Kline Legal Group

Estate Planning Attorneys in Ann Arbor, Michigan

Kline Legal Group, P.L.C. assists individuals and families with estate planning, probate administration and disputes involving estates. Its planning services include wills, trusts, financial powers of attorney, healthcare powers of attorney and guardianship matters. The attorneys also help administer estates after death and represent parties in probate litigation.

The firm’s estate work is part of a broader civil practice. Attorneys John K. Kline and Lillian K. Saba also handle matters involving family law, personal injury, wrongful death, real estate and mediation. John Kline’s listed practice areas include probate litigation in addition to his work as a trial attorney and certified mediator.

Kline Legal Group is located at 483 Little Lake Drive, Suite 200, in Ann Arbor. Its estate-planning services are available to people throughout Washtenaw County and surrounding Michigan counties. The probate practice similarly serves Washtenaw County and neighboring counties.

You Have a Family and Property but No Will

Estate planning is not limited to families with substantial wealth. A person may own a home, maintain bank or retirement accounts, have personal belongings and want particular people to receive that property. Without a will or another appropriate planning arrangement, Michigan law determines how property subject to intestate succession will be distributed.

Kline Legal Group prepares wills based on the client’s family relationships, property and wishes. A will can identify beneficiaries and name the person who will be responsible for administering the estate. For parents, the planning conversation may also involve concerns about who would care for their children if neither parent were able to do so.

The firm prepares estate plans ranging from basic arrangements to plans involving trusts and additional strategies. The appropriate documents depend on what the person owns, whom the plan needs to protect and how the property should ultimately be transferred.

Someone May Need to Make Decisions if You Become Incapacitated

An estate plan can address problems that arise during life as well as the transfer of property after death. An accident, illness or cognitive decline may leave someone temporarily or permanently unable to manage finances or communicate healthcare decisions.

Kline Legal Group prepares durable powers of attorney for financial affairs. These documents allow a chosen person to handle authorized financial matters when assistance becomes necessary. Depending on the circumstances, that responsibility could include paying household expenses, managing accounts or addressing property-related matters.

The firm also prepares powers of attorney for healthcare decisions. This gives an individual the opportunity to select someone to make medical decisions if the individual can no longer make or communicate those choices personally. 

Addressing these questions beforehand can reduce uncertainty for a spouse or adult child confronting a medical emergency.

Guardianship is also included among the firm’s estate-related services. Guardianship questions may arise when a person cannot adequately manage personal decisions and no sufficient advance arrangement is in place.

Your Family Is Deciding Whether a Trust Is Necessary

Not every family requires the same type of estate plan. For some people, a will accompanied by financial and healthcare powers of attorney may address their principal concerns. Other clients may have circumstances in which a living trust or another planning strategy is appropriate.

Kline Legal Group prepares trusts when they suit the client’s goals. A trust may be considered by someone who wants to avoid probate for certain property, provide a structured method of transferring assets or address tax and other planning concerns. The decision should account for the property involved and what the family needs the arrangement to accomplish.

The firm develops both straightforward and more complex estate plans. Its planning process is intended to match the documents to the individual rather than automatically placing every client into the same type of plan.

Your Estate Plan No Longer Reflects Your Life

A plan created years ago may not continue to reflect a person’s family, property or preferences. Children grow older, relationships change and people buy or sell homes. The individuals originally selected to manage financial affairs, make healthcare decisions or administer the estate may no longer be appropriate choices.

Kline Legal Group reviews existing estate plans, particularly plans that have not been examined for five years or more. The review can determine whether the documents still express the client’s intentions and whether changes are warranted.

A review may be especially useful following a marriage, divorce, death in the family, significant property transaction or other major life change. It can also provide an opportunity to reconsider whether the current beneficiaries and decision-makers remain the people the client would choose today.

You Have Been Named to Handle a Parent’s Estate

Being named as a personal representative or executor can create unfamiliar responsibilities at an already difficult time. Probate and estate administration may require the representative to identify and assemble the deceased person’s assets, address outstanding obligations and distribute the remaining property according to a will or Michigan intestacy law.

Kline Legal Group guides personal representatives through the probate process. Even a relatively modest estate may involve deadlines, notices, property questions and responsibilities that the representative has never encountered before.

Errors or unresolved disagreements can delay administration and consume estate resources. The firm works with representatives to complete the required steps while trying to prevent disputes that could develop into litigation.

Family Members Disagree About a Will or Estate

The death of a family member can expose disagreements about the validity of a will, the deceased person’s capacity or the conduct of the person administering the estate. These disputes may become particularly difficult when relatives already have strained relationships or hold conflicting understandings of what the deceased person intended.

Kline Legal Group handles contested probate and estate matters. It represents personal representatives as well as parties seeking to challenge a will. The identified grounds for estate litigation include fraud, mistakes, undue influence, lack of testamentary capacity and failure to comply with Michigan law.

A dispute may involve an allegation that someone pressured a vulnerable parent into changing a will, that the person signing the document did not understand its effect or that required legal formalities were not followed. Other conflicts can concern how the personal representative is handling the estate.

Because John Kline’s practice includes litigation and mediation, the firm can address estate disputes through court proceedings while also considering whether a negotiated process offers a workable way to resolve the conflict.

Estate Planning and Probate Services in Washtenaw County

Kline Legal Group’s Ann Arbor office serves estate-planning clients in Washtenaw County and surrounding Michigan counties. This regional practice can assist families at different points in the estate process—from preparing their first will and powers of attorney to administering an estate or addressing a contested inheritance.

Practice Areas

• Estate Planning

• Wills

• Trusts

• Financial Powers of Attorney

• Healthcare Powers of Attorney

• Guardianship

• Estate-Plan Reviews

• Probate and Estate Administration

• Probate and Estate Litigation

• Will Contests

• Family Law and Divorce

• Prenuptial Agreements

• Mediation

• Personal Injury and Wrongful Death

• Real Estate and Construction Litigation