Trusts & Administration

For families with modest or significant wealth, establishing a trust can be an important part of a comprehensive estate plan. Depending on your estate goals, a trust can protect your assets, minimize taxation now and at the time of your death, help your family avoid probate, and ensure your loved ones are taken care of financially after you are gone.

Establish A Trust In Michigan

Selecting and creating a trust can be extremely complex, and it requires the guidance of a highly skilled attorney. At Collens Estate Law, we have an established estate planning practice and our Royal Oak-based lawyers are highly knowledgeable on the nuances of trust, estate and tax laws.

As your legal counsel, we will help you understand which type of trust may be right for you and your family. The first steps include assessing your estate and assets, and helping you clarify your estate objectives. At this point, we will fully educate you on your trust options. Our lawyers will explain the differences between living and testamentary trusts, as well as revocable versus irrevocable trusts.

Some of the specific trusts we may explore include:

• SNT (Special Needs Trusts)
• Medicaid trusts/Miller trusts
• Generation-skipping trusts
• Charitable lead annuity trusts (CLAT)
• Non-U.S. citizen trusts
• Irrevocable trusts
• Credit-shelter trusts (bypass trusts)
• Life insurance trusts
• Grantor-retained interest trusts
• Spendthrift trusts
• Pet trusts
• Minor children’s trust

Whether your goals are to manage your wealth and minimize taxation during your lifetime, effectively transfer your assets at the time of your death, or help your family avoid probate — a trust can be the right instrument to achieve your objectives.

Trust Administration And Trustee Advisement

Once we have identified the right trust for your goals, our lawyers will establish the trust and ensure its legal and proper funding with real property, stocks, bonds or other financial accounts.

When the time comes to distribute assets, we advise on all aspects of trust administration. Our lawyers can help ensure that fiduciaries understand their responsibilities and that beneficiaries understand their rights. With our legal guidance, clients can rest assured that trust assets will be dispersed in a timely manner and in accordance with the law.

In the event a dispute arises over a trust, our attorneys offer aggressive advocacy during trust litigation.