Estate Planning

The attorneys at Weisman, Young & Ruemenapp, P.C. take pride in offering a personal approach toward your estate planning needs. Proper planning provides important benefits for you and your loved ones both during your lifetime and upon your death. We are sensitive to those matters that are most important to you, and take care to ensure that your concerns are addressed and your objectives are met.

Our office is located in Bingham Farms, Michigan, and we have attorneys who are licensed to practice in Michigan and Ohio. Our clients range from individuals and couples who need to either establish a new estate plan or modify an existing estate plan, to business owners, doctors, attorneys and other professionals who need sophisticated tax, business succession and asset protection planning.

For those individuals and couples who do not have any estate plan documents in place it is important to recognize the benefits of a properly designed estate plan. The primary components of an estate plan include the following documents:

  • Durable Power of Attorney. This is the document in which you designate an individual or individuals to make financial decisions for you in the event you are unable to do so.
  • Health Care Declaration. This is the document in which you provide instruction regarding your medical care and designate an individual and one successor to make medical decisions for you in the event you are unable to do so.
  • Last Will and Testament. In the absence of a revocable trust, your Last Will and Testament provides for the distribution of your property upon your death. If you currently have or will establish a revocable trust, then your Last Will and Testament will act as a pour-over instrument in which all of the property in your estate passes upon your death to your Revocable Trust, where provisions are mode for its ultimate disposition. Regardless of whether a Revocable Trust will be utilized in your estate planning, your Last Will and Testament serves the very important function of designating guardians for your minor children, and conservators of their estates.
  • Revocable Trust. A Revocable Trust can help you maximize estate tax savings and also avoid probate upon your death. Your Revocable Trust will provide for the distribution of your property upon your death, and may include provisions for the establishment of trusts to hold property left to minor children or other beneficiaries who may need additional protections due to age or other circumstances. In a typical situation, you will be the trustee of your Revocable Trust during your lifetime, but the documents will provide designations of successor trustees who will administer the property of the Revocable Trust in the event of your resignation, disability or death.

For those individuals who have substantial assets and may be subject to estate taxes upon their death, we offer additional planning techniques such as Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts ("ILIT"), Qualified Personal Residence Trusts ("QPRT"), Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts ("GRAT") and sales of interests in closely-held entities to Intentionally Defective Irrevocable Trusts (IDIT).

For those families with special situations and beneficiaries who are minors in need of special planning, we offer Special Needs Trusts that allow you to provide additional resources to Medicaid recipients without jeopardizing their eligibility, and Retirement Plan Beneficiary Trusts which allow you to hold retirement plan assets in trust for a designated beneficiary and, at the same time, maximize income tax deferrals that are available to that beneficiary.

For individuals and corporations who have creditor concerns, we also provide sophisticated asset protection planning including offshore asset protection trusts and domestic asset protection trusts ("DAPT").

Please contact us at 248.258.2700 for additional information and to discuss how we may assist you in meeting your specific needs and objectives.

  • Last Will and Testaments
  • Revocable Trusts
  • Financial Power of Attorney and Health Care Power of Attorney
  • Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts
  • Retirement Plan Beneficiary Trusts
  • Special Needs Trusts
  • Minors Trusts
  • 529 Plans
  • Lifetime Gifting Plans
  • Business Succession Planning
  • Family Entities (Limited Partnerships and Limited Liability Companies)
  • Qualified Personal Residence Trusts ("QPRT")
  • Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts ("GRAT")
  • Sales to Intentionally Defective Irrevocable Trusts ("IDIT")
  • Nuptial Agreements (Prenuptial Agreements and Postnuptial Agreements)
  • Charitable Foundations/Charitable Remainder Annuity Trusts and Charitable Remainder Unitrusts
  • Elder Law