Estate Planning & Elder Care Firm of Michigan

Estate Planning & Elder Law Attorneys in Howell, Michigan

Estate planning can become much more urgent when a family is dealing with declining health. A parent may receive a dementia diagnosis. A spouse may suddenly need nursing-home care. An adult child may discover that no one has legal authority to manage a parent's finances. A family may worry that years of savings will disappear paying for long-term care.

Estate Planning & Elder Care Firm of Michigan focuses its practice on these issues. From its Howell office, the firm helps Michigan families with estate planning, elder law, Medicaid and long-term-care planning, Alzheimer's and dementia planning, special needs planning, probate and trust administration, and veterans benefits.

The firm is led by attorney Glenn R. Matecun, who has practiced law since 1989 and is a Certified Elder Law Attorney (CELA). Attorneys Monika N. Burrell and Sara Matecun are also part of the firm's legal team.

When a Parent Suddenly Needs Nursing-Home Care

Long-term-care planning can look very different when a family has years to prepare than when a parent or spouse already needs care.

Estate Planning & Elder Care Firm of Michigan handles both advance Medicaid planning and crisis situations in which long-term care has become an immediate concern. The firm helps families understand Medicaid eligibility, available planning options and how the rules affect the assets and income of the person who needs care.

For married couples, one of the most frightening questions can be what happens to the spouse who remains at home. A family may have a house, retirement savings and other resources accumulated over decades while facing substantial costs for one spouse's nursing-home care.

The firm's elder-law practice addresses protecting resources for the spouse remaining in the community while navigating Medicaid eligibility for the spouse who needs care.

The firm also advises families about Medicaid estate recovery, which can become relevant after a Medicaid recipient dies.

A Dementia Diagnosis Changes the Planning Conversation

Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia create legal issues that extend far beyond preparing a will.

The firm maintains an Alzheimer's and Dementia Planning Center devoted specifically to families facing cognitive decline. Its work includes people concerned about future dementia, individuals experiencing mild cognitive impairment, and families already caring for someone with a progressive diagnosis.

Early in the process, the person may still be able to participate actively in decisions about finances, healthcare, property and future care. As cognitive impairment progresses, the available planning options can change.

Families may need to determine who has authority to manage financial affairs, who can make healthcare decisions, what type of care will be needed and how that care will be paid for.

Addressing those questions together can be particularly important with a progressive condition. The legal plan needs to work alongside the realities of caregiving and long-term-care costs rather than treating dementia solely as a medical issue.

Giving Someone Authority to Help Before a Crisis

A son or daughter may already be helping an aging parent with everyday tasks, but family relationships alone do not necessarily provide legal authority to act for another adult.

Estate Planning & Elder Care Firm of Michigan prepares durable financial powers of attorney that allow clients to designate someone to handle financial matters when necessary. It also prepares patient advocate designations addressing healthcare decision-making.

These documents can become crucial if illness, injury or cognitive decline eventually makes it difficult or impossible for someone to manage affairs independently.

Advance planning can also help families avoid reaching a point where court involvement is necessary simply to establish who can act.

Choosing decision-makers beforehand allows the individual—not a crisis—to determine who should be trusted with financial and healthcare responsibilities.

Protecting an Inheritance From Problems in a Beneficiary's Life

Estate planning is not always just about getting an inheritance to a beneficiary. Sometimes the concern is what could happen to that inheritance afterward.

The firm's estate-planning practice addresses beneficiary protection when an heir may face problems involving divorce, remarriage, creditors, lawsuits or poor financial decision-making.

These concerns can matter to parents who want to provide for an adult child but are uncomfortable simply transferring the inheritance outright.

The family's circumstances may also change over time. A beneficiary who was financially secure when an estate plan was created may later experience a divorce, financial trouble or other problems that change the way a parent wants an inheritance handled.

Trust planning can provide greater control over how inherited assets are held and distributed rather than treating every beneficiary and every family situation the same way.

Providing for Someone With Special Needs

Leaving property to a child or other beneficiary with disabilities requires particular care when that person depends on needs-based government benefits.

Estate Planning & Elder Care Firm of Michigan provides special needs planning, including third-party special needs trusts.

These trusts can allow parents, grandparents or other family members to set aside resources intended to supplement the beneficiary's needs without simply giving the property directly to the beneficiary in a way that could interfere with eligibility for certain benefits.

For parents, this can be part of a much larger concern: who will help their child when they are no longer alive to provide financial and practical support themselves?

A special needs plan can establish how inherited resources will be managed and used for the beneficiary while taking government-benefit rules into consideration.

When Someone Dies and You're Responsible for the Estate

Planning ahead is one side of the firm's practice. The other begins after someone dies.

Estate Planning & Elder Care Firm of Michigan handles probate and estate administration for families responsible for settling a deceased person's affairs.

For a personal representative, that responsibility can mean dealing with legal and financial tasks at the same time the family is grieving. Property needs to be identified and handled, obligations addressed and the estate ultimately distributed according to the applicable estate plan and probate requirements.

Someone serving in that role for the first time may have little idea where to begin.

The firm's probate practice provides assistance through the administration process rather than leaving the person responsible for the estate to navigate unfamiliar requirements alone.

A Trust Still Requires Work After a Death

Avoiding probate does not mean that nothing needs to happen after the person who created a trust dies.

A successor trustee may assume responsibility for managing trust property and carrying out the instructions contained in the trust. Estate Planning & Elder Care Firm of Michigan handles trust administration as well as probate estates.

The trustee's role can involve significant responsibilities to beneficiaries. The person administering the trust is acting in a fiduciary capacity and must manage the property according to the trust rather than simply distributing assets based on personal judgment.

For a family member who has never served as trustee before, legal guidance can help clarify what the trust requires and how the administration should proceed.

Helping Veterans and Surviving Spouses With Care Costs

Long-term-care costs can also lead veterans and their families to investigate benefits that may be available through the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The firm's elder-law practice includes veterans benefits planning, including Aid and Attendance benefits.

For an eligible veteran or surviving spouse who needs assistance with care, these benefits may provide another potential source of financial support.

The firm's work in this area fits into its broader approach to long-term-care planning: examining how care will be provided and how available resources and benefit programs may help pay for it.

Estate Plans Need to Change When Life Changes

Signing estate-planning documents does not necessarily mean the planning process is finished forever.

Families change. Financial circumstances change. Health can deteriorate. A person originally selected to make financial or healthcare decisions may no longer be the right choice years later. Changes in the law can also affect an older plan.

Estate Planning & Elder Care Firm of Michigan emphasizes periodic estate-plan reviews and offers a detailed estate-plan checkup.

A review can be especially important when an older plan was created before a major change in health. An estate plan prepared when long-term care seemed remote may deserve another look after a dementia diagnosis or when nursing-home care becomes a realistic possibility.

The same is true after significant changes involving family members or finances.

Reviewing a plan while the person creating it can still participate fully in the process provides an opportunity to make deliberate changes rather than waiting until a crisis limits the available choices.

Estate Planning and Elder Care Focused on the Problems Families Actually Face

Estate Planning & Elder Care Firm of Michigan is based on North Michigan Avenue in Howell and works with clients throughout Michigan, including through virtual consultations.

Its practice brings estate planning and elder law together because the two frequently overlap. A family's concern about inheritance may eventually become a concern about paying for long-term care. A routine power of attorney may become critical after a dementia diagnosis. A plan for a beneficiary with disabilities may need to account for government benefits. After a death, someone must ultimately administer the estate or trust that was created.

Glenn R. Matecun has practiced since 1989 and is a Certified Elder Law Attorney. Together with attorneys Monika N. Burrell and Sara Matecun, the firm concentrates on helping families plan for property, incapacity, aging, long-term care and the responsibilities that follow a death.

Practice Areas

• Estate Planning

• Wills

• Revocable Trusts

• Irrevocable Trusts

• Durable Financial Powers of Attorney

• Patient Advocate Designations

• Probate Avoidance Planning

• Beneficiary Protection Planning

• Elder Law

• Medicaid Planning

• Medicaid Crisis Planning

• Long-Term-Care Planning

• Medicaid Estate Recovery Planning

• Alzheimer's and Dementia Planning

• Special Needs Planning

• Third-Party Special Needs Trusts

• Probate Administration

• Estate Administration

• Trust Administration

• Veterans Benefits

• Aid and Attendance Planning