Videos

If you've come to this channel, you've probably reached a crisis point as a family. It could be that you don't know where to start with probate administration for a trust or an estate or that a family member has recently become incapacitated and you don't know what to do about guardianship and conservatorship. The reason I started this Michigan Probate Answers is to provide you with some straightforward answers to those probate questions. Read More

What information is a beneficiary entitled to receive from an estate’s personal representative? As a beneficiary of an estate, you probably want to know what you have been left and how the estate is being administered. The law in Michigan requires a Personal Representative to give you certain information as the heir of an estate. See the list provided below for what pieces of information Michigan law requires are provided. Copy of the Will – This is provided to you at the opening of the estate. Inventory – The personal representative has 91 days to gather information about the assets of the estate and then you will be provided with an inventory of those assets. Sometimes a personal representative may discover an asset after this three month period, in which case you will receive an amended inventory. Accounting – If the estate lasts more than a year or is closed and the type of estate requires an accounting to be done, you are entitled to an accounting which details all the income that has come into the estate as well as the expenses of an estate. If your personal representative is not providing you with the information that is required by law, you can go to court and ask for the court to order the personal representative to provide you with this information. If they still do not do so, you have the right to go back to court and ask the judge to replace your personal representative. Read More

Though a trust is not a necessity in an estate plan, it can be a very useful tool. Below are just a few examples of why including a trust in your estate plan might be beneficial to you. If you are a parent to minor children – If there is only a last will and testament naming your children as beneficiaries of your estate in place when you pass, your children will receive their inheritance once they turn 18. Though 18 is legally considered the age of adulthood, often parents may feel it is too young to inherit a large sum of money. Trusts allow you as a parent to have more control over when they can receive the assets, what the assets should be used for, and how they receive the assets. If you are a private person or have family conflict – If you distribute your assets via will your estate will enter into probate upon your passing which is a public proceeding. This means that any of your heirs, whether they have been named as a beneficiary to your estate or not, will be entitled to a copy of your will. If you distribute your assets in a trust, that is a much more private proceeding and can protect your distributions from those who you may not want to see your assets. If you are wealthy – If you have a great amount of wealth and there may be some taxable consequences to your estate, trusts have some provisions and mechanisms that allow for tax planning. These are just a few reasons why you may want to include a trust in your estate plan. For more information, contact Suzanne Fanning to schedule a consultation to discuss what is best for you and your legacy. Read More

When you begin creating your estate plan you may ask yourself, “Do I need a will?”. A will is often referred to as the foundation of every estate plan and can be incredibly helpful in many situations. If you have minor children – If you are the parents of minor children you may be worried about their futures in the case that both parents are unable to care for them. A will allows you to name a guardian and/or a conservator for your children. This ensures that a person of your choosing will care for your children as well as oversee their financial and legal affairs. If you want your assets to go to certain individuals – If upon your passing, you would like your assets to be inherited by specific individuals, or if there are certain family members that you do not want to have access to your estate, a will allows you to make these distinctions. If you want to name the person who will manage your estate – If there is a specific individual or a third party that you feel would be best to manage your estate, you can name that person in your will and the court will then appoint them to manage your estate upon your passing. A will is a very important component of your estate plan and can help you accomplish many things. If you are thinking of starting estate planning, or would like to modify your current estate plan, contact Suzanne Fanning for a consultation today. Read More

Many people are unsure of what to expect when entering their first estate planning meeting. Read on for some advice from estate planning attorney, Suzanne Fanning on how to prepare for the meeting. When meeting with a new attorney, many people can become very nervous about attorney fees, or if the attorney will be pushy. If you schedule a meeting with the attorneys at Suzanne R. Fanning PLLC, you have nothing to be nervous about. Your first meeting will feel like a get to know you chat! You’ll discuss the details of your life, how you hold your assets, your plans for retirement, and other information that will be helpful for the attorney to know before offering you counsel. After the initial consult, your attorney will give you some options that are available to you moving forward. You will also be provided with information on their fees. There will be no pressure placed on you, although we do hope that we are able to help you create an estate plan that is the best fit for you! Read More

A conservatorship is a court proceeding where a person is appointed to manage somebody’s financial and legal affairs. Often times filing for a conservatorship will coincide with the filing for a guardianship, which is the physical care of somebody. Though you have some flexibility about where you may file a guardianship, where you me file for a conservatorship in Michigan is pretty straight forward. You must file a conservatorship in the county where the individual resides. For example, if the individual’s permanent address is in Ann Arbor, you must file in Washtenaw County. However, if the individual moves to another location, like a nursing home, the conservatorship can move administratively from county to county. Read More

A guardian is a person that a probate court appoints to make decisions regarding the care and custody of an incapacitated person. Though guardianships can be useful, and sometimes necessary, if there is another way for this person to be assisted with making decisions we always should do our best to offer help in the least restrictive way possible. If the individual still has some capacity, appointing a power of attorney to assist in making these decisions is favorable to guardianship. If no power of attorney has been designated, you are able to ask a court to appoint you as a guardian for the incapacitated person. In this process, the court will always ask if you can be a limited guardian, which means that you may only receive certain powers, instead of being a full guardian. For example, if you need to be able to make medical decisions for a loved one who has an upcoming surgery, the court will grant you the limited power to make only medical decisions. However, if your loved one needs more complete care, you can ask the court to grant you a full guardianship and one may be granted to you under those circumstances. Read More

If you are looking to file a guardianship, it probably means that a loved one is going through some challenges. Whether this individual is suffering from cognitive issues, or perhaps has been in an accident, our thoughts are with you during this difficult time. Michigan allows you a bit of flexibility regarding where to file a guardianship. One place that you will always be able to file a guardianship is the county in which your loved one lives. The county where they have established residence (receives mail, has a drivers license, etc.) is an appropriate place to file a guardianship. You have another option of filing a guardianship in the county where the individual is currently present. What this means is if you and your loved one both live in Ann Arbor but they are currently in a hospital in Flint, you have the option of filing for guardianship in both Washtenaw or Genesee County. This flexibility offers some convenience for you in obtaining a guardianship. Read More

If you have applied for a guardianship you must have a hearing in front of the probate court. You may be curious about what to expect during this hearing. Our attorneys are available to walk you through the process and give you some tips on what to expect. First, you will receive plenty of notice before your hearing. The court will also to appoint a guardian ad litem. This person is essentially the eyes and ears of the court. The guardian ad litem will have already met with the individual who is allegedly in need of guardianship, they may have also reached out to you and other people involved. The guardian ad litem will be present at your hearing, as they will present a report based on their findings and if the alleged incapacitated individual agrees to the guardianship or not. The court will likely also allow you the opportunity to explain why you feel the guardianship is necessary. If the incapacitated individual agrees to the guardianship, this will most likely be the only hearing that you will have and it will probably be a short hearing. However, if the individual objects to the guardianship, or would like a different guardian, the court will give you another date to come back for an evidentiary hearing. Read More

We are often asked by our clients, who is able to be appointed as a guardian. The short answer is, anyone is allowed to petition the court to become a guardian. Oftentimes a guardian may be a spouse, family member, neighbor, friend, or coworker. However, the law does provide a priority statute. This means that the court is going to look to certain people to have higher priority than other to act as a guardian. One of these people with priority, is a person that the individual in need of guardianship has named in a will or power of attorney. A spouse or child of the individual will also have priority over other family members or loved ones. Although, keep in mind when you are petitioning for guardianship that though the court typically will look to those with a higher priority, they can choose to sidestep this procedure and name someone else as guardian if there is a compelling reason to do so. Read More

When someone is appointed as a guardian, the court is going to try to make their powers as limited as possible. In order to to preserve some independence and autonomy for the individual, the court might give more specific powers to the guardian. For example, if your loved one is in the hospital, the court may give you the power to make medical decisions for them while they are unable to do so. The court can grant certain decision making powers that could me short term or long term. However, in some scenarios, an individual may be in need of all their decisions being made for them. Perhaps one of your loved ones has had a stroke, or is elderly and is suffering from dementia. In cases like these, the court may grant you full guardianship which gives you full power over both everyday decisions and bigger decisions such as medical care. Read More

If you are appointed as a Guardian, your duties may depend on what powers you were granted as a guardian. For example, if you have been appointed as a limited guardian to make medical decisions your duties may include talking to the ward’s care team, making decisions about their care plan, signing consents for surgeries, and other things of that sort. If you have been granted the power to make placement decisions you may have the duty of talking to residential homes or rehab facilities to sign any documents they may need. In addition to the duties listed above, the court will also likely require the Guardian to visit the ward at least three to four times a year and complete an annual report about the ward’s condition and medical treatments they may have had. This allows the court to see if a Guardianship is still necessary and can help determine what your Guardian duties may be moving forward. Read More

When you need guardianship of another person, typically you file for guardianship through the probate court and are granted a hearing in about three to four weeks time where you ask the court to appoint you as guardian. However there are some circumstances that are so emergent that you can not wait for that timeframe to be appointed as a guardian. This can be due to a surgery a loved one may need, transitioning a loved one from active care to hospice care, or something equally as urgent. In these cases, an emergency guardian may be needed. In emergent circumstances, you can go into the court and be asked to be appointed as a temporary guardian pending the full hearing. In these instances, you must prove to the court that this is an emergent life or death situation. If you are able to present circumstances that show there is a need for a guardian right away, the court can appoint you an emergency guardian. Read More

When you are opening an estate, you might hear the words “testate” and “intestate”. Though they may sound confusing at first, they are really just fancy legal words for something very simple. If you have a testate estate it means that your loved one who has passed has left a will, it has been submitted to the court, and tells the court who they wanted their assets to go to. If you have an intestate estate it means that your loved one passed with no will, so the court will have to use the statue in place of a will to determine who the assets should go to. It’s as simple as that! Read More

One factor that can make people reluctant to see an attorney for a probate or estate matter is all the unknown surrounding attorney fees. Therefore, it may be beneficial to provide some information regarding how attorney fees are charged in probate and estate planning matters. Attorney Fees for Estate Planning If you want to create a will, trust, or you are asking about powers of attorney an estate planning attorney will typically quote a flat fee, or a package fee, for those documents. It may be a fee per document, or it may be a more rounded figure for all of the documents. If you need additional work done after the estate plan or trust plan is generated, that might be on an hourly basis, but generally it is a flat fee that should be quoted to you in your initial interview. Attorney Fees for Probate If you have lost a loved one and need to probate an estate, have a guardianship to file, or some other matter in the probate court attorney fees are generated on an hourly basis. An attorney should provide you with an hourly rate of what they would charge to assist you with any of these matters. However, here is a tip: A lot of routine probate matters, like opening an estate or petitioning for guardianship, are very form generated which can be done my paralegals. So, ask the attorney if there is an opportunity to have a paralegal help with your matter and prepare the necessary forms at a lower rate than what the attorney would charge. Read More