Jason P. Wapiennik, Attorney & Counselor

Estate Planning Attorney in Livonia & Milford, Michigan

Jason P. Wapiennik is an estate planning attorney with offices in Livonia and Milford, serving families in Wayne and Oakland counties. His practice includes wills, revocable and irrevocable trusts, powers of attorney, healthcare planning, special-needs trusts, and estate planning for second marriages and blended families.

Wapiennik's work is focused on putting plans in place before a death or incapacity occurs. That can mean deciding who should manage property or make healthcare decisions if someone cannot act independently, determining how children should receive an inheritance, coordinating assets with a trust, or addressing the additional concerns that arise when spouses bring children or property from previous relationships into a marriage.

When Children Are Too Young to Manage an Inheritance

Parents with minor children face estate-planning questions that go beyond deciding who should inherit their property. They also need to consider who should care for their children and what should happen to an inheritance if the children are still too young to manage substantial assets themselves.

Wapiennik prepares estate plans that can provide for property to remain in trust for children rather than requiring an outright distribution at a young age. Parents can establish instructions for managing the inheritance and determine when or under what circumstances property should eventually become available to their children.

This type of planning can remain useful even after children reach adulthood. Some parents may be comfortable with an immediate inheritance, while others prefer to establish additional management or delay access to substantial assets until their children are older.

Estate Planning After a Second Marriage

A second marriage can create competing estate-planning priorities. Someone may want to provide financial security for a current spouse while also making sure children from an earlier relationship remain part of the eventual inheritance plan.

Wapiennik specifically handles estate planning for second marriages. Trust planning can provide a structure for addressing the interests of a surviving spouse and children rather than relying on a simple distribution arrangement that may not reflect the family's circumstances.

These decisions can become particularly important when each spouse enters the marriage with separate property, children, or existing estate-planning expectations. Establishing the intended arrangement in advance can provide clearer instructions about what should happen after either spouse dies.

Who Can Manage Your Finances or Healthcare If You Can't?

Estate planning also addresses situations that can arise while someone is alive. An accident, serious illness, or cognitive decline can leave an individual unable to manage financial affairs or make healthcare decisions independently.

Wapiennik prepares financial powers of attorney and healthcare planning documents, including patient advocate designations and medical directives. These arrangements allow clients to choose trusted individuals who can act for them under the circumstances established in their estate plan.

Making those decisions beforehand can be particularly important for spouses and adult children who might otherwise discover during a crisis that a close family relationship does not automatically provide all of the legal authority necessary to handle another adult's affairs.

Having a Trust Doesn't Automatically Mean Every Asset Avoids Probate

A revocable living trust can be an important part of a plan designed to transfer property outside probate, but creating and signing the trust is only part of the process. The ownership and disposition of the client's actual assets must also work with the plan.

Wapiennik's estate-planning work includes trust funding—the process of coordinating appropriate property with the trust after it has been established. Assets that remain outside the trust may be treated differently after death, depending on how they are owned and whether another method of transfer applies.

For families whose primary reason for establishing a living trust is probate avoidance, following through on the funding process can therefore be just as important as preparing the trust document itself.

When Retirement Accounts Make Up a Large Part of the Inheritance

For many families, retirement savings represent a substantial portion of the property that will eventually pass to the next generation. These assets can require different planning considerations from a home or an ordinary bank account because retirement accounts generally involve their own beneficiary arrangements.

Wapiennik's estate-planning services include retirement-plan trust planning involving assets such as 401(k), 403(b), and other qualified retirement accounts. This can be relevant when the intended beneficiary is a minor or when a client wants greater control over how inherited retirement assets are managed or distributed.

Considering these accounts as part of the larger estate plan helps coordinate beneficiary arrangements with the client's intentions for children and other heirs rather than treating retirement savings as entirely separate from the rest of the family's planning.

Providing for a Family Member With Special Needs

An outright inheritance may not be the appropriate arrangement for a beneficiary with a disability, particularly when the beneficiary relies on public assistance or needs continuing help managing financial resources.

Wapiennik prepares special-needs trusts as part of his estate-planning practice. These trusts can provide a structure for holding and managing property intended for a beneficiary with special needs while taking the beneficiary's broader circumstances into account.

For parents and other relatives, this planning provides a way to think beyond simply naming the individual as a beneficiary and instead consider how an inheritance should be managed over the longer term.

Choosing Between a Will and a Trust

Not every family requires the same estate-planning structure. A will can establish instructions for property subject to the document and address important decisions such as nominations involving minor children. A revocable living trust can provide a different structure for managing and transferring property and may be used when avoiding probate is among the client's objectives.

Wapiennik prepares both will-based and trust-based estate plans. His practice also includes testamentary trusts, which can be established through a will, as well as irrevocable trusts for circumstances requiring a different planning structure.

The appropriate arrangement depends on the client's property, beneficiaries, family circumstances, and objectives. The central question is not simply whether a will or trust is generally “better,” but which combination of documents and ownership arrangements addresses the problems the particular family needs to solve.

An Estate Planning-Focused Practice

Wapiennik has prepared more than 1,000 estate plans and maintains his estate-planning practice through Jason P. Wapiennik, PLC. He is licensed to practice in Michigan and Illinois.

His professional work also includes a separate customs-law practice through Great Lakes Customs Law. For individuals and families seeking estate planning, however, his Michigan practice provides a focused range of services involving wills, trusts, incapacity planning, minor beneficiaries, special-needs planning, and more complicated family arrangements such as second marriages.

Serving Wayne & Oakland Counties from Livonia and Milford

Jason P. Wapiennik maintains two Michigan offices. His Wayne County office is located on Five Mile Road in Livonia, while his Oakland County office is located on North Milford Road in Milford.

From these locations, his estate-planning practice serves clients in Wayne and Oakland counties who are preparing for the transfer of property, planning for possible incapacity, or addressing family circumstances that require more than a basic will.

Practice Areas

• Estate Planning

• Wills

• Revocable Living Trusts

• Testamentary Trusts

• Irrevocable Trusts

• Trust Funding

• Special Needs Trusts

• Second-Marriage Estate Planning

• Financial Powers of Attorney

• Healthcare Powers of Attorney

• Patient Advocate Designations

• Medical Directives

• Retirement Plan Trust Planning