The Plan Firm

Estate Planning, Elder Law & Probate Attorney in Fort Gratiot, Michigan

Estate planning can help families prepare for both expected and unexpected changes. Parents may want to decide who would care for their children, someone approaching retirement may become concerned about future long-term-care costs, and an adult child may need help when a parent's declining health makes independent living increasingly difficult. After a death, family members may also find themselves responsible for administering an estate or trust without knowing where to begin.

The Plan Firm focuses on estate planning, elder law, and probate from its Fort Gratiot office. Attorney Buzz Suuppi helps individuals and families plan for incapacity, protect loved ones, address long-term-care concerns, and navigate the legal responsibilities that can arise after a death.

Creating an Estate Plan for Your Family

The Plan Firm assists clients with wills, living trusts, durable powers of attorney, patient advocate designations, and related estate-planning matters.

An estate plan can establish who should receive property after death and who should be responsible for carrying out important responsibilities. It can also address circumstances that arise during someone's lifetime, including who should manage financial matters or make healthcare decisions if illness or incapacity prevents the individual from acting independently.

For families using a living trust, the firm's services also include trust funding. Properly coordinating assets with a trust is an important part of putting a trust-based estate plan into effect.

Planning for Minor Children

Parents with young children have estate-planning decisions that extend beyond deciding who receives their property.

An estate plan can identify the person parents would want to serve as guardian for their children if the parents die while the children are still minors. Parents can also consider how assets should be managed for children who are not yet ready to handle an inheritance themselves.

Addressing these questions in advance gives parents an opportunity to make their preferences known rather than leaving important decisions about their children's future unresolved.

Providing for a Loved One With Special Needs

Leaving an inheritance to a family member who receives government disability benefits can require additional planning.

The Plan Firm assists with special-needs planning, including special-needs trusts. These trusts can be used when families want to provide resources for a disabled child or other beneficiary while taking into account eligibility for means-tested government benefits.

This can be particularly important for parents who expect to provide lifelong support for a disabled child and need to consider what will happen after the parents are no longer available to provide that support themselves.

Estate Planning for Blended Families

A second marriage or blended family can create estate-planning questions that may not exist in a simpler family structure.

Someone who has remarried may want to provide for a current spouse while also protecting an intended inheritance for children from a previous relationship. Existing wills, trusts, and beneficiary arrangements may also have been created before the current marriage or family structure existed.

The Plan Firm addresses estate planning for blended families, allowing spouses and parents to consider how their plans should account for the different people who are important to them.

Preparing for Incapacity

Estate planning is also about preparing for circumstances in which someone is still living but can no longer make decisions independently.

The Plan Firm prepares durable powers of attorney and patient advocate designations. These documents can establish who will handle financial responsibilities and who will have authority concerning healthcare decisions if incapacity occurs.

Planning in advance can become especially important when a family later encounters dementia, a serious illness, or another condition affecting a loved one's ability to make decisions.

Facing the Cost of Nursing-Home Care

Long-term care can create significant concerns for older adults and their families, particularly when a spouse or parent may need nursing-home care.

The Plan Firm's elder-law practice includes Medicaid qualification and long-term-care planning. The firm works with families facing questions about nursing-home expenses, Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, trusts, and powers of attorney.

These issues may become urgent when an older person's health deteriorates unexpectedly. An adult child might discover that a parent with dementia can no longer safely remain at home, or a married couple may need to understand what nursing-home care means for the finances of the spouse who remains in the community.

Legal planning can help families understand their options before making important decisions about assets and long-term care.

Using a Lady Bird Deed as Part of an Estate Plan

The Plan Firm also works with Lady Bird deeds as part of estate planning.

For Michigan homeowners, decisions involving the family home can be an important part of a broader estate plan. A Lady Bird deed can be one tool for addressing how real estate will pass after an owner's death while allowing the owner to retain control of the property during life.

Whether a particular deed belongs in an estate plan depends on the homeowner's circumstances and how the property fits with the rest of the plan.

Settling an Estate After a Death

After someone dies, a family member may suddenly become responsible for handling an estate without having any previous experience with probate.

The Plan Firm assists with probate administration. Estate administration can involve identifying and gathering assets, addressing debts, taxes and creditor claims, and ultimately distributing property to beneficiaries.

Probate may also be necessary when someone dies without a will. In that situation, the family must work through the legal process without written instructions from the deceased person establishing how probate property should be distributed.

For a personal representative, legal guidance can help clarify the responsibilities involved in administering and settling the estate.

Taking Over as Trustee

A similar problem can arise when someone is named successor trustee of a living trust.

A person may agree years earlier to serve as trustee without fully appreciating what the job will involve. Following the trustmaker's incapacity or death, that person can suddenly become responsible for administering trust property and carrying out the terms of the trust.

The Plan Firm assists with trust administration, including helping trustees understand the responsibilities they have assumed and the steps required to administer the trust.

Attorney Buzz Suuppi

Buzz Suuppi founded The Plan Firm as a practice focused on estate planning, elder law, and probate.

His path toward this area of law included pro bono work involving estates in Port Huron. That experience helped lead him toward concentrating his practice on helping families with estate planning and the legal issues surrounding aging, incapacity, and the administration of estates.

Serving Fort Gratiot and St. Clair County

The Plan Firm is located at 3041 Commerce Drive, Suite A4-4, Fort Gratiot, Michigan 48059.

From its Fort Gratiot office, the firm provides estate planning, elder law, probate, and related services to individuals and families in St. Clair County.

Practice Areas

• Estate Planning

• Wills

• Living Trusts

• Durable Powers of Attorney

• Patient Advocate Designations

• Trust Funding

• Lady Bird Deeds

• Planning for Minor Children

• Blended-Family Estate Planning

• Special-Needs Trusts

• Elder Law

• Long-Term-Care Planning

• Medicaid Planning

• Probate Administration

• Trust Administration