Advanced Estate Planning and Probate Services for Complex Estates
For families with complex estates, family-owned businesses, or ambitious plans for charitable giving, the law office of Kaufman, Payton & Chapa provides advanced estate planning and probate services.
Our firm can assist your family with a wide range of estate planning needs, from drafting wills, trusts, and health care directives to tax planning and gifting strategies. If you are ready to create a plan for your estate, to communicate your wishes for health care, or to develop a business succession plan, contact our Michigan estate planning office to schedule a consultation.
Meeting Your Goals With the Appropriate Estate Planning Tools
A comprehensive estate plan can meet a variety of goals, from wealth preservation and tax planning to communicating one's wishes for end-of-life care. In your meeting with our attorneys, we will work with you to identify your objectives, then suggest the most appropriate tools for you. For example:
Transfer of assets: A will is the most basic level of estate planning, directing the disposition of the assets of the estate. For singles and young couples, this might be all that is needed. In many cases, however, a trust may be a valuable tool to help minimize estate taxes and avoid probate costs. There are many different types of trusts. The type of trust you choose will depend upon:
- The amount of control you would like to exercise over the assets during your lifetime (a revocable or irrevocable trust, a living trust or a testamentary trust)
- The purpose of the trust (for example, a special needs trust, a land trust, or a charitable remainder trust)
- The tax benefits you would like to achieve with the trust (for example, a life insurance trust or a grantor annuity trust)
Decision-making authority: You may want to plan for the care of underage children by appointing a guardian should you die. You may need to plan for the care of a disabled adult child or a dependent elder with a conservatorship or a durable power of attorney. It is always wise to prepare instructions to guide your family regarding the end-of-life medical care you would like to receive.
Tax planning: As part of estate planning, this can be a way to avoid future taxes for your family — and gifting strategies can affect the tax picture immediately if you would like to make large gifts to family members during your lifetime.
Charitable giving: To meet your charitable goals today, our attorneys can help you establish a family foundation or implement a land trust. We can also include charitable giving in your estate plan so you can leave a legacy.
Business succession planning: Kaufman, Payton & Chapa provides a wide range of business law services, of which business succession planning is one.
Probate and Estate Administration
After the death of a loved one, the estate will either need to pass through the Michigan probate process or, if certain trusts are in place, may require estate administration services for those trusts to be implemented or taken over by a successor trustee. Our firm handles both probate and estate administration.
We invite you to contact one of our three Michigan law offices in Farmington Hills, Detroit, and Grand Rapids to schedule a consultation with our probate and estate lawyers. Please call us at (248) 626-5000.
