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 submitted through this funnel are referred to Attorney Badri Yono Jr. (P88777) of Foster Swift Collins & Smith, P.C., who will conduct a conflict check before communicating directly with you and will provide legal services after an engagement agreement is executed, subject to its terms.
Badri Yono Jr. Esq.Foster Swift Collins & Smith, P.C.

Macomb County Estate Planning Lawyer

Attorney Badri Yono Jr. of Foster Swift Collins & Smith, P.C. helps Macomb County, Michigan families with wills, revocable living trusts, financial powers of attorney and patient advocate designations. Every plan is quoted as a flat fee in writing before any work begins.

Estate planning in Macomb County is rarely about taxes. It is about making sure one house passes cleanly to the right people, that somebody has legal authority the moment a parent has a stroke, and that the family is not paying court costs out of an estate that was never large to begin with. The families who need a plan most here are usually the ones least likely to have one, which is the whole problem: the documents that would have prevented a court case cost a small fraction of the case that follows it.

Macomb County Wills and Trusts Attorney

A Macomb County estate plan usually starts with a choice between a will and a revocable living trust. A trust can keep an estate out of the Mount Clemens probate court, but only for the assets actually titled into it; see funding your trust.

Macomb County Powers of Attorney

A financial durable power of attorney names who handles bills, accounts and property if you cannot. A patient advocate designation names who makes health care decisions, and a HIPAA authorization lets them get the records.

Estate planning matters handled for Macomb County families include:

Macomb County Probate and Trust Administration

When someone who lived in Macomb County dies with assets in their sole name, the estate is opened at the Macomb County Probate Court in Mount Clemens, at 40 N. Main St., 5th Floor, Mt. Clemens, MI 48043. Macomb County does not accept filings after 4:00 p.m., by email, or by fax, so the paperwork has to arrive in person and in time. Filing methods, hours and fees are on the Macomb County probate page.

Estate Planning Situations Common in Macomb County

A modest estate where probate costs bite hardest

Filing fees, certified letters, publication requirements and the court's inventory fee are a far bigger percentage of a small estate than a large one. A deed in the right form and correct beneficiary designations can avoid nearly all of it, for a fraction of what the court process costs. When there is not much to divide, there is even less reason to hand part of it to the court.

Plant, trade and union pensions with old beneficiary forms

Pensions, 401(k)s and union life insurance pay whoever is named on the form; even if that person is an ex-spouse, or someone who died years ago. Requesting a current copy of every designation is free, and it repeatedly turns up surprises. This is the single most common way a Macomb County family's plan quietly fails, because the form controls and the will does not.

Keeping the family home in the family

Where one adult child has lived with a parent and provided daily care, the real question is whether that child can stay in the house. Left unaddressed, the home is simply an asset to be divided among everyone, and the child who stayed is out of luck. Said clearly in a trust, a deed or a written agreement among the family, it can be handled fairly and without a dispute.

No documents at all after a sudden illness

Once someone loses capacity it is too late to sign a power of attorney, and the family's only remaining route is a guardianship and conservatorship petition in Mount Clemens. That case is slower, public, and more expensive than the documents would have been; and it gives a judge authority over decisions the parent would have made themselves.

The cottage, the lakefront, and the property you did not plan for

A Michigan family with a place up north or on the lake almost always owns it in a personal name, which means it passes through probate like everything else; and if the ownership is in joint names with a sibling, a death can force a sale nobody wanted. Real estate held for multiple generations deserves either its own entity or a specific instruction in the trust about who keeps it, who buys whom out, and over what period. Deciding that in advance is what keeps the cottage from becoming the reason the family stops speaking.

Communities Served in Macomb County

Cities and Villages

  • Armada
  • Center Line
  • Eastpointe
  • Fraser
  • Grosse Pointe Shores
  • Memphis
  • Mount Clemens
  • New Baltimore
  • New Haven
  • Richmond
  • Romeo
  • Roseville
  • St. Clair Shores
  • Sterling Heights
  • Utica
  • Warren

Townships

  • Armada Township
  • Bruce Township
  • Chesterfield Township
  • Clinton Township
  • Harrison Township
  • Lenox Township
  • Macomb Township
  • Ray Township
  • Richmond Township
  • Shelby Township
  • Washington Township

For more information, request a consultation with a Macomb County estate planning attorney, or see flat fee plans.

Request a consultation

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.

Request a Consultation