Services

ESTATE PLANNING 

PROTECTING YOUR HARD-EARNED ESTATE FOR YOUR LOVED ONES

 

Estate planning strategies from Mierendorf Law Offices, P.C. can preserve your home, savings and retirement accounts, and other assets for your children and heirs, assuring that the things you've worked hard for go to your chosen beneficiaries.

Without proper planning, when you die, the money and assets you've saved up over a lifetime will be distributed according to the parameters set forth in the Michigan State law. While this may seem acceptable on the surface, the reality is that often too much of a person's estate gets siphoned off to pay court and legal fees, taxes and creditors. Very little is left for the loved ones left behind and you'll have no control over how the assets are distributed.

But this doesn't have to be the case. Estate planning attorneys from Mierendorf Law Offices, P.C. can use a variety of estate planning tools to give you control over who receives your money and assets after you're gone and minimize the amount used to pay fees, taxes and debts. The firm has over 20 years of experience in estate planning and can custom tailor an estate plan for you, no matter what size your estate is.​

 

LEARN ABOUT WILLS AND TRUSTS

Living Wills and Medical Directives — Tells physicians and hospitals what treatments you want or don't want when you are incapacitated and unable to speak for yourself, including when to terminate life support in the event of a coma or incapacitation. Also, assigns someone to make health-care decisions on your behalf when you cannot.

Special Needs Trusts — A trust designed to hold assets that will pay for care and upkeep of a person with special needs without making the beneficiary ineligible for Medicaid.

Trusts for Minors — A trust designed to hold assets for a minor child and control use of those assets until the child comes of age, ensuring responsible use of the assets.

Estate Tax Avoidance Planning — Various estate planning tools are used to strategically minimize taxes on an estate and maximize the amount of estate available to heirs.

Asset Protection Planning — Various estate planning tools are used strategically to protect assets from creditors and lawsuits.

Probate Avoidance Planning — Various estate planning tools are used strategically to keep assets out of probate where a decedent has little control over them.

HOW CAN I AVOID A PROBATE?

All clients wish to avoid a probate, but many are unsure why. If a client executes a will and then dies, the will needs to be probated. In addition to the costs of a probate, the will and distribution of assets is a public record.

That means on the day your children and loved ones receive the assets, their names and addresses and amounts of distribution become a public record. A revocable living trust avoids that.

A trust can also provide protection for children who may have drug or alcohol problems, bad spending habits or troubled marriages.