Customized Estate Planning Guidance to Give You Peace of Mind

Estate Planning

Many people assume that estate planning is only for those with considerable assets or for retired individuals. However, even younger adults can benefit from putting an estate plan in place. Depending on your specific needs and goals, estate plans can be simple or complex (and everything in between). The dedicated team of estate planning legal professionals at Warren & Schairbaum, PLLC, believes in empowering Michigan residents and their families by helping them create effective plans to ensure their wishes are met. We’re ready to listen to your goals and determine the estate planning tools and strategies to use to safeguard your best interests and to give peace of mind to you and your loved ones.

Estate Planning Basics in Michigan

Estate planning involves considering your assets and what you want to happen to them after you pass away. This process centers on your loved ones, the ones who depend on you, or perhaps even a certain charity or cause you are passionate about. Estate Planning is not only providing for them after you die, but also making the job of taking care of your final estate as easy to handle as possible for them when that time comes.

Estate planning also includes planning for the possibility that you may become ill or disabled and want or need help attending to your legal and financial obligations, like filing your taxes and communicating with insurance companies and banks. Or maybe there will come a time when you are unable to make your own decisions. Who do you want to make them for you? What about medical treatment decisions or possibly even end-of-life decisions? These are difficult situations to consider, but most people feel more confident about the future after going through the planning process. Once everything is complete, they have the comfort of knowing a plan is in place. We will help you think about your goals, devise a plan, and implement it according to your wishes and preferences.

If you don’t have an estate plan in place before you pass away, the State of Michigan’s plan will be put in place for you. The Probate Court could make any decisions that you haven’t made already—such as who will take care of your minor children if you die without a will or who will make decisions for you if you haven’t made plans through a Durable Power of Attorney and/or Patient Advocate Designation. Going through the Probate Court can be time-consuming, involves fees, and is a public process.

When you entrust Warren & Schairbaum, PLLC, with your estate planning needs, you can expect comprehensive legal knowledge and expertise. We will walk you through a personalized estate planning process so that your chosen plan fits your situation.

Helping You Put a Will in Place to Secure Your Legacy

Everyone benefits from putting a will in place. There are several advantages to preparing a last will and testament, as you can use this important legal document to accomplish the following:

Express your vision about what will happen to your assets after you pass away. Everything you own that isn’t in a trust or doesn’t already have a beneficiary designation (such as life insurance and retirement accounts, which allow you to make beneficiary designations) will be distributed through your will.
State who you want to care for your minor children after you die. If you have minor children, you can name who you want them to live with and be cared for by (a guardian) and who you want to watch over the money you leave for their care (a conservator). These roles can be designated to the same person or to different people of your choosing.
State who you want to be in charge of handling your final affairs after you die. Your Personal Representative pays your last bills, gathers your assets, and distributes them as your will directs. Your Personal Representative is responsible to the Probate Court if necessary. You can allow the Personal Representative to hire an attorney to help and/or to be paid a reasonable rate for their time.

You can always change your will as long as you have the mental capacity to do so. It does not have any legal effect until you pass away. To learn more about the benefits of putting a will in place, contact Warren & Schairbaum, PLLC, today to discuss your options with a skilled and caring estate planning attorney.

Setting Up a Trust to Ensure Financial Security

A trust is a legal arrangement or instrument that allows property to be passed to heirs without the need for court involvement. There are many different kinds of trusts. Often, people consider setting up a revocable grantor trust as part of their estate plan. You set up this trust and “fund” it – put assets into it – while you are alive. You retain control over your assets while you are alive. While alive, you can maintain the right to change or revoke the trust (it is a “revocable trust”). When you die, the trust becomes “irrevocable”. People choose a revocable grantor trust because:

You can name one or more successor trustees to take over managing the trust if you cannot manage it during your lifetime due to disability, illness, or incapacity and, of course, after you die.
You can state who the assets in your trust will be distributed to (the beneficiaries) and when. Some people do not want assets distributed immediately when they die, especially to beneficiaries who are still young, beneficiaries who have financial management issues, or beneficiaries who have special needs and want to preserve their eligibility for government benefit programs.
The successor trustee will distribute assets that are in your trust when you die according to the terms of the trust. These assets do not have to pass through Probate Court proceedings. This allows for greater privacy. The trust document does not have to be filed in probate court after you die, as a will usually does. It, therefore, is not automatically made a public document in probate proceedings.

We’ll walk you through the many issues to consider when deciding whether to include a trust in your estate plan.

Designating Powers of Attorney and Patient Advocates

Although none of us want to think about it, the time may come when you are unable to make your own decisions. Planning ahead for this possibility allows you to control who will make decisions for you in the event that you’re unable to make decisions yourself. Putting a Power of Attorney in place grants a person the power to make legal and financial decisions on your behalf. A Patient Advocate Designation (also known as a Health Care Power of Attorney or Living will) grants the power to make medical decisions for you, and can include end-of-life decisions.

In either case, preparing these documents now ensures that the person you trust most is the one who can make these critical decisions on your behalf. Without these documents, your loved ones may have to go through a public, stressful, and potentially expensive court process to appoint a guardian or conservator. Unfortunately, the process can delay important decisions that need to be made for you.

It’s never too early to designate a Power of Attorney and a Patient Advocate. Work with a knowledgeable estate planning lawyer who can guide you through the process of preparing these documents, considering who to designate, and deciding how you want these decisions made for you.

Explore Your Options

At Warren & Schairbaum, PLLC, we believe in working with every client to understand their unique needs and goals. If you are interested in exploring your estate planning options, reach out to our Ann Arbor office today at (734) 769-9300 to get started with a caring and trusted estate planning attorney.

When you entrust Warren & Schairbaum, PLLC, with your estate planning needs, you can expect comprehensive legal support as we plan for your future. We will walk you through a personalized estate planning process so that your chosen plan fits your situation.

Secure your future with customized estate planning. Warren & Schairbaum, PLLC helps Michigan families with wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and more to protect their legacy and provide peace of mind. Get expert legal guidance today.