Law Offices of Timothy P. MacDonald

Estate Planning & Estate Administration Attorney in Howell, Michigan

An estate plan has to reflect the life someone is living now. A will or other plan prepared years ago may have been appropriate when it was signed, but families change, finances change and the people someone once trusted to carry out important responsibilities may no longer be the right choices.

The Law Offices of Timothy P. MacDonald provides estate planning and estate and trust administration services from its Howell office. Attorney Timothy P. MacDonald has more than 25 years of legal experience and maintains a broad practice that also includes elder law, family law, bankruptcy and business matters.

That broader experience can be relevant when estate planning is affected by changes elsewhere in a person's life—from divorce and financial difficulties to the responsibility of providing for a family member with special needs.

An Older Estate Plan May Deserve Another Look

Creating an estate plan is not necessarily the end of the planning process.

A plan reflects decisions made at a particular time: who should receive property, who should be responsible for carrying out someone's wishes and how the person's affairs should be handled after death. Years later, those assumptions may have changed.

MacDonald reviews existing estate plans as well as helping clients create new ones.

A review can be worthwhile after significant changes in family relationships or finances. It can also help someone determine whether an older plan still expresses what that person actually wants.

The important question isn't simply whether estate-planning documents exist. It is whether the plan still fits the person and family it is intended to serve.

Providing for a Family Member With Special Needs

Leaving an inheritance can require additional planning when a beneficiary has a disability.

MacDonald's estate-planning practice includes Special Needs Trusts, which can be used when a family wants to provide resources for a person with special needs while taking that person's particular circumstances into account.

This issue often arises for parents who are looking beyond their own lifetimes. They may be providing substantial assistance to a son or daughter today and need to consider how that support can continue when they are no longer there to provide it personally.

It can also arise when grandparents or other relatives want to include a person with special needs in their estate plans.

Rather than treating that inheritance exactly like every other gift, a Special Needs Trust provides a structure specifically designed around the beneficiary's needs.

Divorce Can Change the Assumptions Behind an Estate Plan

A major change in family relationships can also be a reason to reconsider estate planning.

MacDonald's practice includes both estate planning and divorce, two areas that can intersect when a marriage ends. An estate plan created during a marriage may have been based on relationships and intentions that no longer exist after divorce.

That makes estate planning one of the issues worth revisiting as someone establishes a new financial and family life.

The same principle can apply to other major changes. Estate planning is ultimately based on an individual's circumstances, property and relationships. When those circumstances change substantially, an older plan may no longer represent the person's current priorities.

Financial Problems Can Affect the Bigger Planning Picture

MacDonald also practices bankruptcy law, giving his practice experience with families facing serious financial changes.

Debt problems can alter someone's financial position considerably. Property may change, businesses may struggle, family finances may be reorganized and assumptions made when an estate plan was created may no longer be accurate.

Estate planning after a significant financial change can therefore involve more than pulling an old will out of a drawer. It provides an opportunity to reconsider the person's current situation and whether the existing plan still makes sense.

MacDonald's combination of estate planning and other areas of law allows the planning conversation to take place with an awareness that people's financial and family circumstances do not always remain stable.

When a Business Is Part of the Family's Financial Life

For a business owner, personal and business affairs can be closely connected.

MacDonald handles business matters in addition to estate planning. That can be relevant when a client owns a company or has business interests that form part of the wealth ultimately addressed by an estate plan.

Changes affecting a business can also provide another reason to review existing planning. A business that has grown significantly, been sold or otherwise changed since an estate plan was prepared can leave the owner's financial circumstances very different from what they were when the original decisions were made.

Considering those changes as part of the broader estate-planning picture can help keep the plan aligned with the assets and responsibilities the client actually has.

When Someone Dies and You Have to Handle the Estate

Estate planning deals with what should happen in the future. Estate administration begins when that future arrives.

MacDonald's practice includes Estate Administration, providing assistance after someone has died and another person is responsible for dealing with the estate.

That responsibility can be difficult for someone who has never handled an estate before. Family members may be grieving while simultaneously trying to determine what needs to happen with the deceased person's property and affairs.

Even when someone left an estate plan, there is still work to be done after death. The plan must be carried out and the estate must be properly administered.

For the person given that responsibility, having legal guidance can make the process more manageable and provide direction about the steps involved in settling the estate.

A Trust Still Has to Be Administered

Trusts can continue to require attention after the person who created the trust dies.

MacDonald handles Trust Administration as part of his estate practice.

A family member or other individual serving as trustee may suddenly find that a role described in an estate-planning document has become an actual legal responsibility. The trustee must deal with the trust and carry out the responsibilities associated with its administration.

That can be unfamiliar territory, particularly for someone chosen because of a close family relationship rather than previous experience administering trusts.

Legal assistance can help the trustee work through the administration and understand the responsibilities that accompany the role.

Planning for the Concerns That Come With Aging

MacDonald's practice also includes elder law.

Estate planning can take on increasing importance as people get older because questions about property, family responsibilities and future decision-making become less theoretical. Older adults may be reviewing plans created many years earlier or trying to put their affairs in order after postponing the process.

Adult children may also begin encouraging parents to review existing plans while those parents can still make their own decisions about what they want.

For families, having those conversations earlier can be easier than discovering after a major change that important planning was never completed or that an old plan no longer reflects the family's circumstances.

Estate Planning Through Different Stages of Life

The Law Offices of Timothy P. MacDonald serves clients from its office on North Michigan Avenue in Howell.

MacDonald's estate practice encompasses both sides of the process: helping people plan during life and helping families administer estates and trusts after death. His work with Special Needs Trusts also provides a planning option for families concerned about the long-term needs of a beneficiary with a disability.

Estate planning does not occur separately from everything else happening in someone's life. Marriages end. Finances change. Businesses evolve. Family members develop different needs. People grow older, and eventually someone has to carry out the plans that were made.

Reviewing those plans as circumstances change can help keep them connected to the family and financial situation they were created to address.

Practice Areas

• Estate Planning

• Estate Plan Reviews

• Wills

• Special Needs Trusts

• Estate Administration

• Trust Administration

• Elder Law