A Michigan couple spent thirty years building a comfortable estate, a paid-off home, retirement savings, a brokerage account, life insurance. When they passed, their three adult children each inherited roughly $500,000. No strings attached. No restrictions. Just outright distributions, exactly as the will directed. Within eighteen months, here’s what happened. Their daughter deposited her inheritance … Read more
It Started With a Hesitation at the Car Door Three years ago, Ryan and his nine-year-old son JT had a normal relationship. Not perfect, divorce is never perfect, but normal. JT was enthusiastic about both homes. Exchanges were civil. His school records were stable. By any reasonable measure, the family was adjusting. Then something shifted. … Read more
When a loved one dies, immediate access to bank accounts is often a concern. Many assume a spouse or child can withdraw funds right away, but Michigan law does not always allow this. Access depends on account titling and prior estate planning. We advise clients in Oakland and Macomb Counties, and Southeast Michigan area, that … Read more
You thought Medicaid covered Mom’s nursing home care. It did, for as long as she was alive. Then a letter arrived from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services demanding reimbursement from her estate. The house you grew up in? It’s now at risk. Most Michigan families have no idea this is coming. They … Read more
When a marriage ends, one of the most common concerns we hear is whether an inheritance is at risk. Many people assume that anything received from a parent or relative is automatically protected. Michigan law does offer strong safeguards for inherited property, but those protections are not absolute. The way an inheritance is handled before … Read more
The Lifestyle That Didn’t Add Up On paper, Daniel R. was a modestly successful entrepreneur. His tax returns showed an adjusted gross income of about $165,000 a year, comfortable, certainly, but nothing remarkable for a 42-year-old Oakland County businessman with a consulting LLC, a vape retail store, and a few real estate projects on the … Read more
A Michigan family paid $4,500 for a comprehensive trust-based estate plan. The attorney drafted solid documents. Mom signed everything. She filed the binder on a shelf, told the kids “everything is taken care of,” and went back to living her life. Fifteen years later, she passed away. Her three adult children opened the binder expecting … Read more
The Divorce Nobody Talks About There’s a version of divorce that doesn’t make the news. No explosive courtroom accusations, no social media screenshots, no custody battle over a six-year-old. No dramatic moment of revelation that fits neatly into a story. It looks more like this: a 60-year-old woman sitting across from her husband of 31 … Read more
Serving as a personal representative or trustee is an honor, and a legal minefield. Michigan law imposes fiduciary duties on anyone who administers an estate or trust, and those duties come with teeth. Make the wrong call, and you’re not just inconveniencing beneficiaries. You’re exposing yourself to personal liability, meaning your own assets are on … Read more
Ten months ago, a five-year-old girl named AB lost her mother in a hit-and-run crash in Royal Oak. What followed was the kind of grief no family is ever truly prepared for, but the people who showed up for AB and her father in those first agonizing months were the same people who had always … Read more
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Phone
Main Office Address
Boroja, Bernier & Associates
Corporate Office
49139 Schoenherr Rd. Shelby Township, MI 48315
(586) 991-7611
By Appointment Only
100 West Big Beaver Road, Suite 200, Troy, MI 48084
(248) 677-2250
2723 South State Street, Suite 150, Ann Arbor, MI 48104
(734) 749-9400
120 N Washington Square Suite 300, Lansing, MI 48933
(517) 760-6600
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