Estate & Trust Services

a house doll and its assets on the desktop

Estate Planning Services

Estate Planning is an area we are passionate about. We have seen too many cases where no estate plan, or an improper estate plan, has resulted in circumstances that the taxpayer did not want. We are NOT attorneys, and we cannot do legal work or give legal advice. Our service is to help you. We will be the coordinator, helping you gather your information, assist you with the difficult decisions and guide you through the implementation. If you do not have an attorney, we can recommend one who will be able to handle your specific circumstances.

Estate and/or Trust Administration

Being a Personal Representative for an estate or a Trustee for a trust is NOT an easy job. Most people who are chosen for these positions have no idea how to do the work. Many go to the attorney who wrote the documents and hire that person to do the job for them. Hiring an attorney is very expensive, and not all attorneys are well versed in estate and trust administration. Also, many attorneys do not understand the tax consequences that go with assets being distributed to beneficiaries, and those tax consequences may come many years later.

We are NOT attorneys, and we cannot do legal work or give legal advice. However, most of an estate or trust administration is NOT legal work. And because we have handled hundreds of these engagements, we can cover ALL the non-legal portions, usually faster and always with less cost. And, we give the attorney what is needed for them to do their part efficiently.

Fiduciary Accounting for Estates and Trusts

This is a very specialized form of accounting that most CPA firms are not familiar with. We have been hired by trustees for very large trusts to handle the accounting and tax matters for them. The work is unique, and with trusts spanning multiple generations and with highly diversified assets, we have experience not seen in most CPA firms. Finally, our work in this area has been part of legal proceedings, and highly scrutinized by the courts. We are very confident that we can handle any and all accounting matters for a trustee.

Trustee Services

What Can Go Wrong?
When an individual or couple establish a trust, finding the right person to be the trustee is often the most difficult part of establishing the trust. It is common for the trustor to name a child or close friend as the trustee. However, in most cases, this person has no experience in being a trustee. Also, if the trustee is a child and a beneficiary of the trust, their duties as trustee may conflict with their desires as a beneficiary. Finally, naming a child as trustee can often create disharmony within the family with their siblings, who are also beneficiaries.

Why Use Our Trustee Service?
Our Trustee Services provide an INDEPENDENT, third party to complete the trust administration. Also, with decades of experience handling trust accounting and tax matters, we can keep the administration costs down.

What is the Cost?
We believe in fee transparency, therefore you will know the fees up front. Our fees are all-inclusive, covering all the administration, accounting and tax services and general overview needed by the trust. We do not have to contract with third parties for any of these services. We also work with all legal representatives who are responsible for the legal matters of your trust. In Michigan, trustees are allowed “reasonable compensation”. Unfortunately, Michigan does not define “reasonable compensation”. We have based our fees on extensive review of various state statutes where fees are explicitly defined, and our fees are very competitive with these statutory fees. Finally, our service is personal and personalized to your trust and beneficiary needs.

Protect what you worked so hard to earn

Estate Planning Services

Estate and/or Trust Administration

Fiduciary Accounting for Estates and Trusts

Trustee Services

For more information, please download our Brochure.