The Law Office of Jeffrey Jones

Estate Planning, Probate & Estate Litigation Attorney in Howell, Michigan

Estate planning is partly about deciding what should happen after death, but some of the most important decisions concern what happens before then. An unexpected illness or injury can leave someone unable to manage financial affairs or communicate healthcare decisions. A business owner may need to decide who will take over a family company. Parents may want an inheritance held under particular conditions rather than distributed immediately. And after a death, disagreements among relatives can turn an estate into a contested legal matter.

The Law Office of Jeffery R. Jones, P.C. provides estate planning, probate and estate litigation services from its Howell office. Attorney Jeffery R. Jones has practiced law for more than four decades and also has extensive experience in real estate and business law. That broader background can be particularly relevant when an estate includes significant real property, business interests or other assets requiring more than basic planning.

Planning for an Unexpected Illness or Injury

Estate planning is not solely preparation for death.

A serious accident, illness or other unexpected event can leave someone alive but unable to handle important decisions. Jones's estate-planning practice includes both medical powers of attorney and general durable powers of attorney.

These documents allow an individual to make decisions beforehand about who should have authority if circumstances later make personal decision-making impossible.

The financial side can become important very quickly. Property still needs to be managed, bills continue to arrive and other financial matters may require attention even when the owner is hospitalized or incapacitated.

Healthcare presents a different set of decisions. A medical power of attorney allows someone to designate another person to make medical decisions when the individual cannot do so personally.

Planning for both situations can reduce uncertainty for a family during an emergency. Instead of relatives having to determine who should act after the crisis has already occurred, the individual can choose trusted decision-makers in advance.

Deciding How an Inheritance Should Be Received

Leaving property to someone does not necessarily mean that the beneficiary must receive everything outright and immediately.

Jones prepares wills and trusts and specifically addresses establishing conditions under which beneficiaries receive property.

That can matter when a parent or other individual wants more control over how an inheritance will ultimately reach the people being provided for.

Different beneficiaries can also present different concerns. Someone creating an estate plan may be comfortable leaving property directly to one person while preferring a more structured arrangement for another.

Trust planning provides a way to consider not simply who should inherit but also how the inheritance should be handled.

Those decisions are highly personal. What works for one family may make little sense for another, which is why the structure of an estate plan should reflect the property involved, the intended beneficiaries and the client's objectives.

When a Family Business Has to Continue Without Its Owner

For a family that owns a business, estate planning can become inseparable from business planning.

Jones specifically handles family-business succession planning in addition to maintaining a substantial business-law practice.

A closely held company may represent both a family's source of income and a significant portion of its accumulated wealth. If a key owner dies without a clear succession plan, surviving relatives and the people operating the business may be confronted with important ownership and management questions at the same time.

Who is expected to continue the business? Who will own the deceased person's interest? Are family members supposed to become involved, or is a different transition intended?

These are not questions a family wants to encounter for the first time immediately after the owner's death.

Jones's broader business practice includes work with family-held companies and business organizational and operational matters. That experience can be useful when estate planning has to account for an ownership interest in an operating business rather than simply traditional personal assets.

Real Estate Can Make an Estate More Complicated

Jones has particularly extensive experience in Michigan real estate law, including residential and commercial matters and condominium law.

That background can become relevant when real property represents a substantial part of someone's wealth.

A family may be dealing with a longtime home, condominium, investment property, commercial property or multiple pieces of real estate. After the owner dies, those assets do not cease requiring attention simply because they have become part of an estate.

Questions involving ownership, value and eventual disposition of real property can have significant consequences for beneficiaries and for the administration of the estate.

For someone who owns substantial real estate, estate planning should begin with an accurate understanding of what property the individual owns and how those assets fit into the larger financial picture.

Jones's combination of estate and real-estate experience provides a useful perspective when those areas intersect.

A Will Does Not Necessarily Eliminate Probate

A common misconception is that having a will automatically means a family will never have to deal with probate.

Jones provides probate assistance as part of his estate practice.

A will can provide important instructions concerning an estate, but property subject to probate may still need to proceed through the probate process. After death, someone must take responsibility for handling the deceased person's affairs and carrying out the estate plan.

For surviving relatives, this can mean confronting a legal process at the same time they are dealing with a death in the family.

Questions can become more complicated when the estate contains a business or substantial real property. Those assets may require attention beyond simply identifying a bank account and distributing money to beneficiaries.

Legal assistance can help families navigate the probate process and address issues involving the property left behind.

When Family Members Disagree About an Estate

Not every estate proceeds without conflict.

Jones expressly handles estate litigation, giving the practice a role not only in creating estate plans and assisting with probate but also in disputes that arise in connection with an estate.

A death can expose disagreements that have been developing within a family for years. Relatives may have different expectations about property or different understandings of what the deceased person intended. Conflict may also develop as an estate is being handled.

When those disagreements become legal disputes, the matter is fundamentally different from routine estate administration.

Jones has extensive litigation experience in addition to his estate-planning work. That can be particularly relevant when a probate matter becomes adversarial and the parties are no longer simply working through the administrative steps required after a death.

Estate Planning for Property That Is Not Simple

Some estates are relatively straightforward. Others involve assets with legal issues of their own.

A business ownership interest is governed not only by an owner's personal wishes but also by the legal structure surrounding the company. Real estate raises questions involving ownership and property rights. Family-held assets can create competing expectations among relatives.

Jones's practice spans estate planning, probate, estate litigation, business law and real estate law. That combination can be particularly relevant for clients whose property extends beyond conventional financial accounts and personal belongings.

The goal remains fundamentally personal: determining what should happen to someone's property and who should have authority when the owner cannot act.

But accomplishing that goal may require understanding the underlying assets as well as preparing the estate-planning documents themselves.

More Than a Plan for What Happens at Death

The Law Office of Jeffery R. Jones, P.C. is located on East Washington Street in Howell.

Jones assists clients with wills, trusts and powers of attorney while also handling probate, estate litigation and family-business succession planning. His longstanding real-estate and business practice adds another dimension when those assets are part of a client's estate.

For families, the important questions can arise at several different stages. Someone who is healthy may need to decide who should handle financial and medical decisions after an unexpected incapacity. Parents may want to establish conditions for a child's inheritance. A business owner may need a plan for what happens to the company. After a death, relatives may need help with probate—or with a dispute that prevents the estate from being settled routinely.

Addressing those possibilities in advance can give an individual greater control while reducing the number of important decisions a family must make in the middle of a crisis.

Practice Areas

• Estate Planning

• Wills

• Trusts

• Medical Powers of Attorney

• General Durable Powers of Attorney

• Probate

• Estate Litigation

• Family-Business Succession Planning