Dakroub Group, Estates, Wills & Trusts

Estate Planning & Probate Attorneys in Dearborn, Michigan

Estate planning decisions often begin with the people a client wants to protect. Parents may need to choose who would raise their children if both parents died. Someone caring for a family member with disabilities may need an inheritance plan that takes public benefits into account. An older homeowner may be considering how a house will pass to the next generation, while another family may already be dealing with probate after a loved one's death.

Dakroub Group, Estates, Wills & Trusts is a Dearborn law firm focused primarily on estate planning and probate. Founded by attorney Hameed Dakroub, the firm assists individuals and families with wills, trusts, powers of attorney, healthcare planning, deeds, special needs planning, guardianships, conservatorships, and probate estate administration.

Rather than treating every estate as requiring the same documents, the firm's planning materials address different tools and the circumstances in which families may consider them.

Protecting Young Children Through an Estate Plan

For parents, estate planning involves questions that extend well beyond who receives money or property. One of the most consequential is who would care for minor children if their parents were no longer able to do so.

Dakroub Group helps parents address guardianship and conservatorship choices as part of their estate plans. A guardian can be nominated to assume responsibility for a child's personal care, while planning can also address who would be responsible for managing property on the child's behalf.

The firm also uses trusts to address how inherited assets will be managed for children. This allows parents to consider whether children should receive an inheritance outright or whether someone should manage the property for them according to instructions established in advance.

These decisions can be important even for younger parents who do not consider themselves wealthy. A home, savings, insurance proceeds, and other assets can leave significant property to be managed for children, making both the choice of caregivers and the management of an inheritance important parts of the planning process.

Preparing for Incapacity Before a Crisis

An estate plan can also establish who is authorized to act during a person's lifetime if illness or injury makes independent decision-making impossible.

Dakroub Group prepares durable financial powers of attorney and documents addressing healthcare and patient-advocate decisions. These allow clients to select people they trust to handle designated financial or medical matters if circumstances require it.

Without adequate advance planning, a family may instead find itself considering a guardianship or conservatorship proceeding when a loved one can no longer make necessary decisions.

The firm represents clients in guardianship and conservatorship matters as well as helping clients plan in advance. Its services therefore address both sides of the problem: putting documents in place while an individual can make those choices and assisting families when court involvement becomes necessary.

Wills, Trusts, and Planning for the Family Home

Different families have different assets and objectives, and Dakroub Group's estate-planning practice includes several ways of addressing how property will eventually pass.

The firm prepares wills and revocable living trusts and advises clients about the role those documents can play in an estate plan. Trust planning can address who will manage trust property and establish instructions for eventual distributions to beneficiaries.

The firm also works with Lady Bird deeds, or enhanced life estate deeds, as an estate-planning tool for Michigan real estate. This can be particularly relevant for someone whose home represents a significant portion of the property that needs to be addressed in an estate plan.

Dakroub Group's planning materials recognize that a homeowner with relatively straightforward objectives may have different needs from a family requiring a trust to manage multiple assets or control future distributions. The appropriate structure depends on the property involved and what the client is trying to accomplish.

Providing for a Loved One With Special Needs

A direct inheritance may raise additional considerations when the intended beneficiary has disabilities and receives means-tested government benefits.

Dakroub Group assists families with special needs trusts designed to provide additional resources for a beneficiary while taking eligibility for programs such as Supplemental Security Income and Medicaid into account.

Under this type of arrangement, property can be managed through a trust rather than simply transferred outright to the beneficiary. The trust can then provide supplemental resources according to its terms.

For parents and other relatives, special needs planning can address a difficult long-term question: how to continue providing financial support for someone with disabilities after the family members currently providing that support are gone.

When Guardianship or Conservatorship Becomes Necessary

Advance planning cannot resolve every situation. A family may be dealing with an adult who has become unable to make personal decisions, manage finances, or protect his or her own interests without assistance.

Dakroub Group handles Michigan guardianship and conservatorship proceedings. A guardianship generally concerns responsibility for an individual's personal care and decision-making, while a conservatorship concerns management of property and financial affairs.

These proceedings involve significant responsibilities for the person appointed. The firm's work includes helping families navigate the court process and understand the obligations associated with serving in these roles.

Guardianship and conservatorship can also arise in different family circumstances. In addition to matters involving adults who have lost decision-making capacity, conservatorship issues can be relevant when property must be managed for a minor.

Helping Personal Representatives Settle an Estate

When someone dies and probate is required, the person responsible for the estate may face an unfamiliar legal and administrative process at the same time the family is dealing with a loss.

Dakroub Group assists with probate and estate administration, including the steps involved in opening an estate and obtaining the appointment of a personal representative.

From there, administration can involve identifying and managing estate property, addressing creditor matters, fulfilling the personal representative's responsibilities, making appropriate distributions, and completing the steps required to close the estate.

For someone who has never served as a personal representative, the role can be considerably more involved than simply following the instructions in a will. The personal representative assumes responsibility for administering the probate estate and completing the required process before the estate can be concluded.

The firm's probate practice complements its estate-planning work. Clients may come to Dakroub Group years before a death to establish their own plans, while personal representatives and families may seek assistance later when an existing plan has to be carried out.

Estate Planning for Business Owners

Estate planning can become more complicated when an individual's property includes an ownership interest in a business. In addition to personal assets, the owner may need to consider what will happen to the business and how a transition will affect the people connected to it.

Dakroub Group's practice includes business and corporate law as well as estate planning, and its services address business succession planning. This provides a point of connection between a client's personal estate plan and questions surrounding the future of a closely held business.

As with planning for a home or other significant property, the issues depend on the particular ownership structure, assets, and people involved. Business succession planning can therefore become one component of the broader process of preparing for incapacity or death.

Serving Families Across Southeast Michigan

Dakroub Group maintains its office at One Parklane Boulevard in Dearborn and works with clients beyond the immediate Dearborn area.

The firm identifies Wayne, Macomb, Washtenaw, and Monroe Counties as part of its service area. This gives individuals and families across a broad portion of Southeast Michigan access to the firm's estate planning, probate, special needs planning, and guardianship and conservatorship services from its Dearborn office.

Practice Areas

• Estate Planning

• Wills

• Revocable Living Trusts

• Durable Financial Powers of Attorney

• Healthcare & Patient Advocate Planning

• Lady Bird Deeds

• Estate Planning for Minor Children

• Special Needs Trusts

• Guardianships

• Conservatorships

• Probate

• Estate Administration

• Business Succession Planning