Fred Fahrner, Attorney at Law

Estate Planning, Living Trust & Probate Attorney in Ann Arbor, Michigan

Estate planning does not have to begin with a complicated collection of documents. For many families, it starts with a few practical decisions: Who should receive my property? Who should be responsible for carrying out my wishes? Who will manage my finances or make medical decisions if I cannot act for myself?

Homeowners may also want to know whether a living trust could help their family avoid probate. Parents may need to decide who should manage an inheritance for their children. After a death, someone may suddenly become responsible for opening an estate, addressing creditors, and completing the probate process.

Fred Fahrner assists Ann Arbor-area families with wills, living trusts, trust funding, financial and healthcare powers of attorney, probate avoidance, and estate administration. He has practiced locally for more than 30 years and reports having prepared thousands of estate plans.

I Need an Estate Plan, but I Do Not Need an Elaborate Package

Some people delay estate planning because they assume it will require an expensive binder filled with documents they do not understand or need.

Fred Fahrner’s website takes a more cost-conscious position. It encourages clients to obtain a fair estimate based on the complexity of their own estate instead of assuming that every person requires the same extensive planning package.

A useful plan may still include several coordinated documents. The important question is whether each document serves a real purpose for the client’s family, property, and concerns.

Fahrner prepares wills, living trusts, financial powers of attorney, living wills, advance directives, and patient advocate designations. His planning materials explain what those documents do and how they work together.

I Need a Will

A will states who should receive property passing through a probate estate and nominates the personal representative who should administer that estate.

The personal representative may eventually need to sell property, pay valid debts, and distribute the remaining assets to the people named in the will. Because the first choice may be unwilling or unable to serve when the time comes, Fahrner recommends naming at least one alternate.

Parents can also use a will to nominate a guardian for minor children and provide instructions concerning inherited property.

A will may allow property to be held and used for a child’s support or education before the child receives direct control. Instead of distributing the full inheritance at 18, the document can provide for distributions at later ages or in stages.

Would a Living Trust Help My Family Avoid Probate?

A living trust is not limited to very wealthy families.

Today, one of its most common purposes is to keep properly transferred assets out of the ordinary probate process. A trust may also provide continuity if the person who created it becomes unable to manage property.

The person creating the trust generally serves as its original trustee and retains control while able to act. A successor trustee is named to take responsibility following incapacity or death.

Property held by the trust can then be managed and distributed under the trust’s instructions. The result may be more private and efficient than transferring the same property through probate.

Whether a trust is worthwhile depends on the assets involved, how they are owned, and the family’s priorities.

We Signed a Trust—But Did We Fund It?

A living trust cannot avoid probate for property it never owns or otherwise receives.

Funding may involve transferring a home into the trust through a recorded deed, assigning personal property, retitling brokerage accounts, or coordinating bank and investment accounts through payable-on-death or transfer-on-death instructions.

Retirement accounts, insurance policies, and other beneficiary-designated assets require particular attention. Naming a trust as beneficiary can have tax and distribution consequences, so the website advises consulting an appropriate tax professional before changing retirement-account beneficiaries.

A pour-over will can direct remaining probate property into a trust after death, but that property generally must pass through probate first. It is therefore a backup rather than a substitute for completing the trust-funding process.

Fahrner’s estate-planning materials devote substantial attention to funding—a step that is often overlooked after a trust has been signed.

What About My House?

A home is often both a family’s largest asset and the main reason someone considers a living trust.

A deed can transfer legal title from an individual homeowner to that same individual acting as trustee. The deed must then be recorded, and related property-tax and insurance matters should be addressed.

Because Fahrner practices both estate-planning and real-estate law, he can assist with the estate documents and the real-estate transfer needed to place a home in a trust.

That overlap may also be useful when a probate estate includes real property that must be sold, transferred, or evaluated for title concerns.

I Own a Small Business

A sole proprietorship, partnership interest, corporate stock, or limited-liability-company interest may be part of a family’s estate.

Depending on the ownership documents and circumstances, it may be possible to transfer that interest into a living trust or arrange for it to pass to the trust after death.

This requires more than merely listing the business in a trust document. Partnership agreements, corporate restrictions, operating agreements, tax issues, and other ownership rules may affect whether and how an interest can be transferred.

Fahrner’s website identifies business interests as assets that may be coordinated with living-trust planning, while recommending legal assistance with the transfer.

Who Will Handle My Finances If I Cannot?

A durable financial power of attorney names an agent who can handle authorized financial matters when assistance is needed.

Fahrner explains that many clients prefer a “springing” power of attorney, under which the agent’s authority begins after a medical determination that the client can no longer act independently.

Without an effective financial power of attorney, relatives may need to petition the Probate Court for appointment of a conservator. Planning beforehand allows the client—not the court—to select the person trusted with financial authority.

Who Will Make Medical Decisions for Me?

A living will or advance directive records wishes concerning future care, including circumstances in which a person may not want life-prolonging treatment.

A patient advocate designation names someone to make medical decisions when the patient cannot participate in those decisions. Fahrner explains that healthcare instructions and the appointment of a patient advocate are often combined in one document.

Without advance healthcare planning, relatives may have to seek a court-appointed guardian before someone has authority to make necessary decisions.

Preparing the documents early gives both the patient advocate and other family members clearer direction during a medical crisis.

I Am Remarrying and Want to Protect My Children’s Inheritance

Marriage can change inheritance rights, particularly when one or both spouses have children from earlier relationships.

Fahrner’s practice includes prenuptial agreements as well as estate planning. His website explains that a prenup may address what happens when a spouse dies and can help previously married people create a blended family without unintentionally disrupting their children’s anticipated inheritance rights.

The prenuptial agreement and estate plan should be coordinated. A promise made in one document may be undermined if a will, trust, deed, or beneficiary designation points toward a different result.

This intersection between family law and estate planning may be especially relevant to couples entering a second or later marriage.

Dad Died and I Have to Handle Probate

The first question after a death is whether particular property is probate or non-probate property.

Jointly owned assets may pass automatically to a surviving owner. Life insurance, retirement accounts, and other assets with effective beneficiary designations normally pass directly to those beneficiaries. Assets held in a properly funded trust may also avoid probate.

Other property may require an estate to be opened. If there is no will, Michigan intestacy law determines who inherits that probate property.

The personal representative may need to gather assets, address lawful debts and claims, prepare an inventory, pay the court’s inventory fee, publish notice to creditors, account for estate transactions, distribute the remaining property, and complete the steps required to close the estate.

Fahrner assists personal representatives with estate administration and navigating the Michigan probate process.

A Practical Ann Arbor Estate-Planning Practice

Fred Fahrner focuses his practice on estate planning, probate, family law, and real estate. As a third-generation local attorney, his family’s connection to the Ann Arbor legal community dates to 1910.

For estate-planning clients, his most relevant strengths are extensive experience preparing plans, detailed attention to living-trust funding, and the ability to coordinate planning with real-estate ownership and blended-family concerns.

His office is located on South Zeeb Road near Jackson Road and I-94. It offers free parking, accessibility for people with disabilities, and flexible scheduling that includes evening and weekend appointments.

Practice Areas

• Estate Planning

• Wills

• Living Trusts

• Trust Funding

• Probate Avoidance Planning

• Planning for Minor Children

• Personal Representative Appointments

• Successor Trustee Planning

• Durable Financial Powers of Attorney

• Living Wills

• Advance Directives

• Patient Advocate Designations

• Probate

• Estate Administration

• Prenuptial Agreements Affecting Inheritance Rights