Warner Norcross + Judd

Estate Planning, Business Succession & Probate Attorneys in Grand Rapids, Michigan

Warner Norcross + Judd LLP helps Grand Rapids families plan for death and incapacity, transfer family wealth and businesses to future generations, and administer estates and trusts after a death. Its trusts and estates practice ranges from fundamental estate planning to sophisticated tax planning, family-office services, fiduciary representation and probate litigation.

The firm's work can begin with familiar family concerns: making sure property reaches the intended people, deciding who should act during an illness or disability, and establishing how children or other beneficiaries should receive an inheritance. For business owners and families with substantial wealth, those decisions can become intertwined with succession, taxes and the preservation of assets across generations.

Warner also represents families when estate matters become contested. Its probate attorneys handle disputes involving wills, trusts, powers of attorney, guardianships and conservatorships, allowing the firm to work with families both before problems arise and when disagreements ultimately reach probate court.

Planning for Death — and for What Could Happen Before Then

An estate plan needs to address more than the eventual distribution of property. A serious illness, accident or disability can create important financial and healthcare decisions long before an inheritance becomes relevant.

Warner's fundamental estate-planning work considers both death and incapacity. Planning can involve assets such as bank and investment accounts, retirement benefits, insurance and real estate, along with documents establishing who should have authority when someone cannot act personally.

For families, the objective is to determine who should have responsibility and how property should be managed or transferred rather than leaving those questions unanswered until an emergency or death occurs.

The complexity of the plan can then grow with the family. Business ownership, substantial wealth, tax concerns and beneficiaries who need additional protection can require planning beyond foundational documents.

When an Inheritance Is Too Much Responsibility to Hand Over at Once

Parents and grandparents do not always want substantial wealth transferred outright to a young beneficiary simply because that person has reached adulthood.

Warner creates generational trusts and other arrangements that can provide structure for inherited wealth. Grand Rapids and Holland attorney Jennifer Remondino has also developed financial and trust education programs for beneficiaries in their teens and twenties.

That combination recognizes two sides of multigenerational planning. Legal documents can establish how wealth will be managed and distributed, but younger beneficiaries may also need to understand what the family has created and what responsibilities will eventually accompany it.

For families transferring significant assets, preparing the next generation can therefore become part of preserving the wealth rather than focusing exclusively on the mechanics of inheritance.

Protecting Family Wealth Across Generations

For families with significant assets, estate planning can involve questions that extend well beyond a single transfer from parents to children.

Warner advises high-net-worth individuals, families and business owners on wealth preservation, multigenerational trusts, tax planning, charitable planning and asset-protection strategies. Its attorneys also provide family-office representation when a family's financial and legal affairs require ongoing coordination.

These plans may need to account for multiple generations, different types of property and changing family circumstances. Closely held businesses can add another layer because the asset generating much of the family's wealth may also need to continue operating.

The objective can therefore be both transferring wealth and creating a structure for how that wealth will be owned, managed and preserved in the future.

Dad Left the Business to the Kids — But Who Is Supposed to Run It?

Transferring ownership of a family business and transferring responsibility for running it are not necessarily the same thing.

Warner advises family-owned and closely held businesses on succession, including transitions of both ownership and management. Grand Rapids attorney Mark Harder's work includes helping multigenerational family businesses address these transitions.

That distinction matters when several children will inherit interests in a company but only one or two have been involved in its operation. A child who has spent years working alongside a parent may be positioned differently from a sibling who pursued another career.

Succession planning gives the family an opportunity to decide how ownership, management and the owner's broader estate plan should work together rather than expecting the next generation to resolve those questions after the founder is gone.

What Happens to the Business If the Owner Cannot Work?

Business succession is not only a retirement or death issue. Illness or disability can abruptly remove an owner from the company.

An estate and succession plan can address who will have decision-making authority and how the owner's interests will be handled if that person can no longer participate. For a closely held business, the consequences may affect employees, customers and other owners as well as the founder's family.

This can be particularly important when the business represents a substantial portion of the family's wealth. Losing the person who traditionally made the major decisions can create both an operational problem for the company and a financial problem for the family.

Coordinating estate and business planning allows those possibilities to be considered before an unexpected event forces others to make decisions under pressure.

When Aging Creates New Legal Concerns

Warner's trusts and estates practice includes elder law for families confronting legal and financial questions associated with aging.

Estate planning can become particularly important as someone's ability to manage financial or personal affairs changes. Documents created in advance may identify the people authorized to assist, while other circumstances can lead to guardianship or conservatorship proceedings.

These issues can affect an entire family. Adult children may find themselves responsible for helping parents with finances, healthcare or property while trying to understand exactly what legal authority they have.

Addressing aging and incapacity within the larger estate plan can provide a clearer framework for who should act and how decisions should be made.

Your Parents Named You Trustee Years Ago. Now What?

Agreeing to serve as trustee or personal representative can seem straightforward when the responsibility is years in the future. It can feel very different when a parent dies or becomes incapacitated and the job suddenly becomes real.

Warner advises trustees, personal representatives and other fiduciaries about their responsibilities. Its fiduciary representation also encompasses guardians, agents acting under powers of attorney, patient advocates, trust protectors and caregivers.

These roles can involve significant authority over another person's property or personal affairs, and that authority comes with legal responsibilities. Family members may need guidance about what they can do, what records should be maintained and how their decisions affect beneficiaries or the person they are assisting.

Warner can also represent fiduciaries when disagreements move into mediation or litigation.

Settling an Estate or Administering a Trust After a Death

Warner handles estate settlement and trust administration after death, including matters involving substantial or complicated assets.

Administration can involve probate filings, property and financial accounts, creditor claims, fiduciary accountings, tax matters and eventual distributions. Estates containing closely held businesses can require additional attention because the business may need to continue operating while the estate is being settled.

Trust administration creates its own responsibilities. A trustee must follow the governing documents while managing property and addressing the interests of beneficiaries.

For family members serving in these positions, legal assistance can help them understand and carry out responsibilities that may be entirely unfamiliar despite having agreed to serve years earlier.

When Brothers and Sisters End Up on Opposite Sides of a Probate Case

A death can expose disagreements that ordinary estate administration cannot resolve.

Warner has a dedicated probate-litigation practice handling disputes involving trusts, estates, wills and other probate matters. Grand Rapids partner Laura Morris focuses on family disputes in probate court and handles matters throughout Michigan.

These conflicts can involve relatives who disagree about an estate plan, beneficiaries challenging how property has been handled, or disputes over the legal rights and responsibilities of people involved in an estate or trust.

When a family disagreement becomes a contested legal matter, Warner's probate work extends beyond advising the person administering the estate to representing parties through the dispute itself.

When Someone Is Accused of Misusing a Power of Attorney

Estate disputes do not always begin after death. Conflict can arise while an older or incapacitated family member is still alive.

Warner's probate litigation includes disputes involving powers of attorney as well as guardianships and conservatorships. That can become relevant when relatives disagree about who should control an incapacitated person's affairs or question how someone with existing authority has exercised it.

These cases can place family members on opposite sides of deeply personal questions involving a parent's money, property or care.

Because Warner also advises fiduciaries about their duties, its trusts and estates practice addresses both the responsibilities that come with these positions and the litigation that can result when those responsibilities are disputed.

Estate Planning From Grand Rapids With a Statewide Michigan Presence

Warner Norcross + Judd is headquartered at 150 Ottawa Avenue NW, Suite 1500, in Grand Rapids. Its Grand Rapids attorneys advise individuals, families and family-owned businesses on estate planning, succession, estate and trust administration and contested probate matters.

The firm's Michigan presence extends well beyond Grand Rapids. Warner also maintains offices in Bloomfield Hills, Detroit, Holland, Kalamazoo, Lansing, Sterling Heights/Macomb County, Midland and Muskegon, and serves clients throughout Michigan as well as beyond the state.

That reach is particularly relevant to estate and probate matters involving families, businesses or property spread across different parts of Michigan. Within the Grand Rapids practice, clients can access both private-client attorneys focused on estate and succession planning and litigators who handle probate disputes when family disagreements cannot be resolved through ordinary administration.

Practice Areas

• Estate Planning

• Elder Law

• Estate Settlement & Trust Administration

• Family Business & Succession Planning

• Fiduciary Representation

• Probate Litigation

• Tax Planning

• Family Office Representation