Law Office of Matt Michaels

Estate Planning & Probate Attorney in Brighton, Michigan

Estate planning does not have to begin with a complicated trust or a large estate. For many families, the immediate concerns are much more practical: Who receives my property? Who can handle my finances if I become incapacitated? Who can make medical decisions for me? And what will my family have to deal with after I die?

Attorney Matt Michaels helps Brighton-area clients answer those questions through estate planning, wills, trusts, powers of attorney, probate and trust administration. His approach recognizes that different families require different levels of planning. Some may be well served by a relatively straightforward will and incapacity documents, while others have family circumstances, assets or long-term goals that make trust planning appropriate.

Michaels also assists families after a death, including with probate of decedent estates and trust administration.

Do You Actually Need a Trust?

Trusts can be valuable estate-planning tools, but Matt Michaels does not present them as something every client automatically needs.

For someone with relatively straightforward circumstances, an estate plan may consist primarily of a will together with documents addressing healthcare and financial decision-making. Other families may benefit from a trust because of the property they own, the needs of their beneficiaries or what they want the estate plan to accomplish.

This distinction can be important for people who have heard that they must create a living trust simply to avoid probate. Michaels encourages clients to consider their individual family and financial circumstances rather than treating one estate-planning strategy as appropriate for everyone.

The objective is not simply to accumulate legal documents. It is to determine what those documents need to accomplish for the particular person or family.

A Will Doesn't Help If You Need Someone to Act While You're Alive

A will generally addresses what happens after death. It does not solve the separate problem of who can act for someone who is still alive but unable to make or communicate decisions.

A serious accident, illness or declining capacity can make this part of estate planning immediately important.

Michaels prepares financial powers of attorney that can establish authority for someone to handle financial matters when necessary. Healthcare planning can likewise identify the person a client wants involved in medical decision-making if the client cannot make those decisions independently.

Without appropriate advance planning, a family confronting an incapacity may find that the authority they assumed they had is not actually in place. Addressing these questions beforehand can provide clearer direction about who should act and what responsibilities that person has.

Signing a Trust Is Only Part of the Job

One of the more easily overlooked problems in trust planning occurs after the documents have been signed.

A trust can exist on paper without actually owning the property it was intended to control. Michaels specifically addresses the importance of funding a trust—properly transferring or connecting assets to the trust after it has been created.

That may involve a home, financial accounts or other property. If ownership is never changed as required, a family can discover after a death that assets expected to pass through the trust were never actually placed in it.

The result may be very different from what the person who created the trust expected, including the possibility that property will still have to pass through probate.

For someone who already has a trust, reviewing whether it was properly funded can therefore be just as important as reviewing the language of the document itself.

Trust Planning for Beneficiaries with Different Needs

Some families need more than a basic revocable living trust.

Michaels's estate-planning practice includes several types of trusts that can address more specialized circumstances, including special needs, spendthrift, educational, charitable, revocable and irrevocable trusts.

A family may have a beneficiary with disabilities whose inheritance requires additional planning. Another beneficiary may not be prepared to responsibly manage an inheritance received outright. Parents or grandparents may want assets managed for education rather than distributed without restrictions.

Other clients may have charitable objectives or circumstances that call for a different trust structure.

The appropriate strategy depends on the beneficiary, the property involved and what the person creating the estate plan is trying to accomplish.

Planning for What Happens to a Business

For a business owner, personal estate planning can raise another difficult question: What happens to the company if the owner dies, becomes incapacitated or eventually wants to step away?

Michaels's practice includes business succession planning.

A closely held business can represent both a major financial asset and a source of income for the owner's family. Its future may also affect partners, employees or relatives involved in the company.

Addressing succession as part of the larger planning process can help a business owner consider the future of the company alongside the disposition of other personal assets rather than leaving those decisions disconnected from the estate plan.

When a Family Has to Open a Probate Estate

After a death, survivors may discover that probate is necessary to administer property left behind.

Michaels handles probate of decedent estates, providing legal assistance with the process of settling an estate after someone dies. For family members who have never dealt with probate, even understanding where to begin can be difficult.

The person responsible for an estate may be handling legal and administrative obligations while simultaneously grieving the death of a relative. Questions can arise about court filings, property, debts and the steps required before assets can ultimately be distributed.

Legal assistance can help the person administering the estate understand what responsibilities must be completed and how the Michigan probate process applies to the particular estate.

Administering a Trust After Someone Dies

A family may have a different set of responsibilities when assets are held in a trust.

Michaels also handles decedent-estate trust administration. The trustee may need to determine what property the trust owns, understand the instructions contained in the trust and carry out the responsibilities created by those documents.

This is another reason proper trust funding during the estate-planning process matters. After a death, the family needs to determine which assets are actually controlled by the trust and which may require some other form of administration.

For a newly appointed trustee, having the document does not necessarily make the responsibilities obvious. Legal guidance can help the trustee understand the administration process and the terms that govern the trust.

Probate Help Without Necessarily Hiring an Attorney for Everything

Not every person handling a probate matter needs—or wants—an attorney to take responsibility for the entire proceeding.

One distinctive feature of Michaels's practice is the availability of limited-scope, or unbundled, legal services in probate matters.

Under this approach, an attorney can be retained for a defined portion of a matter while the client remains responsible for other tasks. Depending on the circumstances, that might mean obtaining legal advice, receiving assistance preparing particular documents or having an attorney handle a specific part of the proceeding.

For someone comfortable managing portions of a probate case independently but needing professional assistance with a particular legal issue, limited-scope representation can provide an alternative to traditional full representation.

It also gives families another option when the scope or cost of legal representation is an important consideration.

An Estate and Probate Practice in Downtown Brighton

The Law Office of Matt Michaels is located in downtown Brighton. Michaels's estate practice covers planning before death as well as the legal work families may encounter afterward.

For some clients, that means putting a basic estate plan in place and establishing who can act during an incapacity. For others, it involves deciding whether a trust makes sense, making sure an existing trust is actually funded, planning for a beneficiary with particular needs or preparing for the succession of a family business.

After a death, Michaels assists with probate estates and trust administration, including offering limited-scope probate services for clients who need help with only part of the process.

Practice Areas

• Estate Planning

• Wills

• Trusts

• Revocable Trusts

• Irrevocable Trusts

• Special Needs Trusts

• Spendthrift Trusts

• Educational Trusts

• Charitable Trusts

• Trust Funding

• Financial Powers of Attorney

• Healthcare Planning

• Probate of Decedent Estates

• Trust Administration

• Limited-Scope Probate Representation

• Business Succession Planning