Van Den Heuvel Law Office

Estate Planning & Probate Attorneys in Grand Rapids, Michigan

Van Den Heuvel Law Office helps Grand Rapids families prepare estate plans, establish authority for financial and medical decisions, and deal with probate and trust matters after a death. Its estate practice includes wills, trusts, powers of attorney, special-needs planning, probate administration, trust administration, guardianships and conservatorships.

The firm also represents clients when an estate becomes contested. Those cases can involve questions about whether someone had the mental capacity to change a will, whether an older person was pressured or coerced, whether assets have been mishandled, or whether a trustee or other fiduciary has fulfilled the responsibilities of the position.

That combination allows Van Den Heuvel Law Office to work on both sides of estate planning: putting instructions in place while someone can make decisions independently and addressing the legal problems that can arise later when incapacity, death or family disagreement changes the situation.

Making a Plan When Your Children Are Still Young

For parents, estate planning is about more than deciding who receives property. One of the most consequential questions can be who should care for minor children if both parents die.

Van Den Heuvel Law Office prepares wills that can address the selection of a guardian for minor children as well as the eventual distribution of property. Trusts can provide another way to structure how assets will be held and managed for beneficiaries.

Parents can also use estate planning to prepare for incapacity. A serious illness or accident could leave a parent unable to manage finances or make healthcare decisions even though that person is still alive.

Putting those arrangements in place gives the family instructions to follow if an unexpected event leaves children without a parent able to handle those responsibilities.

Who Will Handle Things If You Can't?

Van Den Heuvel Law Office prepares both financial and medical powers of attorney as part of its estate-planning work.

A financial power of attorney can provide another person with authority to handle financial affairs when necessary. Depending on the authority granted, practical responsibilities can involve property, accounts and other financial matters.

Medical planning addresses a different concern: who should be able to make healthcare decisions when someone cannot make those decisions personally. That question can become particularly important when a serious medical condition creates decisions about treatment or long-term care.

Selecting these individuals while someone still has the ability to make the choice can prevent important decisions from being left unresolved until a crisis occurs.

Unmarried Couples Have Their Own Estate-Planning Concerns

An unmarried couple can share a home and build a life together for many years without having the same legal status as a married couple.

Van Den Heuvel Law Office specifically addresses estate planning for unmarried couples. Without appropriate planning, a surviving partner cannot simply assume that property will pass in the same manner it might between spouses.

Estate-planning documents can establish what each partner actually wants to happen. Planning can also address who should have authority to make financial or medical decisions during incapacity rather than assuming a longtime partner will automatically be able to step into that role.

For couples who have deliberately chosen not to marry, an estate plan can therefore be an important part of making sure their legal arrangements match the life they have built together.

When a Family Member With Special Needs Will Receive an Inheritance

An outright inheritance may not be the appropriate way to provide for a beneficiary who has special needs and receives needs-based government benefits.

Van Den Heuvel Law Office prepares special-needs trusts designed to provide supplemental resources while taking those benefits into consideration. Rather than transferring inherited property directly to the beneficiary, assets can be held and administered through the trust.

For parents, this type of planning may be particularly important because they are trying to prepare for a time when they will no longer be available to provide support themselves.

The firm's trust work also includes other structures for different family objectives, including charitable trusts, pet trusts, life-insurance trusts and spendthrift trusts.

When a Parent Can No Longer Make Decisions Independently

Sometimes a family reaches an incapacity crisis without having sufficient advance arrangements in place.

Van Den Heuvel Law Office handles guardianship and conservatorship proceedings involving incapacitated adults. These matters can arise when an elderly parent's medical condition or cognitive decline reaches the point where important personal or financial decisions can no longer be managed independently.

Guardianship generally concerns responsibility for personal decisions, while conservatorship involves authority over finances and property. The firm handles petitions seeking these arrangements as well as matters in which a proposed guardianship or conservatorship is challenged.

Its work in this area is not limited to older adults. Guardianship and conservatorship issues can also involve minors, adults with developmental disabilities and people whose capacity has been affected by an accident or other circumstances.

Using a Lady Bird Deed to Address the Family Home

For some Michigan homeowners, estate planning includes deciding how real estate should pass after death.

Van Den Heuvel Law Office advises clients about Lady Bird deeds, also known as enhanced life estate deeds. This type of deed can be used to establish a transfer of real property at death while allowing the current owner to retain significant rights over the property during life.

That can make the deed relevant to families looking at ways to transfer a home outside the ordinary probate process.

Whether a Lady Bird deed fits a particular estate depends on the owner's circumstances and larger plan, so it is one of several estate-planning tools the firm can consider when real property is involved.

When You Become Responsible for a Parent's Estate

After a death, the personal representative may have substantial work to complete before beneficiaries receive their inheritances.

Van Den Heuvel Law Office handles probate administration, including identifying and inventorying estate assets, addressing debts and creditor claims, and distributing remaining property to beneficiaries.

The firm also assists when someone dies without a will. In that situation, the absence of written instructions does not eliminate the need to administer the estate. Instead, Michigan law determines how probate property is handled and who is entitled to inherit.

For a son, daughter or other relative taking responsibility after a death, probate can therefore involve both practical work and legal obligations at a time when the family is already dealing with a loss.

Dad Changed His Will Near the End of His Life — Was He Pressured?

A late change to an estate plan can become a source of serious family conflict, particularly when it substantially changes who receives property.

Van Den Heuvel Law Office handles contested probate matters involving questions about mental capacity and allegations that an older person was coerced or improperly influenced. Its work includes disputes over the validity of wills and other estate documents.

A family might become suspicious when an elderly parent who was experiencing significant decline suddenly changes a longstanding plan, particularly if the change substantially benefits one person. A dispute can then arise over whether the document actually reflects the parent's independent wishes.

These cases require more than disappointment with the inheritance. They involve legal questions about whether the challenged estate-planning document should be recognized as valid.

When You Suspect an Older Relative Was Financially Exploited

Concerns about an estate can sometimes begin before the person dies.

Van Den Heuvel Law Office's probate-related work includes matters involving alleged elder financial abuse and misallocation of family assets. These disputes can overlap with questions about capacity, coercion and the conduct of people who had access to an older person's property.

Relatives may become concerned when money or property appears to have been transferred unexpectedly or when someone with control over an older person's finances cannot adequately explain what happened.

Those circumstances can ultimately affect both the vulnerable person's financial security during life and what remains in the estate after death.

When the Trustee Won't Explain What Happened to the Money

A trust does not administer itself. Someone has to manage its property and carry out its terms, and that person assumes responsibilities to the beneficiaries.

Van Den Heuvel Law Office handles trust administration as well as disputes involving alleged trust mismanagement and fiduciary misconduct.

Beneficiaries may question transactions, distributions or the management of trust property. A trustee or other fiduciary, meanwhile, may need to demonstrate that decisions were consistent with the governing documents and the responsibilities of the position.

When those disagreements cannot be resolved through ordinary administration, the firm's contested-estate experience allows it to address disputes over how trust or estate property has been handled.

A Grand Rapids Firm Handling Planning and Contested Estates

Van Den Heuvel Law Office is located at 4860 Broadmoor Avenue SE in Grand Rapids. Howard Van Den Heuvel founded the firm in 1992, and both Howard and Justin Van Den Heuvel practice from the Grand Rapids office.

The firm has a broader practice that includes family law, criminal defense and other legal matters in addition to estates. Its estate work encompasses planning, probate and contested proceedings.

For families, those services can become relevant at very different moments: parents choosing a guardian for young children, an unmarried couple making sure each partner is protected, adult children confronting a parent's incapacity, a personal representative settling an estate, or relatives trying to determine whether a late change to Dad's will actually reflected his wishes.

Practice Areas

• Estate Planning

• Wills & Trusts

• Powers of Attorney

• Special Needs Trusts

• Probate Administration

• Trust Administration

• Probate & Estate Litigation

• Guardianships & Conservatorships