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Probate

When Your Loved one Dies, We can be There for You

When a family member dies, grief and confusion are a natural result. There are funeral arrangements to be made, ordering death certificates from the funeral home, and looking for a will.

After the memorial services are complete there are many other steps to take such as getting a list of your loved one's heirs, and their names, addresses and Social Security numbers.

Your family will need to notify the Social Security Administration and find out whether survivor benefits are available.

How do We Know What the Next Steps are?

At Serafini, Michalowski, Derkacz & Associates, P.C., our compassionate lawyers can provide guidelines for all of the steps after the death of a loved one. Our legal services can ease your family's uncertainty. We are experienced in helping your loved one's personal representative with:

  • Beginning the probate proceeding to appoint a personal representative
  • Gathering of assets - finding out what they are, where they are, providing a proper value of each
  • Payments of debts - taxes, last illness and funeral costs, household bills, debts to creditors and liens
  • Distribution of assets - the balance of what is left to the beneficiaries named in the will, or according to Michigan's intestate succession laws if there is no will
Does my Loved One's Estate Have to go Through Probate Court?

Probate laws in Michigan provide for distribution of your loved one's estate whether or not your loved one had a will or a trust. If your loved one died with a will, the term is 'testate,' or without a will, the term is 'intestate.'

Generally, probate is necessary when a person dies leaving property only in their name. Not all property your loved one has an interest in is subject to probate.

Our attorneys have experience with Michigan probate and can take the confusion out of probate proceedings whether your loved one had a small estate or regular estate.

We can outline whether an unsupervised administration or supervised administration of their estate is appropriate.

Call our Sterling Heights office toll free at (866) 529-3537 for a free phone consultation, or email us.

Client Reviews
★★★★★
Thanks so much for all your help these past five years in helping me with all the legal aspects of my folks, L & E.M's, trust. Thanks for answering all my questions. It's been a difficult last 5 years on making decisions for my father, but I'm so grateful that god blessed me with them for so many years! I appreciate all you did to help me though to the end. D.C.
★★★★★
I want to thank you both for all your help and hard work on my case. This certainly was good news! You both did tremendous jobs dealing with Cigna and answering my questions. Thank you and have a wonderful Christmas season! Marc
★★★★★
Thank you so much for all of your help getting me thru this mess. You have no idea how much you have helped. I couldn’t have done this without you! Only one more hurdle, yay!! B. T.
★★★★★
I really wanted to thank you, the way you talked with me and worked with me, it was amazing. I was dreading the experience & the deposition & you really made it very easy for me. So, thank you very much for a job well done. H. H.