Rex Brueggemann

Estate Planning and Family Law Attorney in Kalamazoo, Michigan

Rex Brueggemann assists Kalamazoo-area clients with estate planning and family-law matters. The practice prepares wills, trusts, medical durable powers of attorney and general durable powers of attorney. Its family-law services include divorce, child custody, child support, property division, mediation and post-judgment modifications.

These two areas of law can intersect during major changes within a family. A marriage, divorce, new child or change in financial circumstances may affect whom someone wants to receive property or make decisions on their behalf. An estate plan created years earlier may no longer reflect the family’s current relationships, responsibilities or intentions.

Effective planning can involve more than preparing a will. Life insurance, retirement accounts, bank accounts, beneficiary designations and jointly owned property may transfer in different ways. Coordinating those arrangements can help a family understand what will pass through a will or trust and what may transfer outside the probate process.

When Illness or Disability Makes It Difficult to Handle Personal Affairs

Estate planning is not limited to deciding what happens after death. Families may also need to prepare for a period when someone is alive but unable to manage financial matters or communicate healthcare decisions.

A general durable power of attorney can name someone to handle authorized financial and legal responsibilities. Depending on the document, that may include paying bills, managing accounts or addressing other property-related matters. A medical durable power of attorney identifies someone to participate in healthcare decisions when the person who created the document cannot do so.

Without advance planning, relatives may be uncertain about who is authorized to act. Several family members may have different ideas about what should happen, or institutions may require proof that someone has legal authority. Preparing these documents while an individual can still make informed choices gives that person an opportunity to select trusted decision-makers and explain the authority they should have.

When a Will, Trust and Beneficiary Designations Need to Work Together

A family may prepare a will or trust and assume that the document controls everything the person owns. In practice, different assets may follow different transfer instructions.

Life insurance and retirement accounts commonly allow an owner to name beneficiaries. Bank or investment accounts may also have beneficiary designations, while jointly owned property may pass according to its form of ownership. Other property may be governed by a will or held in a trust. If these arrangements were established at different times, they may not produce the overall result the owner currently intends.

This can matter when someone has married, divorced, had children or experienced other changes in family relationships. An outdated beneficiary designation may direct an account differently from a more recently prepared will or trust. Reviewing the major components together can help identify whether the documents, account instructions and ownership arrangements remain consistent.

Rex Brueggemann’s estate-planning work includes wills and trusts as well as the coordination of life insurance, pensions, 401(k) plans, traditional and Roth IRAs, bank accounts and beneficiary designations. The appropriate combination depends on the family, the property involved and how the client wants that property to pass.

When Divorce Changes Financial and Estate-Planning Priorities

Divorce can require a family to address several connected concerns. Parents may need to establish custody, parenting arrangements and child support. Spouses may also need to divide property and determine what should happen to the home, retirement benefits and other assets accumulated during the marriage.

The practice handles divorce, custody and support matters, property division, mediation and post-judgment modifications. Mediation can provide a process for working through disputed family-law issues without leaving every decision to a contested hearing. Post-judgment work may become necessary when circumstances change after the original order was entered.

A divorce or other major family transition may also be an appropriate time to reconsider an existing estate plan. The people previously selected to inherit property, administer a trust or make financial and medical decisions may no longer be the people the client would choose. Retirement accounts, insurance policies and other assets with beneficiary designations may require particular attention because those designations operate separately from a will.

Addressing family-law and estate-planning concerns in a coordinated way can help someone consider both immediate obligations and longer-term plans. The objective is not simply to complete the divorce, but to understand how the resulting family and financial arrangements affect future decision-making and property transfers.

Choosing Who Will Receive and Manage Family Property

A will allows someone to state how property governed by the will should be distributed and to nominate a person to handle the estate. A trust can provide another way to hold and distribute assets, depending on the property involved and the family’s objectives.

Some parents may be concerned about leaving property to children who are not yet prepared to manage it. Other clients may want to establish clear instructions for a home, financial accounts or personal property. A family may also want to reduce uncertainty about who will be responsible for carrying out the plan.

The appropriate documents depend on more than the total value of the estate. Family relationships, the ages of beneficiaries, the types of assets owned and existing beneficiary designations can all affect the plan. Reviewing these details can help determine whether a will, trust, powers of attorney or a combination of documents fits the circumstances.

Serving Kalamazoo and Southwest Michigan Counties

Rex Brueggemann is located in Kalamazoo and serves clients in Kalamazoo, Van Buren, St. Joseph, Calhoun, Branch, Allegan and Cass counties.

This service area covers families in and around Kalamazoo as well as communities across a substantial portion of Southwest Michigan. The practice’s combination of estate planning and family law may be relevant to people preparing foundational documents, working through divorce or custody issues, or reconsidering earlier plans after a significant family change.

Practice Areas

• Estate planning

• Wills

• Trusts

• General durable powers of attorney

• Medical durable powers of attorney

• Disability planning

• Beneficiary-designation planning

• Divorce

• Child custody

• Child support

• Property division

• Mediation

• Post-judgment modifications