the family can require advance planning as well. An adult child may reduce work hours or leave employment to care for a parent at home. If the parent pays the family caregiver without appropriate documentation, those payments may later be questioned during a Medicaid eligibility review. Burgess & Sweeney advises on care contracts intended to define the services being provided and the compensation paid for them.

Probate and Trust Responsibilities After a Death

After a loved one dies, the person appointed to manage the estate or trust may be responsible for property, records, expenses, creditors, and distributions to beneficiaries. These responsibilities can be unfamiliar and time-consuming, particularly when the family is coping with a recent loss.

Burgess & Sweeney assists personal representatives with probate administration and trustees with trust administration. The firm helps fiduciaries understand their responsibilities and complete the steps needed to administer property. It also works with other family members who need to understand or protect their rights during the process.

Probate and trust administration may involve identifying assets, reviewing how each asset is titled, addressing debts or claims, and determining who is entitled to receive the remaining property. Real estate, business interests, Medicaid recovery issues, and beneficiaries with special needs can add layers of responsibility that require coordination with the deceased person’s estate plan.

Planning for Businesses, Farms, and Agricultural Property

A family business may represent years of work as well as a substantial part of the owner’s estate. Burgess & Sweeney assists with starting and acquiring businesses, ownership transitions, sales, transfers, dissolutions, and succession planning.

Succession planning can help answer what happens if an owner retires, becomes incapacitated, or dies. The plan may need to identify who can manage the company, who will eventually own it, and whether family members who do not participate in the business will receive other property.

The firm also works with agricultural clients on protecting real estate and other major assets. Farm families may need to coordinate deeds, business arrangements, estate documents, and succession decisions so that land ownership and ongoing operations are addressed together.

Serving Frankenmuth and Families Across Mid-Michigan

Burgess & Sweeney Law is based in Frankenmuth and expressly serves communities throughout Saginaw, Tuscola, Bay, Midland, Genesee, Lapeer, Ogemaw, and Roscommon counties.

Practice Areas

• Estate planning

• Wills and trusts

• Financial and healthcare powers of attorney

• Special-needs planning

• Guardianships and conservatorships

• Probate administration

• Trust administration

• Elder law

• Medicaid planning and applications

• Long-term-care planning

• Medicaid estate recovery

• Caregiver agreements

• Real-estate deeds and ownership planning

• Agricultural property planning

• Business succession planning