The Law Office of Francis O. Wey

Estate Planning Attorney in Novi, Michigan

The Law Office of Francis O. Wey, PLLC helps Michigan families prepare estate plans, arrange for decision-making during incapacity and handle legal proceedings when a loved one can no longer manage personal or financial affairs. The practice also assists families with probate and adoption.

Its estate-planning services include wills, revocable living trusts, medical and financial powers of attorney, patient-advocate designations, funeral-representative designations and deeds, including Lady Bird deeds. The firm also helps clients fund their trusts by transferring appropriate property into them.

Estate planning can address several stages of a family’s life. Young parents may need to nominate guardians and decide how an inheritance should be managed for their children. An older homeowner may want to arrange for real estate to pass after death. A person with a family member who has special needs may require a trust designed around that beneficiary’s circumstances. When a death occurs, the family may need help settling the estate and transferring property.

Francis O. Wey earned his law degree from Ave Maria School of Law and served for six years as an Army Judge Advocate, including a year in Iraq. He later worked for two years as a civilian attorney in the Business Law Division at the Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command in Warren.

Your Child May Not Be Ready to Inherit at 18

Parents often think first about who should care for their children if both parents die. The financial side of that decision is equally important. A child who inherits property directly may receive control at an age when the child has little experience managing money.

The firm helps parents consider whether an inheritance should be received at 18 or held until a later age, such as 25 or 35. The appropriate arrangement depends on the child, the property involved and the parents’ objectives.

A revocable living trust can establish who will manage property for a child and when distributions should occur. The instructions might allow the trustee to use money for the beneficiary before the final distribution age. The parents must choose a trustee capable of carrying out those responsibilities and decide how much discretion that person should have.

These decisions may apply to more than savings and investments. A child’s inheritance could include life-insurance proceeds, an interest in real estate or other family property. Coordinating the trust with the way each asset is owned or designated is therefore an important part of the plan.

Parents can also use their estate documents to nominate a guardian. The person best suited to raise the children may not necessarily be the person best suited to manage their inheritance, so the plan can assign those responsibilities separately.

Equal Inheritances May Not Always Feel Fair

Dividing an estate equally among children may appear straightforward, but families sometimes have circumstances that make the decision more complicated. One child may have spent years helping a parent with transportation, appointments, household needs or personal care while the other children live farther away or have had less involvement.

The parent may still want an equal division. In another family, the parent may believe that the caregiving child should receive additional property or reimbursement for particular expenses. There is no single distribution that is appropriate for every household.

Estate planning allows the parent to consider those differences deliberately. A will or trust can record how property should be divided, while a letter or family conversation may help explain the reasoning behind an arrangement that could otherwise surprise the beneficiaries.

Fairness questions can also arise when children have different financial circumstances or abilities. One beneficiary may have special needs. Another may already have received substantial assistance from the parent. A third may be involved in a family business that the others do not operate.

The Law Office of Francis O. Wey helps clients establish wills and trusts based on their intended distributions. Clearly prepared documents can reduce uncertainty, although they cannot guarantee that every beneficiary will agree with the choices made.

Your Will and Beneficiary Designations Point in Different Directions

A will does not necessarily control every asset a person owns. Retirement accounts and life-insurance policies commonly pass according to beneficiary designations associated with those accounts or policies.

This can create an unexpected result when someone updates a will but overlooks an older beneficiary designation. A former spouse, deceased relative or another person selected years earlier may remain named on an account even though the person’s current estate plan points in a different direction.

Jointly owned property and assets held in a trust may also pass differently from property controlled by a will. A complete review therefore involves more than drafting a single document. The client should consider how accounts, real estate, insurance and other property will actually transfer.

Trust funding is part of that coordination. Signing a revocable trust does not automatically place every asset into it. Depending on the property, funding may involve changing ownership records, preparing a deed or reviewing beneficiary arrangements.

Francis Wey assists clients with creating and funding family trusts, including transferring assets into the trust and designating trustees and beneficiaries. He also helps clients update trust arrangements as their circumstances change.

A pour-over will may address property intended for a trust that remains in the person’s individual name at death, but properly coordinating the plan during life can reduce the amount of uncertainty left for the family.

A College Student Has a Medical Emergency Away From Home

Parents commonly handle medical and financial matters for minor children. That legal relationship changes when the child becomes an adult, even if the young adult is still attending school, living at home or relying on the parents for support.

If a college student is injured or becomes seriously ill, parents may discover that they do not automatically have authority to make healthcare decisions or manage the student’s financial affairs. Distance can make the situation more difficult when the student is attending school away from home.

A medical power of attorney or patient-advocate designation allows the young adult to choose someone to act regarding healthcare decisions if the student cannot make or communicate those decisions. A financial power of attorney can authorize another person to handle specified financial matters.

These documents are not limited to older adults. Incapacity can result from an accident, sudden illness or other unexpected event at any age.

The firm prepares medical and financial powers of attorney as part of its estate-planning services. The client chooses the person who will receive authority and determines how the document should operate.

Families may revisit those choices as the young adult becomes financially independent, marries or develops different preferences about who should act. Powers of attorney can therefore be part of an estate plan that changes along with the client’s life.

A Loved One Can No Longer Safely Make Every Decision

When an adult loses the ability to manage personal or financial affairs, relatives may need to consider guardianship, conservatorship or both.

A guardian is appointed to address personal decisions for someone who is unable to make those decisions independently. Responsibilities may involve living arrangements, medical care, safety and daily needs. A conservator focuses on finances, including managing assets, paying bills and addressing other financial responsibilities.

Some situations call for urgent action. A family may become concerned after a hospitalization, sudden cognitive decline, financial exploitation or another event that places the person or property at immediate risk. Emergency guardianship proceedings may be considered when protection cannot wait for the ordinary process.

Francis Wey assists with guardianship and conservatorship proceedings in Michigan. Its work includes questions about limited and full guardianships.

A limited guardianship preserves decision-making authority in areas the person can still manage while assigning particular responsibilities to the guardian. A full guardianship provides broader authority when the individual cannot safely handle the relevant personal decisions. The appropriate scope depends on the person’s actual abilities and needs.

Conservatorship may be necessary when the central concern is financial rather than personal. A person may be able to communicate healthcare preferences but remain unable to manage accounts, recognize financial risks or protect property.

Advance planning through powers of attorney may give a trusted agent authority without a later court appointment. When those documents are unavailable or insufficient for the circumstances, guardianship or conservatorship provides a court-supervised process for establishing authority.

The Family Home Needs a Plan of Its Own

For many families, the home is both a major asset and a place with emotional importance. Owners may want to continue living in the property while arranging for it to pass to a child or another beneficiary after death.

Francis Wey prepares deeds as part of his estate-planning practice, including Lady Bird deeds. This form of deed can allow a Michigan property owner to retain control of the real estate during life while identifying who should receive it after the owner’s death.

A deed-based transfer may help the property pass outside probate, but it must be considered alongside the rest of the estate plan. The owner should decide who will receive the property, what happens if that person dies first and whether several beneficiaries are expected to own the home together.

Naming multiple children can create later practical questions. They may disagree about whether to sell the property, keep it in the family or allow one sibling to buy the others’ interests. The home may also require taxes, insurance, maintenance or repairs before a final decision is made.

A trust may offer another way to address real estate, depending on the family’s objectives. The important point is that the deed, trust and will should work together rather than provide conflicting instructions.

Older homeowners may also be concerned about long-term-care expenses and whether Medicaid planning should be considered. The available options depend heavily on the owner’s health, property, family circumstances and timing. Addressing the concern before care becomes an immediate crisis generally allows the family to understand the applicable choices before making changes to ownership.

A Family Member With Special Needs Will Receive an Inheritance

An outright inheritance can create difficulties for a beneficiary who has a disability and relies on needs-based government assistance. The family may want to provide additional support without disrupting benefits that help pay for healthcare, housing or other necessities.

Francis Wey assists clients with special-needs trusts. This type of trust can hold and manage property for a beneficiary rather than transferring the inheritance directly to that person.

The trust requires someone to serve as trustee and administer the property according to its terms. Parents or other relatives must consider who has the judgment, availability and financial ability to take on that responsibility. They may also want to name alternates in case the first choice cannot serve.

Planning can involve more than deciding what happens when the parents die. Grandparents and other relatives may also intend to leave property to the same beneficiary. Coordinating those plans can help prevent an accidental direct inheritance that undermines the arrangement the parents created.

The family should also consider how long the trust may need to operate, what expenses it may cover and who should receive any remaining property after the primary beneficiary dies. These decisions connect the beneficiary’s immediate needs with the family’s longer-term estate plan.

Someone Must Settle the Estate After a Death

After a loved one dies, a surviving relative may need authority to gather property, address debts and taxes, and transfer assets to the people entitled to inherit. Probate is the court-supervised process through which many of those responsibilities are completed.

Whether probate is necessary depends partly on how the deceased person owned property. Assets held in an appropriately funded trust, jointly owned property and accounts with effective beneficiary designations may transfer outside the probate estate. Individually owned property without another transfer arrangement may require probate.

The firm provides probate services and assists with estate settlement. The person responsible for the estate may need to identify assets, communicate with beneficiaries, handle outstanding obligations and follow the instructions in a will.

The absence of a will does not mean that property has no destination. Michigan intestacy law determines who inherits probate property when someone dies without a valid will. The legal result may differ from what the person would have chosen, particularly in families involving unmarried partners, stepchildren or strained relationships.

Estate administration can become more complicated when property ownership is unclear or when a trust was created but never fully funded. Careful planning during life can reduce some of those problems, while probate guidance helps the family address the responsibilities that remain after death.

Estate Planning and Probate Services in Novi and Across Michigan

The Law Office of Francis O. Wey, PLLC is located at 41800 West 11 Mile Road, Suite 220, in Novi, Michigan. The practice serves clients in the greater Detroit metropolitan area and throughout Michigan.

Practice Areas

• Estate Planning

• Wills

• Revocable Living Trusts

• Trust Funding

• Special-Needs Trusts

• Medical Powers of Attorney

• Financial Powers of Attorney

• Patient-Advocate Designations

• Funeral-Representative Designations

• Lady Bird Deeds

• Probate and Estate Settlement

• Guardianships and Conservatorships

• Medicaid Planning

• Business-Succession Planning