Estate planning for Farmington Hills and Farmington, Michigan families
Wills, revocable living trusts, powers of attorney and probate guidance for Farmington Hills households; with a flat fee quoted in writing before any work begins.
Farmington Hills and Farmington are full of long-settled households: a home owned for twenty or thirty years, a pension or 401(k) from a long career, adult children scattered across the country, and often a spouse whose care needs are the real reason the plan exists. The work here is less about inventing something new and more about making sure the documents that exist actually line up with how the assets are titled today.
Where we work in and around Farmington Hills
Farmington Hills, Farmington, downtown Farmington, Heritage Park area, Orchard Hills, Wood Creek Farms, Scott Lake, Chatham Hills, Heritage Hill, Gill Garden Homes, Coventry Gardens, and nearby Livonia, Northville and Novi.
What a Farmington Hills estate plan usually includes
- a will or revocable living trust, chosen on whether the estate should stay out of the Pontiac courthouse;
- a financial durable power of attorney so someone can handle bills, accounts and property if you cannot;
- a patient advocate designation naming who makes health care decisions, with a HIPAA authorization so they can actually get the records;
- a review of every beneficiary designation, because retirement accounts and life insurance pass by that form rather than by the will;
- a deed review for the Farmington Hills home, since real estate is the asset most likely to force a family into probate.
What comes up most often in Farmington Hills
A long-owned home and outdated titling
Homes bought decades ago are often still titled the way they were when they were purchased, sometimes jointly with a spouse who has since died, which means the house now passes through probate unless a new deed is recorded. A lady bird deed or retitling into a trust fixes that while the owner is still living, without touching the mortgage or the tax situation.
Pensions, 401(k)s and beneficiary forms nobody has rechecked
Retirement accounts from employers across a long career pass by beneficiary form, not by the will. Forms named twenty years ago frequently list someone who has died, an ex-spouse, or no one at all, and each of those sends the account to a different and usually worse result. Reviewing every designation is part of the plan.
A spouse needing long-term care
When one spouse's health declines, the question changes from who inherits to how the healthy spouse survives the cost of care. The order of documents matters: a financial power of attorney lets the healthy spouse act without court, and planning done before a crisis preserves far more than anything done after.
Adult children out of state
When the people who would handle everything live in another state, the plan has to work remotely: a trustee comfortable acting by phone and email, documents easy to find, and as little as possible that requires a trip to Pontiac.
Request a free consultation in Farmington Hills
Where a Farmington Hills estate is probated
Farmington Hills sits in Oakland County, so an estate for someone who lived here is opened at the Oakland County Probate Court in Pontiac. Addresses, hours and filing details are on the Oakland County probate page, and the wider county overview is on the Oakland County estate planning page. Most of that process is avoidable with planning done in advance.
The step almost everyone misses
Services and pricing
- Estate planning services
- Estate plan packages and flat fee pricing
- Articles, probate courts and areas we serve
Book a consultation call
Tell us about your family and what you own. Your request goes directly to Attorney Badri Yono Jr. of Foster Swift Collins & Smith, P.C., who runs a conflict check before contacting you directly. You get a flat fee in writing before any work starts, so there is no meter running and no surprise invoice. Most Farmington Hills clients finish the whole process without driving to Pontiac once.
Request a free consultation in Farmington Hills
This is an intake funnel and does not provide legal advice or legal representation. THIS FUNNEL IS NOT A LAW FIRM. Using this funnel or submitting a request does not create an attorney-client relationship. All requests are referred to Attorney Badri Yono Jr. (P88777) of Foster Swift Collins & Smith, P.C., who will provide legal services after an engagement agreement is executed, subject to its terms.
Talk with Attorney Badri Yono Jr.
Tell us about your family and we'll connect you directly with Attorney Badri Yono Jr. of Foster Swift; with a flat fee quoted in writing before any work begins.