Tanis Schultz, Attorneys & Counselors

Estate Planning & Probate Attorneys in Grand Rapids, Michigan

Tanis Schultz helps Grand Rapids families put estate plans in place, prepare for incapacity and handle legal responsibilities after a death. Its estate-planning practice includes wills, trusts, powers of attorney and advance healthcare directives, along with probate and trust administration.

The firm's work also extends to problems that can arise later. Families may need to consider Medicaid and long-term-care issues as parents age, establish a guardianship or conservatorship when someone can no longer manage independently, or resolve a dispute over how an estate or trust is being handled.

Tanis Schultz is a broader Grand Rapids law firm rather than an estate-planning boutique. Within that larger practice, however, it provides both planning and litigation services, allowing it to assist with an estate before problems occur and with certain disputes after a death.

Putting the Basic Plan in Place

Estate planning does not have to begin with substantial wealth or complicated tax strategies. For many families, the first concern is simply making sure there is a clear plan if something unexpected happens.

Tanis Schultz prepares wills and trusts that can establish how property should be handled after death. For parents with minor children, a will can also address the important question of whom they want nominated as guardian if neither parent is able to care for the children.

The firm's planning also includes powers of attorney and advance healthcare directives. These documents address a different problem: who should have authority to handle financial or healthcare decisions if someone becomes unable to make or communicate those decisions personally.

Together, those documents can provide instructions for both incapacity during life and the eventual transfer of property after death.

Choosing Who Will Step In If You Cannot

Naming beneficiaries is only one part of an estate plan. Clients also need to decide whom they trust with responsibility.

A financial power of attorney can authorize another person to handle financial matters when necessary, while healthcare planning allows someone to identify who should be involved in medical decisions if the client cannot act independently.

Those choices can have practical consequences for the entire family. If a serious accident, illness or decline in capacity occurs, someone may suddenly need to deal with accounts, bills, property and medical decisions.

Making those selections in advance gives the family a plan to follow rather than waiting until incapacity has already created an urgent problem.

You Signed a Trust Years Ago — But Did Your Property Ever Get Into It?

Creating a trust does not necessarily accomplish its intended purpose if the family's assets were never properly connected to it.

Tanis Schultz specifically addresses trust funding in its estate-planning materials. The firm notes that after a trust is established, appropriate assets need to be transferred into the trust for the plan to function as intended.

That can become an issue for someone who signed estate-planning documents years ago and assumed the work was finished. Property may have been acquired later, accounts may have changed, or assets that were supposed to be transferred may never have been retitled.

Tanis Schultz reviews existing trusts and what has actually been placed in them. That provides an opportunity to identify a gap while the person who created the plan is still available to address it rather than leaving the family to discover the problem after death.

When an Old Estate Plan No Longer Fits Your Life

Even a properly prepared estate plan can become outdated.

Families change over time. So do finances, property and the people someone trusts to handle important responsibilities. An older plan may name people who are no longer appropriate choices or contain arrangements that no longer reflect what the client wants.

Tanis Schultz's review of existing estate plans can include more than checking whether a trust was funded. It can also provide an opportunity to determine whether the documents still make sense for the client's present circumstances.

An estate plan does not necessarily need constant revision, but major changes in a person's family or financial life can make reviewing older documents worthwhile.

When Aging Brings New Planning Concerns

Later in life, estate planning can begin to overlap with concerns about long-term care and the ability to continue managing personal and financial affairs.

Tanis Schultz includes Medicaid planning and long-term-care considerations within its estate-planning services. These issues can become relevant when an older person's care needs increase and the family begins thinking about how future care will be provided and paid for.

Addressing those concerns as part of a broader estate plan can help families consider long-term-care needs alongside decisions about property, incapacity and who will have authority to assist if circumstances change.

When Mom or Dad Can No Longer Manage Independently

Sometimes advance planning is not enough to resolve an incapacity problem. A family may reach a point where someone needs legal authority to make decisions for an adult who can no longer adequately manage personal or financial affairs.

Tanis Schultz handles guardianships and conservatorships. A guardianship generally concerns responsibility for personal decisions, while a conservatorship addresses management of finances and property.

These proceedings can arise when an aging parent experiences significant decline, but incapacity can affect younger adults as well. The underlying question is whether court-authorized assistance has become necessary because the individual can no longer adequately handle important matters independently.

Because guardianships and conservatorships involve court proceedings, they are different from voluntarily granting authority through estate-planning documents while someone still has the ability to make those choices.

After a Death, Someone Still Has to Handle the Work

An estate plan provides instructions, but someone eventually has to carry them out.

Tanis Schultz assists with probate and trust administration after death. Depending on how the deceased person's property was arranged, that responsibility may fall to a personal representative administering a probate estate, a trustee managing trust property or both.

Administration involves more than distributing belongings among family members. Property and financial obligations need to be addressed, and the person responsible for the estate or trust must act according to the applicable documents and legal requirements.

For a relative serving in one of these roles for the first time, legal guidance can help clarify what needs to be done and what responsibilities come with the position.

When the Family Disagrees About an Estate

Some estates cannot be resolved through routine administration because family members disagree about what should happen.

Tanis Schultz handles estate litigation involving disputes over asset distributions and the interpretation of wills. Disagreements may concern what an estate-planning document requires or whether property is being distributed appropriately.

Estate disputes can be especially difficult because the legal disagreement occurs at the same time the family is dealing with a death. Questions about money or property can also intensify disagreements that already existed among relatives.

The firm's litigation capabilities allow it to address those contested matters rather than limiting its estate practice to planning and uncontested administration.

When You Think the Executor or Trustee Is Mishandling the Money

A different kind of dispute can arise when beneficiaries accept the estate plan itself but question the conduct of the person responsible for carrying it out.

Tanis Schultz specifically addresses fiduciary misconduct involving executors and trustees. When warranted, its estate-litigation work can include seeking an accounting, removal of a fiduciary and recovery for financial losses.

A beneficiary might become concerned about unexplained transactions, missing information or decisions involving estate or trust property. The fiduciary, meanwhile, has legal responsibilities associated with managing assets for others.

These cases shift the focus from what did Mom or Dad's estate plan say? to is the person entrusted with carrying out that plan actually fulfilling the responsibilities of the position?

A Downtown Grand Rapids Law Firm

Tanis Schultz is located in the Oldtown Riverfront Building at 85 Campau Avenue NW, Suite R305, in Grand Rapids. The firm serves clients throughout West Michigan.

Its broader practice extends well beyond estates, including litigation and other personal and business legal matters. For estate clients, that litigation experience is particularly relevant when a probate or trust matter becomes contested.

The firm's estate practice is ultimately broad enough to follow a family through several different stages: creating foundational documents, preparing for incapacity, reviewing and funding an existing trust, addressing later-life concerns, administering property after death and responding when disagreements develop over how an estate or trust is being handled.

Practice Areas

• Estate Planning

• Wills & Trusts

• Powers of Attorney & Advance Directives

• Medicaid & Long-Term-Care Planning

• Guardianships & Conservatorships

• Probate & Trust Administration

• Estate Litigation