Estate Lawyer Serving Royal Oak, MI

Estate Lawyer Serving Royal Oak

Have you thought about what will happen to your assets after you’re gone? Are you concerned about who will make decisions for you if and when you are no longer able to do so yourself? Perhaps you’ve recently lost a loved one and need help with the probate process. Whatever your estate law needs, Bingham Legal Group PC is standing by to help you meet them.

We have over 60 years of experience serving clients in Royal Oak and across the Detroit area, and we are ready to apply these decades of knowledge to your case. Contact us today for an initial consultation with an estate lawyer serving Royal Oak, and let’s discuss your matter together.

How Bingham Legal Group PC Can Help

At Bingham Legal Group PC, we are proud to offer several estate-planning legal services for Royal Oak residents. Those services include counseling for:

• Asset protection (wills, trusts, etc.)
• Beneficiary designations
• Powers of attorney
• Guardianships and conservatorships
• Advance care directives/living wills
• Special-needs trusts
• Medicare/nursing home planning
• Long-term care planning
• Elder law

Our attorneys also help families through matters related to probate, including probate litigation and probate administration.

Estate Planning

The term “estate planning” might sound as though it’s for retirees and people who have amassed a lot of money, property, investments, and other assets. In reality, estate planning is for everybody in Michigan.

If you die without a will, you lose control over where your assets go. By taking the time to create a thoughtful estate plan, not only can you spell out specific directions of how to distribute your money and possessions, but you can also save your heirs on taxes.

What Is Estate Planning?

Estate planning refers to the creation of legal documents that spell out how to manage and distribute your estate (assets and possessions) after your death as well as to make medical and financial arrangements for your potential incapacity. The central part of the process is documenting your wishes about your finances and healthcare—and spelling out who empower to execute your plan.

Estate plans can include a last will and testament, trusts (revocable or irrevocable), powers of attorney, advanced healthcare directives, guardianship arrangements, and more.

Estate planning also takes probate into account. Probate is the legal process of distributing your estate after you die, a process that can last weeks, months or—when the deceased did not take adequate preparation in advance—even years.

Despite what TV and online ads might lead you to believe, estate planning is deceptively complex and involves much more than filling out forms. It involves carefully weighing your needs and goals, determining the legal instruments that will help you meet them, and then drafting those instruments so that they are clear and enforceable. Any mistakes in the process could tie up your estate, burden your heirs with excessive taxes, or leave them to fight over conflicting interpretations of your wishes.

What Happens If I Die Without an Estate Plan?

If you die without an estate plan or if your plan is incomplete, a probate court will determine the distribution of assets according to Michigan’s intestate laws. A judge you probably have never met will determine who gets your assets and property—decisions that may not align with your wishes.

Failing to create a proper estate plan may cause unnecessarily high taxes, fees, administration expenses, and potential conflicts in probate court. Without an effective estate plan in place, your assets are tied up in probate. Moreover, your survivors may be burdened during a time when they are already emotional. An estate plan relieves them of most decision-making responsibilities.

How an Estate Lawyer Can Help

An estate lawyer’s primary job is to help a client create a robust and binding plan that provides clear directions on how to handle the client’s assets and liabilities after they pass away. Among the reasons someone in Michigan would need an estate lawyer are:

• To provide for the legal transfer of assets from one person to another according to the first person’s wishes
• To minimize estate taxes when those assets transfer
• To avoid family in-fighting
• To create important legal documents, such as wills, living wills, trusts, guardianships, and powers of attorney
• To resolve any debts from a deceased person’s estate

Probate

Probate is the court-supervised process of administering a deceased person’s estate. A fully formed estate plan can speed up probate by spelling out how assets should be distributed. The plan can also remove assets from going to probate and instead direct them immediately to an heir.

The Oakland County Probate Court oversees the probate process In Royal Oak.

What Is the Probate Process?

When the deceased leaves behind an estate plan, the probate process starts with filing the will with the probate court upon their death. The court then validates the will and appoints a personal representative to fulfill the wishes as stated in the will. Typically, the will names the personal representative, and the court upholds this wish when naming a person for the position.

If you own money on a car loan, a mortgage, or on any credit cards when you die, your creditors can (and almost certainly will) file claims against your estate as part of the probate process. Your personal representative will work with the creditors through the probate court to settle any outstanding debts.

Not surprisingly, the probate process can be complex, with strict rules and requirements under Michigan and federal law, including estate tax (inheritance tax) and gift tax laws.

If you serve as a loved one’s personal representative, our estate attorneys serving Royal Oak can guide you through the probate process, advise you on your duties and obligations, and help you meet them effectively.

Probate Litigation

While most estates go through probate with no significant issues or disputes, conflicts do sometimes arise—conflicts that may require probate litigation to resolve. At Bingham Legal Group PC, we have more than 20 years of experience representing clients on both sides of probate litigation and will contests. We understand the delicate nature of these disputes and what it takes to address them effectively. This can involve negotiating with the executor or the contesting parties to arrive at an amicable resolution. However, we also have extensive experience providing legal representation in court if alternative dispute resolution fails.

Contact Royal Oak Estate Lawyers

Are you a Royal Oak resident in need of estate planning help? Then contact Bingham Legal Group PC today for an initial consultation with an estate lawyer serving Royal Oak. We will listen to your needs and concerns, advise you on your options, and develop the tools you need to reach your goals.

Visiting Our Offices

You can also see us in person at:

30100 Telegraph Road, Suite 360
Bingham Farms MI, 48025

Here are driving directions to our offices.

From the North:

• Take I-75 S towards Detroit
• Take the exit for W 14 Mile Rd
• Turn right onto W 14 Mile Rd
• Turn left onto US-24 S
• Destination will be on your left

From the South:

• Take I-75 N towards Flint
• Take the exit for W 14 Mile Rd
• Turn left onto W 14 Mile Rd
• Turn left onto Telegraph Rd
• Destination will be on the left

From the East:

• Take I-696 W towards Lansing
• Take the exit for Telegraph Rd
• Turn left onto Telegraph Rd
• Destination will be on the right

From the West:

• Take I-696 E towards Port Huron
• Take the exit for Telegraph Rd
• Turn right onto Telegraph Rd
• Destination will be on the right