Probate & Trust Administration
Steady Guidance When a Loved One Dies
Losing a family member is difficult enough. Settling an estate or administering a trust can add an entirely new set of responsibilities at a time when your family is already dealing with grief, uncertainty, and important decisions.
At Cross + Compass, PLC, we help personal representatives, trustees, beneficiaries, and families throughout Petoskey and Northern Michigan navigate the legal and practical responsibilities that arise after a loved one’s death.
Whether an estate must go through probate, assets are held in a trust, or both processes are involved, our goal is simple:
Understand what needs to be done. Develop a clear path forward. Complete the administration correctly and efficiently.
📞 Call us today: (231) 373-5245
✉️ steve@crosscompasslaw.com
Probate Administration
Probate is the legal process used to administer certain assets owned by a person at death.
Depending on how your loved one’s assets were owned and how the estate plan was structured, probate may be necessary to appoint a Personal Representative, address creditors, handle property, and ultimately distribute the estate to the appropriate beneficiaries or heirs.
Being named as Personal Representative in a Will does not mean you are expected to know how to administer an estate on your own.
A Personal Representative is a fiduciary with important legal responsibilities. We help guide you through those responsibilities from the initial court filing through final distribution and closing of the estate.
We can help with:
Determining whether probate is necessary
Opening the estate with the appropriate Michigan Probate Court
Appointing the Personal Representative
Identifying heirs, beneficiaries, and interested persons
Preparing required notices and court filings
Identifying and valuing estate assets
Preparing the estate inventory
Addressing debts and creditor claims
Coordinating with accountants and financial advisors
Transferring or selling real estate
Preparing deeds and other property-transfer documents
Resolving distribution questions
Making final distributions and closing the estate
Every estate is different. Some are straightforward. Others involve real estate, family cottages, businesses, difficult beneficiary relationships, creditor issues, or assets that were never properly transferred into a trust.
Our job is to identify those issues early and give you a clear path forward.
Trust Administration
A Revocable Living Trust may avoid probate for assets properly transferred to the trust, but avoiding probate does not mean there is nothing to do after death.
When the person who created a trust dies, the successor Trustee assumes significant legal and fiduciary responsibilities.
The Trustee may need to identify and value assets, communicate with beneficiaries, address debts and expenses, coordinate tax matters, manage real estate and investments, make distributions, establish continuing trusts, and ultimately complete the administration.
Cross + Compass helps successor Trustees understand both what the trust says and what needs to happen in the real world to carry it out.
We can help Trustees with:
Reviewing and interpreting the trust
Confirming the successor Trustee’s authority
Identifying beneficiaries and providing required notices
Identifying and collecting trust assets
Obtaining date-of-death values
Reviewing beneficiary designations and jointly owned property
Addressing debts and expenses
Coordinating tax matters with the family’s CPA
Managing or selling trust-owned real estate
Preparing deeds and property transfers
Communicating with beneficiaries
Preparing trust accountings
Making interim and final distributions
Establishing continuing trusts when required
Completing and documenting the administration
When Probate and a Trust Are Both Involved
Having a trust does not necessarily mean there will be no probate estate.
Sometimes a loved one properly transferred certain assets to a trust but left other property in his or her individual name. In that situation, the family may find itself administering both a probate estate and a trust at the same time.
The Personal Representative and Trustee may even be the same person, but each role carries different responsibilities.
We help coordinate the entire administration so that the probate estate, trust, beneficiary-designated assets, taxes, expenses, and real estate are considered together rather than as unrelated pieces.
Experience That Goes Beyond Drafting Trusts
Attorney Steven C. Cross brings a perspective to trust and estate administration developed through more than a decade working in bank trust and wealth management, including serving as a Senior Trust Officer, together with his experience in private legal practice.
That background included hands-on experience with trust administration, estate settlement, fiduciary responsibilities, beneficiary relationships, and the practical issues that arise when an estate plan must actually be carried out.
That experience matters.
Estate planning documents are written during life. Their real test often comes years later, when a successor Trustee or Personal Representative must determine what they mean, locate the assets, work with beneficiaries, address property and tax issues, and carry out the plan.
At Cross + Compass, we approach estate planning with administration in mind—and administration with an understanding of how estate plans are designed to work.
Northern Michigan Real Estate, Estates & Trusts
Real estate is often one of the most valuable—and most complicated—assets in a Northern Michigan estate or trust.
Family homes, cottages, hunting property, vacant land, rental property, and other real estate may need to be transferred, maintained, divided among beneficiaries, or sold during administration.
These situations can involve questions about:
Deeds and title
Property valuations
Michigan property taxes
Family cottage succession
Sales to family members
Property held by a trust
Selling property during probate
Distributing property among beneficiaries
Cross + Compass combines estate and trust administration experience with real estate law experience, allowing us to address these issues as part of the overall administration rather than treating the property as an afterthought.
I’ve Been Named Trustee or Personal Representative. What Should I Do?
You do not need to have everything figured out before meeting with an attorney.
In fact, it is often better to get advice before transferring property, paying beneficiaries, closing accounts, selling assets, or making distributions.
If available, bring:
The Will and any amendments
The Trust Agreement and amendments
Death certificates
Recent bank and investment statements
Retirement account and life insurance information
Deeds and property-tax information
Information regarding debts and expenses
Contact information for beneficiaries and family members
Recent income tax returns
Don't worry if you don't have everything. Part of the administration process is determining what exists, how it is owned, and what needs to happen next.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do all estates have to go through probate in Michigan?
No. Whether probate is necessary depends largely on what the deceased person owned and how those assets were titled at death. Assets held in a properly funded trust, jointly owned assets, and assets with effective beneficiary designations may pass outside probate.
Does having a trust mean there is nothing to do after death?
No. A trust may avoid probate for property properly held by the trust, but the successor Trustee still has important administrative and fiduciary responsibilities.
How long does probate take in Michigan?
There is no single timeline for every estate. The length of administration depends on the assets involved, creditor issues, taxes, real estate, disputes, court requirements, and other circumstances.
Can a Trustee distribute the trust immediately?
Often, making immediate final distributions is not advisable. The Trustee should first understand the trust terms and make appropriate provision for expenses, taxes, creditor issues, administration costs, and other obligations.
What happens to real estate in an estate or trust?
Depending on the estate plan and the family's goals, property may be transferred to beneficiaries, retained in trust, or sold. Real estate can also raise title, valuation, property-tax, insurance, maintenance, and closing issues that should be considered before making a decision.
Do I need an attorney if I am the Trustee or Personal Representative?
Not every administration requires the same level of legal assistance. However, Trustees and Personal Representatives are fiduciaries with legal responsibilities. Legal guidance can help you understand those responsibilities, avoid preventable mistakes, and move the administration toward completion.
Clear Direction Through a Difficult Process
You may only serve as a Trustee or Personal Representative once or twice in your lifetime.
You are not expected to already know how to do the job. We do.
At Cross + Compass, our role is to provide the legal guidance, practical experience, and steady direction needed to move an estate or trust from uncertainty toward resolution.
If you have recently lost a loved one, have been named as a Personal Representative or successor Trustee, or have questions about an estate or trust already being administered, we welcome the opportunity to talk with you.
Probate & Trust Administration in Petoskey and Northern Michigan
Cross + Compass, PLC
2206 Mitchell Park Drive, Unit #10
Petoskey, Michigan 49770
(231) 373-5245