Matt Devitt Law

Estate Planning, Special Needs & Probate Attorney in Livonia, Michigan

Matt Devitt Law, PLC is a Livonia law firm handling estate planning, probate and trust administration, special-needs planning, business law, and real estate matters. Attorney Matthew D. Devitt works with families planning for the transfer and management of property as well as trustees and personal representatives responsible for carrying out those plans after a death.

The firm's combination of estate, business, and real-estate work is particularly relevant when a family's most important assets include a closely held company, a home, or a Michigan vacation property. Devitt also has a substantial special-needs planning practice addressing the longer-term concerns of families caring for a child or other beneficiary with disabilities.

When the Family Cottage Passes to the Kids

A cottage can carry decades of family memories, but leaving it equally to several children can create practical problems the parents never had to confront. Siblings may disagree about when each family can use the property, how repairs and taxes should be divided, whether improvements should be made, or what happens when one sibling eventually wants out.

Devitt handles Family Cottage Trusts and succession planning designed to address these questions before ownership passes to the next generation.

Planning can establish rules for the property's future ownership and management rather than leaving the children to develop an arrangement after the parents are gone. For a family hoping to preserve a Michigan cottage for future generations, those practical questions can be as important as deciding who ultimately inherits it.

Who Will Care for a Child With Special Needs After the Parents Are Gone?

Parents caring for a child with disabilities often have an estate-planning concern that extends far beyond leaving an inheritance. They may need to consider who will manage financial resources, who understands their child's daily needs, whether guardianship or conservatorship may eventually be appropriate, and how the child will be supported when the parents are no longer there.

Special-needs planning is a significant part of Devitt's estate practice. His work includes special-needs trusts, selection of trustees and trust protectors, MIABLE accounts, trust funding, government-benefit considerations, and future guardianship and conservatorship issues.

Devitt also incorporates letters of intent into special-needs planning. A letter can preserve practical information about the individual's routines, preferences, medical or support needs, and other details that may be familiar to parents but unknown to the people who eventually assume greater responsibility.

Together, these arrangements can address both sides of the parents' concern: how financial resources should be managed and how important knowledge about their child's life can be passed to future caregivers and decision-makers.

When Children Are Still Too Young to Receive an Inheritance

Parents of minor children have decisions to make even if their financial circumstances are relatively straightforward. One is whom they would want to care for their children if both parents died.

Another is what should happen to the children's inheritance.

Devitt's estate-planning work allows parents to nominate guardians while establishing how property intended for children should be managed. A trust can prevent a young beneficiary from simply receiving control of a substantial inheritance before the parents believe the child is ready.

These arrangements give parents an opportunity to decide in advance who should assume important responsibilities rather than leaving those questions unresolved.

We Have a Living Trust—But Is Everything Actually in It?

A family may believe its estate planning is finished because a living trust was signed years ago. Problems can arise when the trust exists on paper but ownership of the family's assets was never properly coordinated with it.

Devitt addresses trust funding as part of estate planning. This involves considering which assets should be associated with the trust and making sure the overall ownership arrangements work with the estate plan.

The issue can also develop over time. A family may establish a trust and later buy another home, open new financial accounts, or acquire other property without revisiting the plan.

For someone who created a trust specifically to reduce the need for probate, discovering after a death that significant property remained outside the intended arrangement can defeat an important reason for having established the trust in the first place.

What Happens to the Family Home?

Real estate frequently represents one of a family's largest assets. Deciding who should ultimately receive the home is only part of the planning question; the owner also needs to consider how the property will legally transfer.

Devitt handles real-estate matters alongside estate planning and prepares Lady Bird deeds, also known as enhanced life estate deeds, when appropriate. This type of deed can provide a mechanism for transferring Michigan real estate after the owner's death while allowing the owner to retain significant control during life.

Whether a deed, trust, or another arrangement is appropriate depends on the circumstances. Devitt's overlapping estate and real-estate practices allow the transfer of the property itself to be considered as part of the larger estate plan.

When You Suddenly Become Trustee or Personal Representative

Being named in a parent's estate documents may not seem particularly significant until the parent dies and the responsibility becomes real.

A successor trustee may need to take control of trust property and carry out the trust's instructions. A personal representative may instead be responsible for administering property through probate. Families can also encounter estates containing a mixture of probate and non-probate assets.

Devitt handles probate and trust administration for people responsible for carrying out these plans after death. The work can involve identifying the applicable estate documents and property, understanding the fiduciary's responsibilities, completing the administration process, and ultimately transferring assets to the appropriate beneficiaries.

For an adult child who has never administered an estate or trust, the challenge is often not knowing where to begin while simultaneously dealing with the loss of a parent.

When a Small Business Is Part of the Estate Plan

A business owner may have much of their wealth—and sometimes much of the family's income—tied to a company. That creates estate-planning questions that do not arise with an ordinary bank account.

What happens if the owner dies unexpectedly? Who can keep the business operating if the owner becomes incapacitated? Should children eventually take over, another owner acquire the interest, or the company be sold?

Devitt handles business succession planning alongside his broader small-business practice. His work includes business formation, purchases and sales, and legal issues that arise throughout a company's life cycle.

His professional background also includes more than 15 years working for Michigan companies in business roles before entering legal practice. That experience provides additional context when estate planning involves the future ownership and operation of a closely held company.

Planning for Incapacity, Not Just Death

An estate plan also needs to address what happens if someone is alive but cannot manage important matters independently.

Devitt prepares powers of attorney and healthcare planning documents that allow clients to designate people to handle financial or medical responsibilities under appropriate circumstances.

For families, these documents can become particularly important after an unexpected accident, serious illness, or decline in capacity. Planning beforehand allows the individual to decide who should have authority rather than leaving relatives to determine what legal steps are available after a crisis has already occurred.

Estate Planning From Livonia to Nearby Western Suburbs

Matt Devitt Law is based on Six Mile Road in Livonia and works with individuals, families, and business owners in the surrounding area. The firm specifically identifies Livonia, Northville, and Plymouth as core communities it serves, with estate-planning services also extending to clients in Novi and Farmington Hills.

The firm's estate practice is complemented by its business and real-estate work, while special-needs planning provides a more focused resource for families concerned about the long-term financial and personal needs of a beneficiary with disabilities.

Practice Areas

• Estate Planning

• Wills

• Trusts

• Family Cottage Trusts

• Special Needs Trusts

• Special Needs Planning

• MIABLE Planning

• Trust Funding

• Powers of Attorney

• Healthcare Directives

• Lady Bird Deeds

• Probate Administration

• Trust Administration

• Guardianships & Conservatorships

• Business Succession Planning

• Small Business Law

• Real Estate Law