Michigan Estate Planning Lawyer Blog

The Elder Law Prof Blog has an interesting little post dealing with the Hong Kong Billionaire, Nina Wang's estate. Apparently, Ms. Wang who was known as "Little Sweeite" had a will drawn up in 2002 leaving her estate to a charity. A Judge just ruled that a "feng shui will" from 2006 would be invalidated due to Ms. Wang's signature being forged. You can read the post here: Feng Shui Master won't Inherit Eccentric Billionaire's Estate.

Our Bloomfield Hills Probate Lawyer office helps individuals and families with Michigan estate administration issues on a regular basis. One thing that I must remind clients of many times, is that the Michigan probate process is generally, not as quick and easy as you would like it to be.

If you do not have a properly funded trust based estate plan, there is a very good chance that your estate will end up under the jurisdiction of the Michigan probate courts. That may not be a bad thing, but you have to understand that if your estate is in the Oakland County Probate Court system, Macomb County Probate Court system, the Wayne County Probate court system, or any other Michigan Probate Court system, there will certain hurdles and hoops that will have to be jumped through.

In addition to jumping through certain administrative hoops, you have to understand that there are certain statutory requirements that each probate court requires. Even if the Michigan probate matter is an unsupervised, informal probate case. You still need to keep the probate estate open for a at least 5 months. You still have to publish a notice to creditors. You still have to complete the inventory in a timely matter (within 91 days of appointment).

Maybe it is a failure on my part to educate and explain that even with a Michigan probate lawyer handling the administration, I can't wave a magic wand and bypass all the requirements of the Michigan probate court process.

Well, I take that back. I can, its called proper Michigan estate planning. Through proper planning (typically a living trust based Michigan estate plan that is properly funded) you can avoid the probate court completely. A Michigan Will does not avoid probate, no matter how pretty the backing or how long the document. A Michigan Last Will and Testament is your ticket to the probate system.

This isn't to bash the Michigan probate system either. I love the people at the probate register and the staff. But, the public needed to understand that there are certain rules and formalities involved and most of the time those rules and formalities were put in place for a reason.

That said, by working with an experienced Michigan probate lawyer, we can navigate the process to minimize the work, stress, and excess costs to make the process as smooth as possible, but we have to follow the rules and jump through the hoops.

As a Michigan estate planning lawyer, I participate in online discussions with other estate planning attorneys across the nation to stay up on the latest estate planning and business succession planning news, laws, and cases.  Well, one of my colleagues very succinctly summarized two situations that he has seen occur when a business owner only had a Last Will and Testament and not a Revocable Living Trust based estate plan.

The first situation occurred when a client became disabled.  With a Last Will and Testament that doesn't become effective in Michigan until the creator passes away, the court had no ability to pass the business to who the client would have preferred, a brother in this instance.  What happened was that the business basically disintegrated with a lack of proper leadership. 

Now if the client had used a Michigan Revocable Living Trust based estate plan drafted by a Michigan trust planning lawyer, the successor trustee, the brother in this case, would have been able to step and continue the business during the client's disability.  Michigan Living Trusts provide for trustees to manage assets (and businesses) during the incapacity of the creator while a Last Will and Testament has no such provisions and is only effect upon death.

The second situation is when the business owner dies.  At this time the Michigan Last Will and Testament will have to be probated.  During the date of death and the opening of the probate estate, or even worse upon final distribution if the proposed business successor isn't the Michigan personal representative, the business disintegrates or is diverted to third party creditors.  With a Michigan Revocable Livnig Trust based estate plan, the transition is quick and seamless, there won't be any erosion due to lack of legally recognized leadership.

So, if you are a Michigan business owner and are considering a Trust vs. a Will it's important to not only consider your personal assets, but also the business in creating your Michigan estate plan.

As Michigan probate lawyers we hardly ever run into situaitons where we have to engage in Michigan probate litigation over a forged last will and testament. That said, there is a forged will at the cent of the Booke Astor probate controversy. You can read the WSJ article on the subject of forged wills here: Forged Wills Are Now Not Just Fiction.

Unwed couples is a growing percentage for a variety of reasons, whether financial, political, religious, etc. There are plenty of reasons why a couple would not want to enter into a federally recognized marriage.  Two common financial reasons include collecting on deceased spouses' Social Security earnings or planning for Medicaid.

Whatever reason couples may have for avoiding vows, the situation can raise tricky consequences when it comes to their estate planning, whether the couple is a same-sex couple or opposite sex couple, if the couple does no planning.

The main Michigan estate planning issue for an unwed couple is the lack of ability to be able to make any financial or medical decisions for their partner.  If one partner is suffers an accident their is not presumption for the other partner to be able to act on behalf of the incapacitated partner.  Therefore, Michigan financial powers of attorney and Michigan medical powers of attorney (patient advocate designations) are vital.

The big issue that everyone thinks about is what happens if my partner passes away?  Well without a marriage and without joint ownership, the assets will pass through the Michigan probate courts and follow the Michigan laws of intestacy, leaving all of the partners assets with their family instead of the surviving partner.  Properly drafted estate plans including a Michigan Last Will and Testament and a Michigan Living Trust should be considered and should be drafted by a Michigan estate planning attorney.

Planning for an unwed couple can be tricky and should be handled by an experience and knowledgeable Michigan estate planning attorney.

In Royal Oak, Michigan, the Royal Oak Probate court is located in Oakland County.

The address of the Oakland County Probate Court is located at:

Oakland County Probate Court -- Estates and Mental Health
1200 North Telegraph Road, Department 457
Pontiac, Michigan, USA 48341-0457

In West Bloomfield, Michigan, the West Bloomfield Probate court is located in Oakland County.

The address of the Oakland County Probate Court is located at:

Oakland County Probate Court -- Estates and Mental Health
1200 North Telegraph Road, Department 457
Pontiac, Michigan, USA 48341-0457