Comprehensive Estate Plans - A Roadmap for Life’s Crises
An estate plan is more than a pile of legal papers, it's your guide for tough times.
Protect what matters most to you with personalized estate planning from Thomas Legal, PLLC. You’ll receive a plan designed around your unique goals. Your legacy will stay secure with precision and care.
Don’t rely on Big Tech’s one-size-fits-all kits. They prioritize global scale over true personalization and accuracy. Instead, work with a Michigan attorney that provides expert guidance every step of the way.
Your plan will help you—and, when the time comes, the people you choose—navigate transactions with Michigan banks, your financial and tax advisors, and state offices like the Michigan Secretary of State. Your plan can also help reduce creditor risks and guard against bad actors.
Secure your estate before it’s too late!
Estate Planning Tools and Options
Estate Planning Tools
Trust-Based Estate Plan
Trust-Based Estate Plan
When you click the button below, you’ll be taken to a description of common estate planning tools to help you understand your options and make informed decisions about your plan.
Trust-Based Estate Plan
Trust-Based Estate Plan
Trust-Based Estate Plan
You gain control and privacy over your assets while avoiding probate with a trust-based estate plan. Your plan allows you to efficiently manage debts and expenses, distribute gifts on your terms, protect your beneficiaries through staggered distributions, and name guardians for your children with a pour-over will.
Will-Based Estate Plan
Trust-Based Estate Plan
Financial Power of Attorney and Patient Advocate Designation
With a will-based estate plan, you ensure your wishes are fulfilled through probate. Your plan allows you to manage debts and expenses, designate how your assets are distributed, name guardians for your children, and efficiently and effectively use the probate process to carry out your goals.
Financial Power of Attorney and Patient Advocate Designation
Financial Power of Attorney and Patient Advocate Designation
Your durable financial power of attorney and patient advocate designation allow someone you trust can handle your financial and medical decisions if you lose capacity. With Michigan’s new Uniform Power of Attorney Act effective July 1, 2024, you can make your documents easier for institutions to recognize, so updating your power of attorney now helps you avoid delays and ensures your wishes are honored smoothly.
Ladybird Deed
With a Ladybird Deed, you keep full control of your property during your lifetime while ensuring it automatically transfers to your chosen beneficiary when you pass away—without probate. Your deed lets you live in, sell, or refinance the property freely, avoid probate costs, and maintain tax and Medicaid advantages under Michigan law.
An Estate Plan Without a Trust or Will
Sometimes the plan that fits best helps you avoid probate without added complexity, using tools like your financial power of attorney, patient advocate designation, beneficiary designations, and Ladybird deed. You maintain full control during your lifetime while ensuring your assets transfer directly to your beneficiaries and avoiding guardianship or conservatorship proceedings.