Mika Meyers

Estate Planning, Elder Law & Probate Attorneys in Grand Rapids, Michigan

Mika Meyers is a Grand Rapids-based law firm with an estate practice that reaches from planning for children and grandchildren to long-term-care concerns later in life and the administration or litigation that can follow a death. The firm's services include estate and trust planning, elder law, probate and trust administration, and probate and trust disputes.

The planning can involve relatively familiar documents such as wills and powers of attorney, but Mika Meyers also works with more complicated family circumstances. Its attorneys advise on special-needs planning, estate and gift tax issues, charitable giving and succession of family cottages and other property.

For families, those legal issues often develop over decades. Parents may initially be concerned about protecting children if something happens to them. Years later, the same family may be deciding how to keep a cottage in the family, how to pay for an aging parent's long-term care, or what to do when siblings disagree about the administration of Mom or Dad's estate.

Putting Your Child's Name on the Account Can Create Problems You Didn't Expect

Families sometimes try to simplify an estate by adding an adult child to a bank account or other property. It can appear to be an easy way to give someone access to the asset and avoid probate later.

Mika Meyers cautions that joint ownership can produce consequences the parent did not intend. Once a child becomes an owner, the property can potentially be affected by circumstances involving that child, including creditors or divorce.

Joint ownership can also affect who ultimately receives the property. An arrangement intended primarily for convenience may result in one child receiving an asset outside the estate even though the parent expected it to be divided among several children or other descendants.

Estate planning provides other ways to address management during incapacity and transfers after death without necessarily making another person a current co-owner.

When Parents Don't Want Children Receiving Everything at Once

A parent's concern may not be whether children should inherit, but when they should receive control of the inheritance.

Mika Meyers prepares trusts that can establish how property will be managed for children and other beneficiaries. Parents can create instructions for managing an inheritance rather than arranging for property to pass outright as soon as a beneficiary becomes legally entitled to receive it.

That can be useful when children are young or when parents believe their children will need more time before taking responsibility for substantial assets. The trust can identify a trustee to manage the property and establish the ages or circumstances under which distributions should occur.

The firm also advises on beneficiary designations and other methods of transferring property. Coordinating those arrangements matters because not every asset necessarily passes according to the instructions in a will.

Planning for the Possibility That You Cannot Make Decisions Yourself

Estate planning is also about retaining control over who can act if illness or injury makes independent decision-making impossible.

Mika Meyers prepares durable powers of attorney for financial matters as well as patient advocate designations and HIPAA authorizations for healthcare situations. These documents address different responsibilities and can identify the people the client trusts to act when assistance becomes necessary.

Financial authority can become important when someone needs another person to manage accounts, bills, property or other financial matters. Healthcare documents address medical decision-making and access to information.

Making those choices while the client can still make them personally can give the family a clearer path if incapacity occurs later.

When a Family Member With Special Needs Will Receive an Inheritance

Leaving an inheritance to a beneficiary with disabilities can require more planning than simply naming that person in a will.

Mika Meyers works with special-needs trusts and other planning arrangements intended for beneficiaries who may require continuing assistance. The way property is transferred and managed can be particularly important when a beneficiary relies on needs-based government programs.

The firm also identifies education trusts among its estate-planning services, providing another mechanism for families that want assets managed for a particular purpose rather than distributed outright.

These situations illustrate why estate planning can depend as much on the needs of individual beneficiaries as on the overall value of the estate.

Keeping the Family Cottage in the Family

For Michigan families, an estate can include property with emotional value that goes well beyond its market price. Mika Meyers specifically handles family cottage succession planning.

A cottage that has been in a family for decades can become complicated when ownership passes from parents to several children. The next generation may not agree about how frequently each person can use the property, who pays expenses, how improvements are approved or what happens if one sibling wants to sell while the others want to keep it.

Planning before the property changes hands provides an opportunity to think through future ownership and management rather than leaving those questions entirely to the next generation after a death.

This is an area where estate planning and real-estate considerations naturally overlap, and Mika Meyers has practices in both.

When Nursing-Home Costs Become a Family Financial Problem

Mika Meyers also has a substantial elder-law practice for families dealing with long-term-care concerns.

The firm notes that nursing-home care can cost more than $11,000 per month, turning a parent's need for care into a major financial issue for the family. Elder-law planning can involve determining how Medicaid eligibility rules apply to the parent's income, assets and circumstances.

These issues often arise when a spouse or adult children realize that care may be needed for considerably longer than they originally expected. Decisions involving property or transfers can have consequences for Medicaid eligibility, making it important to understand the applicable rules before taking action.

Mika Meyers advises families on Medicaid and long-term-care planning as part of its broader work with older adults and their families.

When an Aging Parent Needs More Help Than Existing Documents Provide

Sometimes a family reaches a point where powers of attorney or other private arrangements do not adequately address an individual's needs.

Mika Meyers handles guardianships and conservatorships involving incapacitated adults. Guardianship generally concerns personal decisions, while conservatorship addresses financial affairs and property.

These proceedings can become necessary when an aging parent or another vulnerable adult can no longer manage important matters independently and court-supervised authority is required.

The firm also handles guardianship and conservatorship matters involving minors. In either situation, the proceeding places significant responsibilities on the person appointed to act for someone else.

When You Become Responsible for a Parent's Estate

After a death, a son, daughter, spouse or other person may suddenly find themselves responsible for administering an estate.

Mika Meyers represents personal representatives in probate administration. The work can involve identifying and gathering estate property, providing required notices, handling court filings, addressing financial obligations, preparing accountings and ultimately distributing assets to the appropriate beneficiaries or heirs.

The firm also assists with smaller estates when Michigan procedures provide a simpler method of transferring property.

Even when family members agree about what should happen, administration requires more than reading the will and handing out property. The personal representative has legal responsibilities while carrying out the estate, and the process must account for the way individual assets are owned and transferred.

A Trust Does Not Finish Its Own Work After a Death

Property held in a trust may avoid probate, but someone still has to administer the trust after the person who created it dies.

Mika Meyers advises trustees responsible for carrying out that work. Administration can require gathering information about trust assets, dealing with beneficiaries, completing necessary notices and accountings, and making distributions under the terms of the trust.

For a family member serving as successor trustee, the responsibility can arrive during an already difficult period. The trustee may be managing property while answering questions from siblings or other beneficiaries who have their own expectations about when distributions should occur.

Legal guidance can help the trustee understand what the trust requires and distinguish those fiduciary responsibilities from informal family expectations.

When Family Members Question a Will or Trust

Not every estate proceeds without conflict. Mika Meyers has a separate probate and trust disputes practice for contested matters.

The firm handles challenges involving wills and trusts, including disputes about whether the person creating or changing an estate plan had the necessary mental capacity. Those questions can become especially significant when documents were changed late in life or during a period of declining health.

Disputes can also develop over the meaning or administration of estate-planning documents. Family members may disagree about what a provision requires or believe the estate or trust is being handled inconsistently with the deceased person's instructions.

Mika Meyers represents clients in these disputes rather than limiting its probate work to uncontested administration.

When the Problem Is the Person Managing the Money

Personal representatives, trustees, guardians and conservators are entrusted with authority over property that belongs to an estate, trust or another person. That authority carries legal obligations.

Mika Meyers handles disputes involving alleged breaches of fiduciary duties. A beneficiary or family member may question how assets are being managed, whether required information is being provided or whether the fiduciary is acting properly.

The firm also represents fiduciaries defending their conduct when their decisions are challenged.

Similar conflicts can arise over who should serve as guardian or conservator for an incapacitated person. In those cases, relatives may agree that help is necessary but disagree sharply about who should have authority.

Estate Planning for Families With More Complex Assets

Mika Meyers' estate practice also extends beyond the concerns of a typical household. The firm advises on estate and gift tax planning, charitable planning, irrevocable trusts and other strategies for clients with more complex estates.

Its broader business and real-estate practices can become relevant when significant family wealth is tied to companies or property rather than held primarily in conventional financial accounts.

The firm's estate-planning attorneys can therefore address both familiar family planning and estates involving assets that require additional legal or tax consideration.

That breadth is important for a firm whose work extends from preparing a young family's first estate plan to administering substantial trusts and litigating disputes among beneficiaries and fiduciaries.

More Than 75 Years in West Michigan

Mika Meyers has operated for more than 75 years and maintains its headquarters at 900 Monroe Avenue NW in Grand Rapids. Rather than being a national firm with a Grand Rapids branch, its history and principal office are rooted in West Michigan.

The firm also maintains Michigan offices in Caledonia and Manistee, extending its services beyond the Grand Rapids area.

Mika Meyers is a full-service law firm rather than an estate-planning boutique. Its broader work includes business, real estate and other legal matters. Within its individual and family practice, however, the combination of estate planning, elder law, probate and trust administration, and probate and trust disputes gives the firm the ability to address estate issues at very different points in a family's life—from creating the original plan to resolving disagreements over it years later.

Practice Areas

• Estate & Trust Planning

• Wills

• Trusts

• Powers of Attorney

• Patient Advocate Designations

• Special Needs Planning

• Family Cottage Succession Planning

• Estate & Gift Tax Planning

• Charitable Planning

• Elder Law

• Medicaid & Long-Term-Care Planning

• Guardianships & Conservatorships

• Probate & Trust Administration

• Probate & Trust Disputes