Recent news involving Michigan probate courts provides a reminder of an important reason to plan for incapacity before it occurs: if you become unable to make your own financial or medical decisions, who will make those decisions for you?

With proper estate planning, you can often answer that question yourself. Without that planning, your family may need to ask a Michigan probate court to appoint a guardian, conservator, or both.

Recent events in Metro Detroit have brought unusual public attention to guardianships, conservatorships, probate courts, and court-appointed fiduciaries. These events should not be taken to mean that Michigan's probate system generally fails the people it is intended to protect. Guardianships and conservatorships serve an important role, and sometimes they are necessary.

Incapacity planning lets you choose trusted decision-makers before a crisis occurs.

Why Have Michigan Guardianships and Conservatorships Been in the News?

In October 2026, federal prosecutors announced criminal charges against the owner of a guardianship service and an employee of the business. Prosecutors allege that the defendants participated in a scheme to misappropriate hundreds of thousands of dollars belonging to incapacitated individuals whose affairs were being managed through probate proceedings.

Among other things, the federal indictment alleges misuse of funds belonging to wards, including money from the sale of a ward's home and settlement proceeds belonging to another ward. The Detroit News also reported on the federal charges.

These are allegations. An indictment is not evidence of guilt, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

The case nevertheless illustrates the substantial responsibility that may be placed in the hands of a guardian or conservator when an incapacitated person can no longer manage his or her own affairs.

A different situation arose in Oakland County in 2024. An Oakland County Probate Court judge was removed from her docket while a misconduct investigation was pending after recordings became public containing remarks disparaging people based on race and sexual orientation. Additional reporting described the substance of the recorded remarks. The judge ultimately left the court, and the resulting judicial vacancy was later filled.

The circumstances involving the former judge and those involving the recently indicted fiduciaries are quite different. Neither should be viewed as an indictment of Michigan probate judges, guardians, conservators, or the probate system as a whole.

But together they are reminders of an important reality: when incapacity results in court involvement, important decisions concerning a person's finances, property, living arrangements, and medical care may ultimately be made or supervised by people the incapacitated person did not personally select.

What Is a Guardianship in Michigan?

In Michigan, a guardian generally has authority concerning an incapacitated person's personal affairs rather than management of the person's assets.

Depending upon the powers granted by the probate court, a guardian may become involved in decisions concerning:

• where the individual lives;
• personal care and assistance;
• medical treatment;
• services the individual receives; and
• other decisions affecting the individual's well-being.

Michigan law favors using the least restrictive arrangement that will adequately protect an incapacitated individual. A guardianship is therefore not supposed to take away more decision-making authority than is reasonably necessary.

A guardian may nevertheless become necessary when a person can no longer make responsible personal or medical decisions and there is no adequate arrangement already in place for someone else to assist.

You can read more about guardianship for an incapacitated adult in Michigan and when a probate proceeding may become necessary.

What Is a Conservatorship in Michigan?

A conservator generally deals with an incapacitated person's money and property.

A Michigan probate court may appoint a conservator when an individual is unable to effectively manage his or her property and financial affairs and court protection is necessary.

A conservator may therefore become responsible for matters such as:

• managing bank and investment accounts;
• paying bills and expenses;
• handling income;
• dealing with real estate;
• managing investments; and
• protecting other property belonging to the individual.

A conservatorship can provide valuable protection when no one else has legal authority to manage an incapacitated person's finances. But it also means that management of those finances becomes part of a court-supervised process.

More information is available on my page explaining Michigan conservatorships and how they may sometimes be avoided through advance planning.

Can a Durable Power of Attorney Help Avoid a Conservatorship?

Yes. One of the most important incapacity-planning documents in a Michigan estate plan is a durable power of attorney.

With a properly drafted durable power of attorney, you select the person — called your agent — whom you trust to handle financial matters on your behalf.

Depending upon how the document is written, an agent may be authorized to deal with matters such as:

• banking and investments;
• real estate;
• taxes;
• insurance;
• retirement accounts;
• government benefits;
• contracts;
• bills and expenses; and
• long-term-care and Medicaid planning.

Most importantly, a durable power of attorney can remain effective even if you later become incapacitated.

When an appropriate agent already has sufficient legal authority to manage financial matters, there may be no reason for family members to ask a probate court to appoint a conservator.

Can a Patient Advocate Designation Help Avoid a Guardianship?

Michigan estate planning should also address medical and personal-care decisions.

A patient advocate designation allows a competent adult to name another person to make medical and certain other health-care decisions if the individual later becomes unable to participate in those decisions.

Again, the important point is that you select the person you trust.

A comprehensive incapacity plan may also include a HIPAA authorization so that appropriate family members or other trusted individuals can obtain medical information needed to assist you.

If adequate medical decision-making authority is already in place, a guardianship may be unnecessary. Michigan law also gives significance to an existing patient advocate designation when guardianship proceedings later arise.

Does Estate Planning Guarantee That Guardianship or Conservatorship Will Never Be Necessary?

No. A durable power of attorney and patient advocate designation can greatly reduce the likelihood that a guardianship or conservatorship will be required, but they cannot guarantee that probate court involvement will never become necessary.

For example, a court proceeding might still be required if:

• the person named as agent or patient advocate is unable or unwilling to act;
• the estate-planning documents do not provide sufficient authority for a particular situation;
• family members disagree about the incapacitated person's care;
• an agent is accused of abusing his or her authority;
• a dispute arises over whether an agent's authority should be recognized; or
• circumstances develop that were not adequately addressed in the person's planning.

In some cases, guardianship or conservatorship is exactly the protection an incapacitated person needs.

The goal of estate planning is therefore not necessarily to make probate court involvement impossible. It is to reduce the likelihood that court intervention will be necessary and to preserve as much of your own decision-making as possible.

Why Is Choosing Your Own Decision-Makers an Important Part of Estate Planning?

People sometimes think of estate planning primarily in terms of what happens to property after death.

That is only part of it.

For many people, an equally important question is:

What happens if I am still alive but can no longer manage my own affairs?

A good incapacity plan allows you to decide in advance:

• Who should manage my money?
• Who should deal with my bank and investment accounts?
• Who should make medical decisions for me?
• Who should be able to obtain information from my doctors?
• Who should help arrange my care?
• Who should act if my first choice cannot serve?

Those decisions are much easier to make before a medical crisis or significant cognitive decline occurs.

For families already facing memory loss or a dementia diagnosis, Alzheimer's and dementia planning in Michigan may include reviewing existing powers of attorney, patient advocate designations, trusts, beneficiary arrangements, and long-term-care planning while the individual can still participate in those decisions.

When Should You Put Incapacity Planning Documents in Place?

The best time to prepare incapacity documents is before they are needed.

A person must have sufficient legal capacity to execute a durable power of attorney and patient advocate designation. Once significant dementia, a stroke, an accident, or another condition has caused the required capacity to be lost, it may be too late to create the documents that could have prevented a probate proceeding.

Families sometimes contact an elder law attorney after a parent has already experienced substantial cognitive decline and ask whether the parent can simply sign a power of attorney.

Sometimes the answer is yes. Sometimes it is not.

If the individual no longer has the required capacity, a guardianship or conservatorship proceeding may be the only available option.

That is why incapacity planning should be completed while a person can still understand the documents, select trusted decision-makers, and express his or her wishes.

How Does Incapacity Planning Fit Into a Michigan Estate Plan?

A complete estate plan should address both what happens during your lifetime and what happens after your death.

Depending upon your circumstances, that may include a durable power of attorney, patient advocate designation, HIPAA authorization, Will, trust, beneficiary designations, and planning for your home and other assets.

My Michigan estate planning frequently asked questions provide additional information about these documents and how they work together.

Planning Ahead Can Keep More Control in Your Hands

Michigan's guardianship and conservatorship system exists to protect vulnerable people when help is needed. Probate judges, guardians, conservators, attorneys, and other professionals perform important roles in that system every day.

Still, most people would prefer to select their own trusted decision-makers rather than have those decisions made after incapacity through a court proceeding.

A durable power of attorney and patient advocate designation are relatively straightforward estate-planning documents, but they can have an enormous practical effect.

They allow you to make important choices while those choices are still yours to make.