Law Offices of Gerkin & Decker

Estate Planning & Probate Attorneys in Brighton, Michigan

Estate planning can involve much more than deciding who receives property after death. Families may need to plan for minor children, protect an inheritance for a person with disabilities, decide who can act during a medical crisis, or make sure a trust actually owns the property it was created to manage.

Gerkin & Decker, P.C. assists clients with these issues from its Brighton office. Attorney Andrew S. Gerkin focuses a significant part of his practice on estate planning, probate and trust administration, along with business and real estate matters. The firm also handles contested probate and trust matters when disagreements arise among family members, beneficiaries or fiduciaries.

Protecting Children Instead of Simply Leaving Them an Inheritance

Parents with young children face two separate estate-planning questions: who should care for the children if both parents die, and who should manage the property the children inherit?

Gerkin & Decker assists parents with wills that can nominate guardians for minor children. This allows parents to document whom they believe should assume that responsibility rather than leaving their preferences unknown if a court ever has to make the decision.

There is also a financial issue. Leaving assets outright to a minor does not provide a long-term structure for managing the inheritance. The firm uses trusts to establish how property should be managed for children and when they should ultimately receive control of it.

That can be important for parents who are uncomfortable with the idea of a child receiving a substantial inheritance outright at age 18. A trust can instead establish instructions for managing and distributing the assets over time.

A Trust Doesn't Accomplish Much If Nothing Is Put Into It

Creating a revocable living trust is only part of trust-based estate planning. The next question is whether the appropriate property has actually been transferred into the trust.

Gerkin & Decker specifically addresses trust funding as part of its estate-planning practice. Depending on the property involved, funding can require changing ownership or beneficiary arrangements for real estate, financial accounts and other assets.

This is an important practical distinction. A family may believe that probate has been avoided because a trust document exists, only to discover after a death that important assets were never transferred into the trust.

Property remaining outside the trust may still have to pass through probate.

The firm assists clients not only with creating trusts but also with the work necessary to fund them, including real-estate transfers when appropriate.

Adding a Child to Your Property Can Create Problems You Didn't Expect

Families sometimes look for seemingly simple ways to transfer property outside probate. One approach is adding an adult child or another person as a joint owner.

Gerkin & Decker cautions that this strategy can create consequences that go well beyond probate avoidance.

Giving another person an ownership interest can affect the original owner's control of the property. The new co-owner's financial problems or creditors can potentially become relevant. Tax consequences may also differ from what the family expected, and disagreements can develop among siblings when one child has been placed on an asset and others have not.

These situations illustrate why the method used to transfer property can matter just as much as the ultimate goal. The firm can consider wills, trusts and other estate-planning arrangements rather than relying on an informal ownership change that may produce unintended consequences.

Planning for a Family Member With Disabilities

Leaving an inheritance to a beneficiary with disabilities requires additional consideration when that person receives needs-based government benefits.

Gerkin & Decker prepares special and supplemental needs trusts. These trusts can be structured to provide resources for a beneficiary without simply transferring an inheritance outright in a manner that could interfere with eligibility for certain government programs.

This can become particularly important for parents who have spent years helping an adult child with disabilities and are concerned about who will provide support after the parents are gone.

The objective is not merely to identify the beneficiary in a will. The estate plan needs to consider how the inheritance will be held, who will manage it and how distributions will interact with the beneficiary's circumstances.

Who Can Step In During an Illness or Incapacity?

A complete estate plan also addresses events that occur during life.

An accident, serious illness or declining capacity can leave someone unable to handle financial or healthcare decisions. Without advance planning, relatives can find themselves trying to help while lacking the legal authority necessary to act.

Gerkin & Decker prepares durable financial powers of attorney as well as medical powers of attorney and patient advocate designations. These documents allow clients to choose people they trust to handle specified decisions if assistance becomes necessary.

Planning ahead can also reduce the likelihood that a family will later need court involvement simply to establish who has authority to make decisions.

The firm's probate practice includes guardianship and conservatorship matters when court-appointed authority does become necessary.

When You're Named Personal Representative of an Estate

After a death, the person responsible for an estate may suddenly face a series of unfamiliar legal and financial obligations.

Gerkin & Decker assists with probate and estate administration. 

Depending on the estate, the work can include filing the will with the probate court, obtaining appointment of the personal representative, locating and inventorying property, arranging appraisals, providing required notices, addressing creditor claims, handling debts and taxes, and ultimately distributing assets to beneficiaries.

Even an uncontested estate can require considerable work.

A personal representative may be handling bank accounts, real estate and personal property while simultaneously communicating with beneficiaries and dealing with probate requirements. These responsibilities often begin while the person is still grieving the relative or friend whose estate they have been asked to administer.

Legal assistance can help the personal representative understand both the process and the responsibilities that accompany the position.

Administering a Trust After Someone Dies

A trust may avoid probate for property properly held by the trust, but that does not mean nothing needs to happen after the person who created it dies.

A successor trustee assumes responsibility for administering the trust according to its terms. Gerkin & Decker represents trustees in trust administration as well as clients involved in probate estates.

Trust administration can involve identifying trust property, handling financial obligations, communicating with beneficiaries and making distributions in accordance with the trust.

For someone serving as trustee for the first time, the distinction between owning property personally and controlling it as a fiduciary can be significant. The trustee is managing property under legal obligations established by the trust rather than simply deciding what seems fair among family members.

When Beneficiaries and Fiduciaries Disagree

Not every estate or trust administration proceeds without conflict.

Questions may arise about whether a will or trust is valid, whether the person administering an estate or trust is fulfilling required duties, or whether beneficiaries are receiving what they are entitled to receive.

Gerkin & Decker handles contested probate and trust matters, including will and trust contests and disputes involving fiduciaries and beneficiaries.

These conflicts can combine legal questions with longstanding family tensions. A disagreement about property after a parent's death, for example, may involve not only what a document provides but allegations about how it was created or how someone with control over the assets is behaving.

Because the firm handles civil litigation in addition to estate planning and administration, its probate practice extends beyond preparing documents and guiding uncontested estates when a dispute requires litigation.

Estate Planning for Business Owners

For a business owner, an estate plan may also need to address what happens to the company.

Gerkin & Decker provides business succession planning, an area that overlaps with Andrew Gerkin's broader business-law practice.

The death or incapacity of an owner can affect far more than that person's immediate family. Other owners, employees and customers may depend on the business continuing to operate. Family members may inherit an ownership interest without necessarily being prepared or interested in running the company.

Succession planning can address how an owner's interest fits into the larger estate plan and what should happen when the owner can no longer participate in the business.

Estate and Probate Representation in Livingston County

Gerkin & Decker was founded in 2011 by attorneys Andrew S. Gerkin and Ryan E. Decker. The firm maintains its Brighton office on Grand River and also has an office in Flint.

For estate matters, Andrew Gerkin is the attorney whose practice is particularly focused on estate planning, probate and trust administration. His related work in business and real estate can also be relevant when an estate includes a closely held company or real property.

The firm identifies Brighton, Howell, Hartland, Fowlerville and Fenton among the communities it serves for estate-planning and probate matters.

Practice Areas

• Estate Planning

• Wills

• Revocable Living Trusts

• Irrevocable Trusts

• Special Needs Trusts

• Supplemental Needs Trusts

• Trust Funding

• Durable Financial Powers of Attorney

• Medical Powers of Attorney

• Patient Advocate Designations

• Probate Administration

• Estate Administration

• Trust Administration

• Probate Litigation

• Will and Trust Contests

• Fiduciary and Beneficiary Disputes

• Guardianships

• Conservatorships

• Business Succession Planning