Estate Planning Law Group

Estate Planning & Probate Attorneys in Grand Rapids, Michigan

Estate Planning Law Group (EPLG) is a Grand Rapids firm focused on estate planning and the administration of estates and trusts after death. Founded by attorney John Tamboer in 1994, the firm helps clients plan not only who should inherit property, but also who should make decisions during incapacity and how assets should be transferred when the time comes.

The firm's work addresses circumstances that can make seemingly straightforward estate planning more complicated. Parents may need to choose who would care for minor children if both parents died. Someone in a second marriage may want to provide for a spouse while preserving an inheritance for children from an earlier relationship. An unmarried couple may need planning because the law does not treat their relationship the same way as a marriage.

EPLG also works with families concerned about beneficiaries with disabilities, long-term-care expenses, real estate, business interests and avoiding unnecessary probate. After a death, the firm assists the people who actually have to carry out those plans, including personal representatives administering probate estates and successor trustees managing trusts.

When Parents Need to Decide Who Would Raise Their Children

For parents of minor children, an estate plan has responsibilities beyond deciding where money goes. One of the most important is identifying who should care for the children if neither parent is able to do so.

EPLG incorporates guardianship decisions into estate planning for families with children. Parents can use their planning documents to record whom they want to serve as guardian rather than leaving that question entirely unresolved if an unexpected death occurs.

Financial arrangements for children require separate consideration. Parents may not want a young beneficiary receiving an inheritance outright as soon as legally permitted. Trust planning can instead establish how property will be managed and when it will eventually be distributed.

A Blended Family May Need More Than a Simple Will

Second marriages can create estate-planning questions that do not arise in every family. A spouse may want the surviving husband or wife to remain financially secure while also making certain that children from an earlier relationship eventually receive property intended for them.

Those objectives can become difficult to reconcile if assets and beneficiary arrangements have not been coordinated. EPLG works with blended families on estate plans designed around the relationships and inheritance goals involved rather than assuming that a simple distribution to a surviving spouse will accomplish everything the client intends.

The firm also addresses planning for unmarried couples. Without appropriate documents and ownership arrangements, a longtime partner may not have the same inheritance or decision-making rights that a legal spouse would have.

Wills, Living Trusts & Avoiding Probate

EPLG prepares wills and living trusts and helps clients determine which planning structure fits their circumstances. A living trust can be used to hold and manage assets during life and provide instructions for their administration after death.

For clients concerned about probate, creating the trust is only part of the planning process. How property is owned and how beneficiary arrangements are structured can affect whether an asset will actually be controlled by the trust or require probate administration.

The firm's planning process therefore considers the relationship between estate-planning documents and the client's property. Bank and investment accounts, real estate and other assets may require different steps to make the overall plan work as intended.

Who Handles Things If You Cannot Make Decisions Yourself?

An estate plan can also prepare for a period when someone is alive but unable to manage financial or healthcare decisions independently.

EPLG prepares financial powers of attorney and healthcare directives that allow clients to select people they trust to act for them. Without appropriate advance planning, illness or incapacity can leave relatives trying to determine who has authority to manage finances, deal with institutions or make medical decisions.

Making those choices while a person still has capacity allows the individual, rather than a later crisis, to determine who should be given these responsibilities.

Leaving an Inheritance to Someone With Special Needs

An outright inheritance can create additional concerns when the beneficiary has a disability and receives needs-based government assistance. EPLG provides special-needs planning for families that want to leave property for a beneficiary while considering continued eligibility for programs such as SSI and Medicaid.

A properly structured trust can provide a way to hold assets for the beneficiary rather than transferring the inheritance directly. This allows families to think beyond simply naming the person in a will and consider how inherited resources will actually be managed for that individual's benefit.

For parents, this planning can be particularly important because the question is often long-term: how will resources be managed for a son or daughter after the parents who have provided support throughout the child's life are gone?

Homes, Vacation Property & Other Real Estate

Real estate can require particular attention in an estate plan because the way property is owned affects what happens to it after death. EPLG's planning work addresses primary residences as well as rental property and vacation homes.

A family may want a home transferred to a particular beneficiary, while parents with a vacation property may hope their children can continue using it after they are gone. Other clients may own investment real estate that needs to be coordinated with a trust or broader estate plan.

EPLG helps clients consider how real property should be titled and transferred as part of the overall plan rather than treating it separately from their wills and trusts.

Planning for a Family or Closely Held Business

For a business owner, death or incapacity can affect employees and co-owners as well as family members. Estate planning may therefore need to address both the value of the owner's interest and what happens to the business itself.

EPLG assists with business succession planning as part of its estate-planning services. Depending on the circumstances, the questions can include who will receive an ownership interest and how the business fits with the owner's plans for other beneficiaries.

Coordinating the business with the personal estate plan can help prevent the owner's wishes for the company from conflicting with the arrangements made for the rest of the estate.

When Future Long-Term-Care Costs Are a Concern

EPLG also provides long-term-care and Medicaid pre-planning. For families thinking ahead about the possibility of nursing-home care, the cost of that care can become part of the estate-planning conversation well before care is actually needed.

The firm's services include Medicaid trust planning. This is an area where timing and individual circumstances matter, so planning in advance can present different options than waiting until long-term care has already become necessary.

EPLG's work in this area allows clients to consider potential long-term-care expenses alongside their broader plans for property and family rather than treating the issues as entirely separate.

When Someone Dies Without a Will or Trust

Not every family arrives at probate court with a completed estate plan. EPLG assists with estates in which the deceased person left no will or trust, as well as estates requiring ordinary probate administration.

When someone dies without a will, Michigan law rather than the deceased person's written instructions determines who inherits probate property. A family member may still need to obtain legal authority to administer the estate, identify assets, address creditors and ultimately transfer property to the appropriate heirs.

The firm also handles smaller estates that may qualify for simplified procedures. The appropriate administration process depends on the property involved and the circumstances of the estate.

When You Become Responsible for a Parent's Estate

Being named personal representative in a will does not mean someone automatically knows how to administer an estate. After a death, a son, daughter, spouse or other representative may suddenly be responsible for a legal and financial process they have never encountered before.

EPLG assists personal representatives with probate administration. Depending on the estate, that can include obtaining authority to act, identifying and collecting assets, providing required notices, addressing creditor claims, handling real estate and eventually distributing property.

These responsibilities arrive while the personal representative is also dealing with the loss of a family member. The firm's estate-administration practice provides guidance through the steps required to move the estate from the initial probate proceedings through final distribution.

A Successor Trustee Still Has Work to Do

A living trust may avoid probate for property properly held in the trust, but the death of the person who created it does not make administration automatic. Someone still has to take responsibility for the trust.

EPLG assists successor trustees with trust administration after death. A trustee may need to determine what property belongs to the trust, review the trust's instructions, address financial and administrative matters, communicate with beneficiaries and make appropriate distributions.

The role can also involve creditor issues, taxes, inventories and accountings. A relative chosen as successor trustee because of that person's judgment or relationship with the family may have no previous experience performing fiduciary duties.

EPLG helps trustees understand and carry out those responsibilities as the estate plan moves from documents created during life to the actual transfer and administration of family property.

Grand Rapids & Livonia Offices

Estate Planning Law Group's Grand Rapids office is located at 4251 Cascade Road SE in Grand Rapids. The firm also maintains an office on Plymouth Road in Livonia, allowing it to serve clients in both West Michigan and Metro Detroit.

John Tamboer founded EPLG in 1994. Attorneys Michelle Lupanoff and Sandra O'Brien are also part of the firm's estate-planning practice.

The firm's concentration on estate planning and estate administration allows it to address both sides of the process: helping clients decide what should happen while they are able to make those decisions themselves, and helping families carry out those plans after a death.

Practice Areas

• Estate Planning

• Wills

• Living Trusts

• Probate Avoidance Planning

• Powers of Attorney

• Healthcare Directives

• Planning for Minor Children

• Special Needs Planning

• Medicaid Planning

• Long-Term-Care Planning

• Medicaid Trusts

• Real Estate Planning

• Business Succession Planning

• Probate Administration

• Estate Administration

• Trust Administration

• Intestate Estates

• Small Estate Administration