Harp Law

Estate Planning for Families, Entrepreneurs & Business Owners in Detroit

An estate plan may need to answer very different questions depending on the family. Parents of young children may be most concerned about who could care for them in an emergency. A business owner may need a plan for what happens to the company after death or incapacity. Someone with substantial online accounts or cryptocurrency may have property that did not even exist when traditional estate planning developed.

Harp Law is a Detroit business and estate planning firm founded by attorney Hadi A. Harp. Its estate services include wills, revocable living trusts, powers of attorney, patient advocate designations, planning for minor children, probate avoidance, and strategies for transferring property to beneficiaries. The firm's parallel business practice also allows Harp to address succession concerns for entrepreneurs and business owners.

Rather than practicing across unrelated areas of law, Harp Law concentrates on business and estate planning.

Making a Plan for Minor Children

For parents, estate planning can involve much more than deciding who receives financial assets.

Harp Law helps parents designate the people they would want to care for minor children if the parents die. Estate planning can separately establish how property left for those children should be managed rather than allowing an inheritance to pass without the oversight the parents intended.

The firm's planning goes beyond what happens after both parents die. Harp's estate planning packages can include an Authorization for Care of Children addressing circumstances in which someone needs authority to care for a child while a parent is unavailable.

The firm also provides a Family Emergency Contact Plan designed to give babysitters, grandparents, friends, and other caregivers important information about children and whom to contact during an emergency.

Together, these arrangements allow parents to consider both long-term guardianship and the more immediate problem of who could step in when they unexpectedly cannot be there.

Deciding Whether a Will or Living Trust Fits the Family

Harp Law offers both will-based and trust-based estate plans, reflecting the fact that families do not necessarily need identical documents.

A will can provide instructions for distributing probate property and address important issues such as guardians for children. A revocable living trust can provide a different structure for owning and ultimately transferring assets.

Harp's trust planning includes a revocable living trust, pour-over will, certification of trust, and instructions for funding the trust. When appropriate, the process can also include a deed transferring a residence into the trust.

That last step is significant. Creating a trust does not by itself change ownership of every asset. Property intended to be controlled by the trust must be coordinated with it.

For clients considering whether a trust makes sense, Harp Law evaluates the family's property and goals rather than treating a will and trust as interchangeable documents.

Keeping Appropriate Property Out of Probate

Probate avoidance is one of the issues Harp addresses in estate planning.

A revocable living trust can allow properly transferred trust property to be administered outside probate after death. But a trust is not the only way property can pass without probate.

Harp's Michigan estate planning materials also discuss joint ownership and payable-on-death or transfer-on-death beneficiary arrangements. Different assets can therefore have different methods of transfer.

This makes estate planning partly an exercise in understanding how property is actually owned. A will may govern some assets while a trust, beneficiary designation, or form of joint ownership controls others.

Reviewing those arrangements in advance can help families understand what is expected to happen to major assets instead of discovering the answer only after a death.

Controlling How an Inheritance Reaches Children or Other Beneficiaries

Sometimes the concern is not who should inherit, but how and when the inheritance should be received.

Harp Law uses trust planning to establish continuing management of property for beneficiaries when an immediate outright distribution is not what the person creating the estate plan wants.

That can be particularly useful for parents who do not want a child receiving unrestricted control over a significant inheritance at a young age. Trust provisions can instead establish how property should be managed and when distributions should occur.

Harp also discusses planning intended to provide a degree of protection for inherited assets from potential creditor problems involving a beneficiary.

The firm addresses special-needs planning as well, including circumstances in which leaving assets directly to a family member with disabilities could interfere with eligibility for government benefits. The objective in these situations is not simply transferring property, but structuring the inheritance around the beneficiary's circumstances.

When an Accident or Illness Leaves You Unable to Make Decisions

Estate planning also determines who can act while someone is still alive.

Harp Law's plans can include a Durable Financial Power of Attorney, Patient Advocate Designation, and HIPAA Medical Information Release. The firm also offers a power-of-attorney plan for clients whose immediate priority is establishing lifetime decision-making authority.

These documents address different responsibilities. Financial authority may be needed to manage accounts, bills, property, or other affairs, while a patient advocate designation concerns healthcare decisions when the individual cannot make them personally.

Harp specifically discusses situations involving accidents, coma, permanent disability, and long-term care as examples of circumstances in which advance planning may become important.

Selecting decision-makers beforehand can give family members clearer authority during a crisis instead of forcing them to determine what can be done only after incapacity has occurred.

What Happens to Cryptocurrency, Online Accounts & Other Digital Property?

A modern estate may contain valuable or personally important property that exists almost entirely online.

Harp Law specifically incorporates digital assets into its estate planning discussions. Examples identified by the firm include cryptocurrency wallets, social media accounts, cloud storage, digital photographs and videos, and online accounts that may themselves generate income.

These assets can create practical problems after incapacity or death. Family members may know that something exists without knowing how it can be accessed or who has authority to manage it.

For entrepreneurs and creators, digital property may also have continuing financial value. A monetized YouTube or social media account, for example, can be more than a collection of personal memories.

Considering digital assets as part of the broader estate allows clients to think about property that might otherwise be overlooked when planning focuses only on houses, bank accounts, and traditional investments.

When Your Business Is Part of Your Estate

Harp Law's dual focus on estate and business planning is particularly relevant for entrepreneurs and closely held business owners.

A business can represent a significant portion of an owner's wealth while also creating responsibilities that continue beyond the owner's personal involvement. Death, disability, or retirement can therefore raise questions about both ownership and continued operation.

Harp's estate planning services address transferring a business upon retirement, disability, or death. His broader business practice includes work with entrepreneurs, startups, and creatives, giving the firm experience with the underlying business issues as well as the owner's personal estate plan.

For an entrepreneur, succession planning can therefore address what happens to the business interest alongside the home, investments, digital property, and other assets that make up the estate.

A Focused Business and Estate Planning Practice

Hadi A. Harp earned his law degree from UCLA School of Law and studied Public Policy and Economics at the University of Michigan's Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. He was admitted to practice in California in 2012 and Michigan in 2016.

Harp Law intentionally concentrates its work on business and estate planning rather than maintaining a broad general practice.

That combination gives the firm's estate work a particular relevance for business owners, entrepreneurs, and creatives while still covering the planning concerns of individuals and families through wills, trusts, incapacity documents, planning for children, and non-probate transfers.

Serving Families Across Metro Detroit

Harp Law's Detroit office is located at 1001 Woodward Avenue, Suite 500, near Campus Martius. The firm provides estate planning services in Detroit, Dearborn, Royal Oak, and throughout Southeast Michigan.

Practice Areas

• Estate Planning

• Wills

• Revocable Living Trusts

• Pour-Over Wills

• Trust Funding

• Powers of Attorney

• Durable Financial Powers of Attorney

• Patient Advocate Designations

• HIPAA Medical Information Releases

• Planning for Minor Children

• Special-Needs Planning

• Probate Avoidance

• Digital Asset Planning

• Business Succession Planning