Most people would rather not think about that, but there comes a time when you need to decide what happens with your estate after your inevitable demise. If you live in Michigan you should seek legal advice from experienced estate planning lawyers in Traverse City and the surrounding area. Just to make sure the members of your family won’t find themselves involved in a lengthy and costly probate and your estate will be divided the way you think best. Under Michigan law, if someone dies without a will, a probate will be necessary to decide the order in which your surviving family members get to inherit  parts of your estate. It’s not only a complex procedure, but also one fraught with peril. If you have a large estate, a probate and the legal wrangling it entails can destroy your family. By the time it ends, they might not be on speaking terms anymore. And you cannot be sure who gets what out of your estate.Reaching out to an estate planning lawyer in Michigan can help you avoid such an unfortunate situation. One of the best solutions is to prepare both a will and a living trust.

Two women reviewing paperwork; image by Freshh Connection, via Unsplash.com.

What is a living trust? When you set up a living trust you can include in it almost every type of asset from bank accounts to real estate. Your estate planning lawyer will help you draw up the trust document listing the beneficiaries and the future trustee, namely the person you choose to administer your assets after your demise. Obviously, you will get to be the trustee for the rest of your life so everything is under your complete control. When you pass away, the trustee of your choice will succeed you and they will have full authority to transfer any asset to the beneficiaries named in the document. No need to go through a probate, no infighting, no problems. Any asset not included in the living trust can be disposed of in your will. If you do not prepare a will, then those remaining assets will be divided through a probate using the laws of intestacy that exist in the state of Michigan. At the same time, an estate planning lawyer can help you with any problem affecting your property while you’re alive through careful asset protection management. Michigan asset protection lawyers can help you find legal ways to keep your estate safe in case you’re slapped with a lawsuit. For instance, if you’re involved in a car accident and you get sued for damages, an asset protection plan can help you avoid losing your property. The same goes for a lawsuit arising from a credit card debt or a foreclosure. However, you need to do this before being sued. If you try to protect your asset when creditors are already banging on your door, the judge will consider it a scam and will reverse whatever protection plan you put in place.Drawing up an asset protection plan and placing your most important assets under a Limited Liability Corporation is a precautionary measure.  Or you can create an asset protection trust to include most of your wealth. If anything goes wrong and you need to pay damages, they won’t be able to touch anything you put in the trust.