Canton is big, and the households in it do not have much in common with each other. Newer subdivisions full of young families, long-settled streets, and a genuinely international community in which a meaningful number of families hold property or have heirs outside the United States. That last group is the one most poorly served by standard estate planning advice, so it is worth addressing directly, but it is not the only situation we handle here.
Remy Law PLLC serves Canton and the surrounding Wayne County communities from Ann Arbor. George Remy has practiced law in Michigan for more than eighteen years, handles every plan personally, and quotes a flat fee before starting.
What Canton households actually need to plan around
Assets that are not in this country. An apartment, farmland, or bank accounts abroad will generally not transfer through a Michigan will the way domestic property does. Real estate in particular is usually governed by the law of the country it sits in, and some legal systems specify who must inherit regardless of what a will says. A plan that ignores this leaves the family to discover it later, which is the worst time.
Heirs and decision-makers who live abroad. Naming a sibling overseas as your power of attorney or your child’s guardian is entirely reasonable and often the right instinct. It also comes with friction that a locally named person does not face. The usual answer is not to change who you want, but to add a local alternate who can act in the first week while the person you actually chose gets here.
A non-citizen spouse. Certain tax rules that apply automatically between spouses operate differently when one spouse is not a U.S. citizen, and there are established structures built for that. Whether any of them matter to you depends on the size of your estate and on immigration status. It is a question worth asking on the first call rather than discovering later.
Newer homes with real mortgages. Much of Canton was built in the last thirty years, which means a lot of households here own a substantial house with a substantial loan against it. That changes what your family would actually receive and whether life insurance is sized correctly, and it is easy to get wrong by planning around the purchase price instead of the equity.
A trust as the anchor of the plan. Nearly every Canton plan we draft is built around a revocable living trust holding the house, and for a cross-border family the reasons stack up. It keeps the American portion of the estate private and out of court, so the part you can control is settled on your terms rather than a court calendar. It also avoids a problem that catches these families specifically: a court process generally expects a personal representative who can appear, and a relative living overseas is poorly placed to serve. A successor trustee has authority immediately and can act from anywhere. When the foreign assets are going to require their own handling in their own country, keeping the U.S. side out of court is worth a great deal.
Children, and the terms on which they inherit. Separate from anything cross-border, a trust is what lets you control when your children receive what you leave them. Without one, a minor’s inheritance is held and then handed over outright at eighteen. Families who have worked hard to build something here are rarely comfortable with that, and a trust lets you release it in stages, reserve part for education, and appoint someone to manage it until then.
Retirement accounts and beneficiary forms. As everywhere, 401(k)s, IRAs, and life insurance pass by beneficiary designation and not through a will. For families who have moved between employers, and sometimes between countries, these forms are the most likely thing in the plan to be out of date.
Start with the inventory
For a cross-border family, the first useful step is not drafting. It is a written list of what exists and which country it is in. Once that exists, we can tell you plainly which parts a Michigan estate plan handles, and which parts need a lawyer in the other jurisdiction. We would rather say that early than draft around a gap.
Common questions from Canton families
I own property in another country. Does my Michigan will cover it?
Usually not, or not reliably. Real estate is generally governed by the law of the place where it sits, and many countries do not give effect to a Michigan will the way you would expect. Some have rules that dictate who must inherit, regardless of what your will says. The plan needs to account for that rather than assume one document reaches everything.
My spouse is not a U.S. citizen. Does that change anything?
It can, and it is worth raising early. Some estate tax provisions that apply automatically between spouses work differently when one spouse is not a citizen, and there are specific structures designed for that situation. Whether any of it applies to you depends on the size of the estate and on immigration status, so it is a question to ask rather than assume. Bring it up on the first call.
Can I name a guardian who lives overseas?
You can nominate whoever you believe is right, and your nomination carries real weight. Be aware that a guardian living abroad faces practical hurdles a local guardian does not, including travel, immigration status, and the time it takes to get here in an emergency. Many families in this situation name a local person as the immediate alternate for exactly that reason.
We have accounts in two countries. Where do we start?
With a written inventory, before any drafting. Cross-border plans fail most often because nobody made a complete list of what exists and where. Once we know what sits in which country, we can tell you which parts a Michigan plan handles and which parts need counsel in the other jurisdiction.