Kwang Estate Law

Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Attorney in Livonia, Michigan

Kwang Estate Law is a Livonia practice focused on estate planning, trust administration, probate, guardianships and conservatorships, and elder law. Attorney Alisa Kwang has practiced in Michigan since 1996 and works with individuals, couples, and families on planning for the transfer of property, possible incapacity, and the responsibilities that arise after a death.

The firm's estate-planning services include wills, revocable living trusts, financial and medical powers of attorney, HIPAA authorizations, trust funding, and other arrangements tailored to a client's family and financial circumstances. Kwang also handles more specialized matters, including irrevocable life insurance trusts and estate-tax return preparation.

When a Parent Can No Longer Manage Their Affairs

A parent's declining health or capacity can leave adult children facing an immediate problem: bills still need to be paid, property needs to be managed, and important personal decisions may need to be made even though the parent can no longer handle those matters independently.

Planning beforehand can provide a clearer solution. Kwang prepares durable financial powers of attorney that allow clients to designate someone to handle financial matters if incapacity occurs, along with medical powers of attorney for healthcare decisions.

When adequate arrangements are not already in place, families may instead need court involvement. Kwang represents clients in guardianship and conservatorship proceedings when legal authority is needed to make decisions or manage the affairs of someone who can no longer do so independently.

When Family Members Need Information During a Medical Crisis

A medical emergency can create another problem families may not anticipate. Even when relatives are closely involved in someone's care, healthcare privacy rules can affect what information providers are permitted to share.

Kwang incorporates HIPAA authorizations into estate planning when appropriate, allowing clients to identify people who should be permitted to obtain protected healthcare information. These documents serve a different purpose from a medical power of attorney, which addresses authority to make healthcare decisions.

Considering both issues in advance can help answer two separate questions before an emergency occurs: who should make medical decisions if the patient cannot, and who should be able to receive information about the patient's condition?

We Created a Living Trust—But Were the Assets Ever Put Into It?

Signing a revocable living trust does not necessarily complete the planning process. Families sometimes have trust documents that were prepared years earlier but are uncertain whether ownership of their property was ever properly coordinated with the trust.

Kwang's estate-planning services include trust funding as well as preparation of the trust itself. Funding involves addressing the assets that should be connected to the trust so that the planning structure can operate as intended.

This can also become an issue as years pass. New property may be acquired, accounts may change, or a family's financial circumstances may look substantially different from when the trust was originally created. Reviewing both the documents and the assets can identify situations in which an older estate plan no longer matches the property the family actually owns.

Who Will Make the Funeral Decisions?

Some estate-planning decisions do not involve inheritance at all. After a death, relatives may disagree about funeral arrangements, burial or cremation, or other decisions concerning the disposition of remains.

Kwang prepares Funeral Representative Authorizations, which allow clients to designate the person they want to have authority over funeral and disposition decisions.

Making that choice beforehand can be particularly important when family relationships are complicated or when a client has specific wishes about who should be responsible. Instead of leaving relatives to determine among themselves who should take control during an emotional period, the client can address that responsibility as part of the broader estate plan.

When Marriage, Divorce, or Family Circumstances Change

An estate plan created for one stage of life may no longer accomplish the same objectives years later. Family relationships change, assets change, and existing legal agreements may affect what can or should be done with property.

Kwang reviews and updates existing estate plans as circumstances change. Her planning process can also take existing documents such as prenuptial agreements, divorce settlement agreements, deeds, beneficiary arrangements, and business buy-sell agreements into consideration.

This broader review can be important because a will or trust does not exist independently of the client's other legal and financial arrangements. Changes elsewhere in a person's life may create reasons to revisit documents that otherwise appear complete.

When You Become Responsible for a Trust or Probate Estate

After a death, estate planning turns into administration. Someone may suddenly become responsible for carrying out a trust, while another family may need to open a probate estate and complete the legal process required to transfer property.

Kwang handles both trust administration and probate administration. Trustees may need assistance understanding their responsibilities and implementing the instructions contained in a trust, while personal representatives may need guidance through Michigan probate procedures.

For families, the distinction often depends on how the deceased person's assets were arranged. Some property may be administered through a trust while other assets may require probate. Either way, the person accepting responsibility must move from simply possessing the estate documents to actually carrying out the plan.

When Life Insurance and Estate Taxes Require Additional Planning

Some estates require planning beyond a conventional will and revocable living trust. Kwang prepares irrevocable life insurance trusts (ILITs) for appropriate circumstances and handles estate-tax return preparation, including federal Form 706.

Life insurance can present its own estate-planning considerations because the policy's ownership and beneficiary arrangements affect how the proceeds ultimately pass. For families with potential estate-tax concerns, those arrangements may need to be evaluated as part of the larger plan.

These strategies are not necessary for every estate. Their inclusion in Kwang's practice, however, provides additional planning options when a family's assets and potential tax exposure require more than a basic estate plan.

Estate Planning Before a Family Faces a Crisis

Kwang's estate practice addresses both what happens after death and the problems that can develop beforehand. A complete plan may need to identify who should manage finances during incapacity, who should make healthcare decisions, who should have access to medical information, how property should pass, and who should carry out particular responsibilities after death.

Alisa Kwang has practiced in Michigan since 1996 and concentrates her work in estate planning, probate, trust administration, guardianships and conservatorships, and elder law.

By addressing these issues before they become urgent, individuals and families can establish their own instructions for circumstances that might otherwise leave relatives trying to determine what should happen during a medical, financial, or family crisis.

Serving Livonia, Metro Detroit & Michigan Families

Kwang Estate Law is located on Six Mile Road in Livonia. From her Livonia office, Alisa Kwang provides estate-planning and related legal services to individuals, couples, and families throughout Metro Detroit and elsewhere in Michigan.

Her practice spans different stages of the planning process, from creating and updating wills and trusts to addressing incapacity, administering trusts and probate estates after death, and handling guardianship or conservatorship proceedings when a family member needs legal protection.

Practice Areas

• Estate Planning

• Elder Law

• Wills

• Revocable Living Trusts

• Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts

• Trust Funding

• Trust Administration

• Durable Financial Powers of Attorney

• Medical Powers of Attorney

• HIPAA Authorizations

• Funeral Representative Authorizations

• Probate Administration

• Guardianships

• Conservatorships

• Estate Plan Reviews and Updates

• Estate Tax Return Preparation

• Prenuptial Agreements