The Law Offices of David L. Carrier, Estate Planning & Elder Law

Estate Planning & Elder Law Attorneys in Grand Rapids, Michigan

The Law Offices of David L. Carrier helps Grand Rapids and West Michigan families prepare for two closely connected concerns: what happens to their property in the future and what happens if they need substantial care while they are still alive. The firm's practice is focused on estate planning and elder law, with services involving wills and trusts, Medicaid planning, long-term-care concerns, asset protection, trust funding, and probate and trust administration.

For some families, the work begins years before long-term care is an immediate concern. They may want to provide for a spouse, protect children or grandchildren, plan for a family member with special needs, or make sure someone can handle financial matters during incapacity.

For others, the need is urgent. A parent may have dementia, a spouse may suddenly require nursing-home care, or adult children may be trying to determine how Mom can continue receiving care without exhausting the family's resources. Carrier Law's elder-law practice specifically addresses those later-life problems as part of the family's larger estate plan.

Planning for the People Who Depend on You

A basic estate plan answers questions that can become extremely important after a death or incapacity. Who should receive property? Who should be responsible for carrying out the plan? Who can manage financial affairs if someone becomes unable to do so personally?

Carrier Law prepares wills, trusts and powers of attorney as part of its estate-planning practice. Planning can address spouses, children and grandchildren while establishing how property should ultimately be transferred.

Families with minor children may have different concerns from retirees whose children are already adults. Business ownership, substantial property or a beneficiary with a disability can introduce additional considerations.

The objective is to structure the plan around the people and property actually involved rather than treating every family's circumstances as identical.

When a Family Member With Special Needs Will Inherit

Leaving property to a loved one with a disability can require more planning than simply naming that person as a beneficiary.

Carrier Law uses special-needs trusts when appropriate to provide resources for a beneficiary while taking into account eligibility for needs-based government benefits. Instead of transferring an inheritance outright, property can be held and managed through the trust.

For parents, this can be a long-term concern. They may have spent years helping an adult son or daughter with housing, transportation, healthcare or other needs and want that support to continue after they are gone.

Special-needs planning allows those concerns to be addressed as part of the parents' broader estate plan, including who will be responsible for managing the resources intended for the beneficiary.

You Have a Trust — But Is Your House Actually in It?

Signing a trust is not necessarily the final step in creating an effective trust-based estate plan. Property that is supposed to be controlled by the trust generally needs to be properly connected to it.

Carrier Law has a dedicated Trust Funding Center that helps clients address this part of the process. Funding can involve reviewing how property is titled and determining whether appropriate assets have actually been transferred to the trust.

A house provides an easy example of why this matters. Someone may remember signing a living trust years ago and assume the house is therefore automatically part of it. If ownership was never properly addressed, the estate may not work the way the family expected after death.

Carrier Law also reviews existing trusts, including plans prepared by other attorneys, so families can determine whether their property and documents still work together.

An Estate Plan Made Years Ago May Need Another Look

A plan that made sense when it was signed does not necessarily remain appropriate indefinitely.

Families acquire and sell property. Relationships change. Children become adults. The people originally chosen to manage a trust or handle other responsibilities may no longer be the people the client would choose today.

Carrier Law provides trust reviews for clients who want to revisit an existing plan, make changes or obtain another evaluation of documents they already have. That includes trusts created elsewhere.

Reviewing an older plan can address both the documents themselves and whether the assets intended to work with the trust have actually been funded into it.

Dad Has Dementia and Mom Is Afraid the Nursing Home Will Take Everything

Long-term care can turn an abstract concern about aging into an immediate financial problem.

When one spouse needs skilled nursing-home care, the other spouse may still be living independently and relying on the couple's income, home and savings. Families can become understandably concerned about how paying for care will affect the spouse who remains at home.

Carrier Law's Medicaid crisis practice addresses situations in which long-term care is already needed or becoming imminent. Its work includes determining how Medicaid eligibility rules apply to the couple's income and property and what planning options may be available.

The issue is not simply paying the nursing home bill. For a married couple, planning also has to consider the continuing financial needs of the spouse who is not receiving institutional care.

Mom Wants to Stay at Home — Can Medicaid Help Pay for Care?

Needing help does not always mean someone immediately needs to move into a nursing facility.

Carrier Law addresses Michigan programs that may help eligible older adults receive services in other settings, including the MI Choice Waiver Program and PACE — Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly.

For an adult child helping an aging parent, this can become an important part of the long-term-care discussion. Mom may need assistance with everyday life but strongly prefer to remain at home. Another person may need coordinated medical and supportive services while continuing to live in the community.

Carrier Law's elder-law work includes examining these options alongside Medicaid planning and the family's broader financial and estate-planning circumstances.

When Long-Term Care Becomes an Immediate Crisis

Families do not always have years to prepare for long-term care. A fall, hospitalization, stroke or worsening cognitive condition can quickly change what a parent or spouse needs.

Carrier Law specifically provides Medicaid crisis planning for these situations. The firm's work includes both married and single applicants who need skilled nursing care and families trying to understand how eligibility requirements affect their property.

The financial circumstances can differ considerably depending on whether the person needing care has a spouse, what assets are owned and what planning has already been completed.

Getting advice when the need for care becomes immediate can help the family understand the applicable Medicaid rules before making major decisions about property or finances.

Protecting the Family Home and Other Assets

Long-term-care planning often raises another question: what happens to the property someone spent a lifetime accumulating?

Carrier Law's estate and elder-law work includes asset-protection planning and the use of trusts when appropriate. The firm works with revocable living trusts as well as irrevocable asset-protection trusts and other estate-planning arrangements.

The family home can be especially important. It may represent a substantial portion of the family's wealth while also being the place where a spouse continues to live.

Planning involving long-term care therefore needs to consider not only eligibility for benefits but also how ownership of the home and other property fits into the client's overall estate plan and potential Medicaid estate-recovery concerns.

When a Trust Is Better Suited to the Family's Goals

Trusts can serve different purposes depending on the family's circumstances.

Carrier Law works with revocable living trusts, irrevocable asset-protection trusts and special-needs trusts as part of its estate-planning and elder-law services. A family considering probate avoidance may have different objectives from someone planning for long-term-care costs or providing for a beneficiary with special needs.

The type of trust matters because different structures provide different levels of control and serve different planning purposes.

Carrier Law's emphasis on both creating and funding trusts also recognizes an important practical point: choosing an appropriate trust structure is only useful if the resulting plan is actually implemented.

After Mom or Dad Dies, the Plan Still Has to Be Carried Out

Even a well-prepared estate plan creates responsibilities after death.

Carrier Law has a dedicated probate and trust administration practice to help families complete that work. Administration can include addressing debts and bills, accounting for property and ultimately distributing assets to the appropriate beneficiaries.

The process differs depending on how property was owned and whether assets are being administered through probate, a trust or a combination of both.

For an adult child who has just lost a parent, these responsibilities can arrive while the family is still dealing with the practical and emotional consequences of the death. Legal guidance can help the person responsible for the estate or trust understand what needs to happen and in what order.

Estate Planning and Elder Law From Grand Rapids

The Law Offices of David L. Carrier's main office is located at 4965 East Beltline Avenue NE in Grand Rapids. The firm also maintains Michigan offices in Holland, Norton Shores and Portage.

Its concentration on estate planning and elder law allows the practice to address issues that often develop sequentially within the same family. A client may initially need a will, trust and powers of attorney, return later to review or fund the trust, and eventually need guidance when a spouse develops dementia or long-term care becomes necessary.

The firm's services continue into the period after death through probate and trust administration. That creates a practice spanning much of the estate-planning timeline—from establishing the original plan and preparing for incapacity to addressing long-term care and eventually carrying out the plan for the next generation.

Practice Areas

• Estate Planning

• Wills & Trusts

• Elder Law

• Medicaid Crisis Planning

• Long-Term-Care Planning

• Asset Protection Planning

• Special Needs Trusts

• Trust Funding & Reviews

• Probate & Trust Administration