Dement & Marquardt

Estate Planning, Elder Law and Probate Attorneys in Kalamazoo, Michigan

DeMent & Marquardt, PLC is a Kalamazoo law firm devoted to estate planning and related estate matters. Founded in 1994, the practice helps individuals and families plan for the transfer of property, prepare for incapacity, address long-term-care concerns and carry out legal responsibilities after a death.

The firm’s work includes estate planning, probate, trust administration, elder law, disability planning, wealth preservation, estate and gift taxation, charitable giving, real estate and business succession. Founders Daniel L. DeMent and Michele C. Marquardt are retired.

DeMent & Marquardt serves clients in Kalamazoo and throughout Southwest Michigan. It also assists families in Battle Creek and Calhoun County and receives clients from elsewhere in the state. Attorneys can meet clients outside the Kalamazoo office, including at a client’s home, nursing home or assisted-living facility.

Your Family Needs More Than a Basic Will

A will provides important instructions, but a complete estate plan may need to address property ownership, beneficiary designations, incapacity and the needs of particular family members.

DeMent & Marquardt prepares wills and trusts based on the client’s assets, liabilities, relationships and objectives. A will can identify beneficiaries, nominate a personal representative and establish who should care for minor children. A trust can provide more detailed instructions for managing and distributing property.

A family may want an inheritance held until a child reaches an appropriate age. Parents or grandparents may want money available for education, healthcare or other needs without transferring the entire inheritance at once. A trust can establish those conditions and identify the person responsible for carrying them out.

Estate planning may also involve reviewing deeds, retirement-account beneficiaries, life insurance and jointly owned assets. These forms of ownership can determine how property transfers regardless of what a will says. Coordinating them reduces the possibility that one part of the plan will undermine another.

Your Estate Plan Has Not Kept Up With Your Life

A plan that worked years ago may no longer reflect the client’s property or family. Marriage, divorce, births, deaths, a serious medical diagnosis, retirement or the purchase or sale of valuable assets can all change what the plan needs to accomplish.

DeMent & Marquardt provides review meetings to discuss significant changes and determine whether documents should be updated. Someone originally selected as personal representative, trustee or agent may no longer be available or may no longer be the client’s preferred choice. Beneficiary designations and property ownership may also need attention.

A review can identify inconsistencies between a will or trust and assets that transfer by deed, joint ownership or beneficiary designation. It can also reconsider how property should be managed for children, grandchildren or beneficiaries whose circumstances have changed.

The firm uses a flat-fee arrangement for estate-planning services. The fee includes the estate plan, revisions and a meeting with family members after the client’s death. Written updates are handled for a flat fee determined during a review meeting.

An Illness or Accident Leaves Someone Unable to Make Decisions

Estate planning is not concerned solely with death. A serious accident, illness or cognitive impairment may leave someone unable to manage finances, communicate with healthcare providers or make personal-care decisions.

A durable financial power of attorney allows a client to select an agent to handle authorized financial matters. Depending on the authority granted, that person may be able to pay expenses, manage accounts, address taxes or deal with property.

An advance healthcare directive identifies the person who should make medical decisions when the client cannot do so. It can also record directions concerning treatment and end-of-life care.

Choosing these decision-makers in advance can reduce uncertainty during a medical crisis. Family members know who has authority, and the selected agents have written guidance concerning their responsibilities.

DeMent & Marquardt prepares powers of attorney and advance healthcare directives as part of its estate and elder-law practice. Its disability-planning work also addresses the broader legal arrangements that may be needed when someone’s ability to manage personal or financial affairs changes.

Mom or Dad Can No Longer Safely Manage Alone

When an aging parent begins missing payments, making unusual financial decisions or struggling with personal care, adult children may need to determine whether existing documents provide enough authority to help.

If the parent signed effective powers of attorney while capable of making those decisions, the appointed agents may be able to address finances and healthcare without a court proceeding. When adequate advance arrangements are unavailable, guardianship or conservatorship may need to be considered.

A guardian generally handles personal and care-related decisions for an incapacitated person. A conservator manages property and financial affairs. These proceedings can affect the individual’s independence, so the circumstances and available alternatives need to be examined carefully.

DeMent & Marquardt represents clients in guardianship and conservatorship matters. Its elder-law and disability-planning experience can help families understand the authority being requested and the continuing responsibilities placed on the person appointed.

The firm’s willingness to meet in homes, nursing facilities and assisted-living communities may be useful when the person needing advice cannot travel comfortably to downtown Kalamazoo.

Nursing-Home Costs Put the Family’s Savings at Risk

The cost of skilled nursing care can create an urgent financial concern for an older adult and that person’s spouse. Families may fear that they must use all available savings before any assistance becomes available.

DeMent & Marquardt provides Medicaid and long-term-care planning. Michigan Medicaid has income, asset and transfer rules that affect eligibility for nursing-home benefits. The consequences can depend on whether the applicant is married, what property is owned and whether assets were transferred during the applicable lookback period.

The firm’s Medicaid work includes explaining the five-year lookback applied to certain gifts and transfers for less than fair market value. A transfer made without understanding these rules may affect when an applicant can qualify.

Planning also needs to account for the spouse who remains at home. That person may continue to depend on the couple’s income, residence and savings while the other spouse receives institutional care.

Because Medicaid eligibility is fact-specific, the attorneys review the family’s property and circumstances before identifying available planning options. This work is part of the firm’s broader elder-law practice rather than an isolated benefits application.

The Family Home Needs to Pass to the Right Person

Real estate is often one of a family’s largest assets. How the deed is written can affect whether the property passes through probate, transfers to a surviving owner or becomes part of a trust-based plan.

DeMent & Marquardt advises clients about deeds and real-property ownership in connection with estate planning. A homeowner may want a spouse to remain in the residence, intend the property to pass to children or need to coordinate the house with a living trust.

Changing a deed can have consequences beyond avoiding probate. The owner needs to understand whether the proposed arrangement affects present control, future transfer and the rights of other people named on the property.

Real estate also matters during estate administration. The personal representative may need to maintain, value, sell or distribute a home while paying expenses and responding to the interests of beneficiaries. Careful planning can make those responsibilities clearer.

A Parent Dies and You Are Responsible for the Estate

Serving as personal representative can be a substantial job, particularly when the person appointed has never handled probate before. Responsibilities arrive while the family is also dealing with grief and the practical consequences of the death.

Michigan probate administration may require filing and validating the will, identifying and inventorying assets, notifying creditors, addressing medical or long-term-care bills, preparing tax returns and distributing property. Challenges involving the will or proposed distributions may also need to be resolved.

Some assets may transfer outside probate. Jointly owned property may pass to a surviving owner, while retirement accounts and life insurance can pass under beneficiary designations. Trust-owned property is administered under the trust rather than through the probate estate.

DeMent & Marquardt guides personal representatives through the court-supervised process. The attorneys help determine which assets belong in the estate, what obligations must be addressed and what needs to occur before beneficiaries receive their distributions.

The family meeting included in the firm’s estate-planning arrangement can give loved ones an opportunity to review the plan and understand what follows after a client’s death.

You Have Been Chosen to Serve as Trustee

A successor trustee may be responsible for substantial property, detailed trust instructions and the competing concerns of multiple beneficiaries. The job involves more than distributing checks.

Trustees are fiduciaries. They must administer the trust for the benefit of its beneficiaries, manage assets prudently and avoid conflicts of interest. Administration can require regular accountings, tax filings, payment of expenses and distributions under the trust’s terms.

A trust may continue for years when it holds property for a surviving spouse, minor children or other beneficiaries. The trustee must understand when distributions are permitted and whether decisions are discretionary or required.

DeMent & Marquardt advises and represents trustees throughout the administration process. The attorneys also help determine how the trust relates to the probate estate, beneficiary-designated assets and tax obligations.

A Beneficiary Believes Estate Assets Are Being Mishandled

Disputes can arise when beneficiaries believe a trustee, personal representative, agent or other fiduciary has failed to perform required duties. Concerns may involve missing information, improper distributions, conflicts of interest or use of assets for an unauthorized purpose.

DeMent & Marquardt handles probate litigation and breach-of-fiduciary-duty matters. Its attorneys represent clients when estate administration moves beyond routine filings and requires a dispute to be investigated or resolved.

A fiduciary must follow the governing document and applicable Michigan law. Trustees may need to account to beneficiaries, while personal representatives must preserve estate property, address valid obligations and distribute assets appropriately.

The firm can also advise fiduciaries who are accused of wrongdoing. Examining the will, trust, accountings, transactions and communications can help determine whether the person acted within the authority provided.

A Business Must Continue After an Owner Retires or Dies

A closely held business may represent both a family’s largest asset and the livelihood of owners, employees and relatives. Retirement, disability or death can disrupt the company when no one has decided who will manage it or acquire the departing owner’s interest.

DeMent & Marquardt assists Michigan business owners with succession planning. The process begins by identifying whether the owner wants the company to remain in the family, pass to another owner or be sold.

Management and ownership do not always need to pass to the same person. A child may be prepared to operate the business while other family members require a fair economic interest. The plan can address leadership, ownership transfer and the financial needs of heirs.

Available tools may include wills, trusts, buy-sell agreements, outright sales and more specialized financial arrangements. The attorneys coordinate the succession strategy with the owner’s personal estate plan so that documents governing the business and the owner’s property support the same objectives.

You Want to Leave Part of Your Estate to a Cause

Charitable giving can be incorporated into an estate plan for someone who wants to support a religious organization, school, community foundation or other nonprofit.

DeMent & Marquardt advises clients on charitable gifts made during life or at death. Planning can involve gifts under a will or trust as well as charitable trusts and other arrangements suited to the donor’s goals.

A client may want to leave a fixed sum, a percentage of the estate or a continuing source of support. The plan may also need to address what happens if the selected organization changes or the original charitable purpose can no longer be fulfilled.

William B. Millard’s practice specifically includes charitable giving and federal estate and gift taxation. The firm’s broader tax-planning work can help coordinate charitable intentions with family inheritances and other estate objectives.

Estate Planning and Elder Law Across Southwest Michigan

DeMent & Marquardt’s Kalamazoo practice serves individuals and families throughout Southwest Michigan, including Battle Creek and Calhoun County. Its attorneys also assist clients referred from elsewhere in Michigan.

The firm’s exclusive concentration on estate and related matters allows it to work across the complete planning and administration timeline: preparing documents, reviewing plans as circumstances change, addressing incapacity and long-term care, settling estates and trusts, and resolving disputes over fiduciary conduct.

Practice Areas

• Estate Planning

• Wills and Trusts

• Powers of Attorney

• Advance Healthcare Directives

• Elder Law and Disability Planning

• Medicaid and Long-Term-Care Planning

• Guardianships and Conservatorships

• Probate and Estate Administration

• Trust Administration

• Probate Litigation

• Breach of Fiduciary Duty

• Estate and Gift-Tax Planning

• Wealth Preservation

• Deeds and Real-Property Planning

• Business-Succession Planning

• Charitable Giving