Smith Haughey Rice & Roegge

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

Smith Haughey Rice & Roegge helps Grand Rapids families plan for the transfer of property, prepare for incapacity and deal with the legal responsibilities that arise after a death. Its trusts and estates practice ranges from wills and powers of attorney to sophisticated wealth and business succession planning.

The firm's work also extends into situations where estate planning becomes more complicated. A parent may have a child with special needs, a family business that needs a successor or significant assets that should not necessarily pass outright to the next generation. Later in life, guardianship or conservatorship may become necessary if someone can no longer manage personal or financial affairs.

Smith Haughey also has a substantial probate practice. It assists with routine estate administration but can also represent families when disagreements develop over wills, trusts, inheritances or the conduct of a trustee or personal representative.

Putting a Plan in Place for Your Family

An estate plan can begin with relatively straightforward decisions: who should receive property, who should be responsible for carrying out the plan and who should be able to make decisions if incapacity occurs.

Smith Haughey prepares wills and trusts as well as durable powers of attorney, living wills and healthcare proxies. Together, these documents can address both what happens after death and who can act when someone is still living but unable to handle important matters independently.

The firm's planning is not limited to transferring property. Depending on a client's circumstances, its attorneys also address estate and gift taxes, capital-gains considerations and other issues that can affect how a family's assets should be structured and transferred.

As families and finances change, those decisions can become considerably more complicated than simply deciding who receives what.

When an Inheritance Shouldn't Simply Be Handed Over

Some parents are comfortable leaving property directly to adult children. Others have reasons to want additional protection or control over an inheritance.

Smith Haughey's wealth-planning work includes trusts and other structures designed to address concerns involving creditors, divorce, financial decision-making and unexpected events. Rather than requiring an inheritance to pass outright, a trust can establish conditions for how assets will be held and managed.

That can be important when parents have accumulated substantial wealth and are thinking beyond the immediate transfer to their children. The larger question may be how family assets can continue benefiting children and later generations without exposing everything to risks that could arise in a beneficiary's own life.

The firm uses a range of advanced trust arrangements when a family's financial and tax circumstances justify more sophisticated planning.

Planning for a Child With Special Needs

Leaving an inheritance to a family member with special needs can require additional planning because the way assets are transferred may affect the beneficiary's circumstances and access to benefits.

Smith Haughey handles special-needs planning as part of its trusts, estates and elder-law work. Special-needs trusts can be used when appropriate to hold assets for a beneficiary rather than simply transferring an inheritance directly.

For parents, the concern often extends well beyond the mechanics of inheritance. They may be trying to determine how a son or daughter will be supported after the parents are no longer available to provide that support personally.

A properly structured plan can establish how resources are to be managed for the beneficiary and identify who will have responsibility for carrying out that plan.

When Mom or Dad Can No Longer Manage Things Independently

Estate planning documents can establish authority in advance, but families sometimes reach a point where court involvement is necessary.

Smith Haughey handles guardianships and conservatorships as part of its elder-law practice. These proceedings can become relevant when an older adult or another vulnerable person can no longer adequately handle personal decisions, finances or property.

A guardianship generally concerns personal care and decision-making, while a conservatorship addresses financial affairs. Either can place significant responsibility on the family member appointed to serve.

Smith Haughey's elder-law practice also addresses special-needs planning, retirement distributions, veterans' benefits, tax considerations and estate planning for seniors. Its published materials do not establish the same extensive Medicaid-planning practice found at some elder-law firms, so its profile is better focused on the aging and incapacity issues the firm specifically identifies.

Dad Built the Business. What Happens When He Steps Away?

For a family-business owner, an estate plan cannot always be separated from the future of the company.

Smith Haughey advises business owners on wealth and succession planning, including the transition of closely held and family-owned businesses. Planning can involve deciding whether ownership should remain within the family, determining how the company will continue without its founder and addressing the tax consequences of transferring substantial business interests.

The firm uses tools that can include buy-sell agreements, family limited liability companies and partnerships, trusts and other succession structures. The appropriate approach depends on both the business and the family.

These decisions are particularly important when the company represents much of the owner's wealth. A plan has to consider not only what happens to the business, but how its value fits into the inheritance received by the rest of the family.

When the Children Don't All Have the Same Plans for the Business

Passing a company to the next generation can become difficult when children have different relationships with the business.

One child may have worked alongside a parent for years and expect to continue operating the company. Another may have built an unrelated career and have no interest in becoming an owner. The family still has to decide how the parent's overall wealth should eventually be divided.

Smith Haughey's business and wealth succession work allows those questions to be considered together. The goal may involve preserving the business while also deciding how other assets fit into the larger estate plan.

Succession planning can also begin before death. An owner approaching retirement may need to transfer management and ownership gradually or prepare the company for a different future if family succession is not appropriate.

When You Become Responsible for Settling an Estate

After a death, the person selected to administer the estate takes on responsibilities that can be unfamiliar even when the family agrees about what should happen.

Smith Haughey handles probate administration and assists with the legal process of settling estates. Administration can require identifying property, addressing financial obligations and claims, dealing with beneficiaries and completing the steps necessary before assets can ultimately be distributed.

The personal representative has duties to the estate and its interested parties. That responsibility can be particularly challenging when the estate includes businesses, real estate, tax issues or other assets that cannot simply be divided immediately.

Smith Haughey's trusts and estates practice continues through this administration stage rather than ending once planning documents have been prepared.

When the Family Doesn't Agree About What Mom or Dad Intended

Not every estate is settled cooperatively. Smith Haughey has a substantial probate-litigation practice for disputes involving wills, trusts, estates and inheritances.

The firm handles contested wills and trusts, inheritance and heirship disputes, disagreements involving jointly owned property, and disputes concerning the rights of spouses and other family members. Its attorneys also handle contested guardianship and conservatorship proceedings.

These conflicts can become particularly difficult in blended families, where a surviving spouse and children from an earlier relationship may have different expectations about property. Questions can also arise when relatives disagree about the validity or meaning of an estate-planning document.

When those disagreements cannot be resolved through ordinary administration, the firm's litigation practice allows it to represent clients through the contested proceeding.

When You Think the Estate or Trust Is Being Mishandled

Sometimes the dispute is not over what an estate plan says but over what the person responsible for carrying it out is doing.

Smith Haughey represents clients in disputes involving fiduciary conduct. Its probate-litigation work includes allegations of fiduciary breaches as well as objections involving inventories, accountings, distributions and the sale of estate or trust property.

A beneficiary may question why assets appear to be missing, why property is being sold, why distributions have not occurred or whether the information provided about the estate or trust is accurate. Conversely, a trustee or personal representative may need to defend decisions made while carrying out fiduciary responsibilities.

These cases can require both an understanding of estate administration and the ability to litigate when beneficiaries and fiduciaries cannot resolve their disagreements.

A Grand Rapids Firm With Deep Local Roots

Smith Haughey Rice & Roegge's Grand Rapids office is located at 100 Monroe Center Street NW in downtown Grand Rapids. The firm's history in the city dates to 1941, when its original Grand Rapids practice operated from McKay Tower.

The firm has since expanded beyond Grand Rapids, with additional Michigan offices in Ann Arbor, Holland and Muskegon. Its broader practice encompasses numerous areas of business and personal law, while its trusts and estates attorneys handle planning, elder-law concerns, succession, administration and contested probate matters.

For families, that breadth becomes most relevant when an estate problem overlaps with something else—a closely held company that must survive its founder, significant wealth that needs to reach another generation, an aging parent who can no longer manage independently or an inheritance dispute that has moved beyond routine administration.

Practice Areas

• Estate Planning

• Wills & Trusts

• Elder Law

• Special Needs Planning

• Guardianships & Conservatorships

• Business & Wealth Succession Planning

• Probate Administration

• Probate Litigation

• Estate & Trust Disputes