I just saw a blog post entitled “Helping Your Clients Protect Their Family Fortunes,” which I thought was a bit odd and out of place.  Especially on days like this when the stock market and people’s retirement assets are tanking.  Our firm heritage is that we started out as an estate planning firm in Michigan, and we still are.  However, more and more, every day, I consider my practice, at least, more geared towards every day Michiganders, who don’t have a “family fortune,” but instead worked hard and saved a nest egg that has taken a hit with the plummeting economy.

I spend my day as a Michigan elder law attorney, helping clients with modest assets save as much as they can from taxes, probate, and long-term care costs.  Sure, we have the skill set to plan around the Federal Estate Taxes ($5million dollar exemption this year and with portability $10 million, do you have that much?) and do complicated, high end estate planning utilizing GRITs, GRATs, ILITS, IDGT’s, and the rest of the alphabet soup.  But, I find that my day is spent helping working class Michigan families with questions such as “how do we pay for assisted living for mom?” or “dad’s going into the nursing home, how to we make sure that mom can continue to pay the bills?”

Very different than “Helping Your Clients Protect Their Family Fortunes.”  I’d say a good tag line for much of the work I am helping Michigan families with is “Helping Your Clients Save Their House and Savings.”

Attorney Christopher J. Berry is a Metro Detroit estate planning and elder law lawyer who helps families, seniors, veterans and business owners with their important legal needs. Oakland County estate planning lawyer, Christopher Berry is a partner in the Bloomfield Hills law firm of Witzke Berry PLLC. Mr. Berry practices in the areas of estate planning, business, probate, veterans benefits & Medicaid planning.