FINANCIAL AND ESTATE PLANNING COUNCIL OF METRO DETROIT, INC.

THE FEPCMD ACKNOWLEDGES AND THANKS OUR 2025 SPONSORS!

Bank of America Private Bank serves wealthy individuals, families and institutions with a personalized approach through a dedicated team of experienced advisors. With more than 100 offices in the U.S., we serve the unique financial needs of our clients with award-winning solutions and the strength of Bank of America's broad capabilities.

 

 

Our team of highly credentialed and experienced trust and investment management professionals are here to serve clients who work hard for their wealth. We believe in working with a client, their family, and trusted advisors, while all together meeting our mutual client's financial needs and goals. We do this through financial planning, investment management, and trust and estate administration. Additionally, Bank of Ann Arbor provides solutions for commercial and equipment lending, private banking, and everyday banking needs. While Bank of Ann Arbor is local, we serve a larger geography, and are unique in that account size is not our focus, relationships are. Please contact Molly Ransom 248-283-6432 or mransom@boaa.com

 

BDO delivers assurance, tax, and financial advisory services to clients throughout the country and around the globe. We offer numerous  industry-specific practices, world-class resources, and an unparalleled commitment to meeting our clients’ needs.  BDO’s Core Purpose is helping people thrive, every day. It is, fundamentally, why we exist as a firm, and it applies as much to our clients as it does to our employees. Exceptional client service at BDO begins with exceptional people committed to exceptional endeavors. At BDO, we believe that our business, at its core, isn’t about clients won or dollars accounted for. It’s about helping people. It’s about creating a better culture for our employees, in and out of the office. It’s about giving back to our communities, and doing our part to preserve the environment. As one of the world’s largest accounting and advisory networks, BDO helps a diverse range of clients with a diverse range of needs. Our professionals are drawn from a variety of multidisciplinary backgrounds, allowing us to deliver insightful, innovative solutions – no matter the challenge, no matter the need.

 

Since its founding in 1926, the attorneys of Berry Moorman have provided a full range of estate planning services to provide for clients’ wishes, protect their families, and minimize tax consequences. Services include the preparation of wills, revocable and irrevocable trusts, generation-skipping trusts (dynasty trusts) and charitable trusts. Berry Moorman attorneys also provide advice on charitable and family gifting and custom-design programs for the transfer and protection of assets. Estate plans are designed to fit the specific circumstances of each client, including protecting retirement plan assets and planning for the transition of closely held businesses to the next generation. Berry Moorman attorneys also provide family law services, including divorce, child custody matters, and pre and post nuptial agreements.  

Blue Chip Partners, LLC (Blue Chip) is an independent, fee-only Registered Investment Adviser located in Farmington Hills, Michigan. Blue Chip provides comprehensive financial planning and wealth management services. At Blue Chip Partners, wealth management is much more than managing a portfolio of investments. As fiduciaries, our financial advisors have the knowledge and experience necessary to create a personalized financial plan that meets your unique needs. Our team of professionals is dedicated to your continued success. We strive to help you get the most life out of your wealth.

 

 Founded in 1854, Butzel Long has played a prominent role in the development and growth of several major industries.  Business leaders have turned to us for innovative, highly-effective legal counsel for over 165 years.  We represent individuals, fiduciaries and families in estate planning, probate and trust administration and gift and estate tax planning.

 

Couzens Lansky, a law firm located in Farmington Hills, Michigan, is dedicated to providing solutions for all the legal needs of its clients, including the full range of trust, estate and charitable planning, taxation, probate and trust administration, and any related litigation or dispute resolution. Estate planning documents include wills, living trusts, funding forms, asset protection arrangements, and irrevocable trusts involving life insurance, generation skipping, charitable transfers, and family gifting. All planning is custom-designed to meet the unique circumstances of each client, including protecting assets, transferring closely held businesses, gifting to charity, minimizing taxes, and facilitating estate administration. Couzens Lansky attorneys routinely involve a client's other professional advisors in the planning process. Couzens Lansky also provides real estate law, business and corporate law, employment and labor law, construction law, litigation, and banking and finance services. To learn more, call us at 248.489.8600 or visit www.couzens.com.

 

 

 Dawda Mann is dedicated to helping businesses and the individuals who own them. We are located in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, with a clientele of Fortune 500 companies, financial institutions, publicly and privately owned companies of varied sizes, and emerging businesses located throughout the United States. We also represent many individuals in their tax, estate and personal planning matters. Dawda Mann’s reputation is built on creating lasting relationships with each of our clients. Since a majority of our business is from existing clients and referrals, we are dedicated to ensuring that each client receives personal attention and a focused delivery of service and results. If we cannot meet your expectations, we do not meet ours.

 

 

 

 Founded in 1932, Doeren Mayhew is a leading group of CPAs and trusted advisors who go beyond traditional accounting to help mid-sized businesses grow and prosper. The firm’s Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Texas and European CPAs serve industries such as manufacturing, construction, non-profit, financial institutions, dental, retail/restaurant and wholesale/distribution with a full range of accounting, audit, tax, merger and acquisition, litigation support, valuation and business advisory services. Combining a deeply rooted history with a progressive mindset, the firm offers insight into the business, oversight to ensure best practices and foresight for what’s ahead. Please visit www.doeren.com for more information.

 

Dykema’s Estate & Tax Planning and Administration Practice Group attorneys pride themselves on their responsiveness and willingness to embrace new ideas with outside-the-box thinking. We do not adopt “faddish” planning just because others are doing it. Rather, we are extremely sophisticated in employing the latest techniques to reduce our clients’ tax burden while at the same time achieving their goals. We have an “organic” philosophy in that we take advantage of our clients’ lifestyles and the facts they present (businesses, portfolios, etc.) and rearrange them so that our clients can continue living their lives without disruptions due to estate and tax planning strategies.

 

 

 

 

 

Located in Troy, Michigan, Gordon Advisors, P.C., is one of Southeast Michigan’s leading public accounting and business consulting firms. For over 60 years, Gordon Advisors, P.C., has been respected and recognized for our expertise, dedication, and commitment to providing exceptional service to our clients.  Our firm prides itself on the extensive involvement of our shareholders and senior management throughout the performance of the services we provide to our clients. We provide efficient, cost-effective service by selecting team members with appropriate skills and experience to handle needs. At Gordon Advisors, P.C., we assist clients in developing strategies to meet their personal and financial planning objectives by providing tools they need to really add value to the businesses they own and manage.

 

Greenleaf Trust is a privately held wealth management firm with specialized disciplines in asset management, trust administration, qualified retirement plan administration, and family office advisory services. With assets in excess of $17 billion in assets under advisement, we are among the nation’s largest independently owned wealth management firms; by virtue of our exemplary, client-first culture and depth of actionable expertise, we are also among the best. Our business model is predicated solely on our clients’ financial success. Client-aligned and talent-driven, we adhere to the highest standards of fiduciary excellence, while harnessing the most robust technologies, sophisticated investment platforms and comprehensive reporting tools. In 2024, we celebrated twenty-six consecutive years of mid-double digit growth while maintaining an outstandingly high level of client retention.

 

 

 

 

 J.P. Morgan Private Bank provides customized financial advice to help wealthy clients and their families achieve their goals through an elevated experience. Clients of the Private Bank work with dedicated teams of specialists that bring their investments and financial assets together into one comprehensive strategy, leveraging the global resources of J.P. Morgan across planning, investing, lending, banking, philanthropy, family office management, fiduciary services, special advisory services and more. The Private Bank oversees more than $2.2 trillion in client assets globally. More information about J.P. Morgan Private Bank is available at https://privatebank.jpmorgan.com/detroit-birmingham.

 

The group of individuals that work at the Kercheval Financial Group of Wells Fargo Advisors are a wealth

management team who focus on providing advanced, holistic wealth management strategies to

primarily high net worth and ultra-high net worth families and foundations. Every relationship is managed through a team based family office approach.  Advanced planning requires a collaborative effort. The Kercheval Financial Group works with their client’s most trusted advisors in order to provide sound and effective advice. The team specializes in full discretion asset management, advisory investment management, and also provides brokerage services as appropriate. Furthermore, through our Wells Fargo affiliates, clients have access to trust services, lending and banking products and services, including: securities-based financing, residential mortgages, home equity financing, business financing and credit cards.*

Andrew Camden, Managing Director-Investments             Mark Wojtas, Managing Director-Investments

Eric Machus, Managing Director-Investments                    Blake Ellis, Managing Director-Investments

Noah Robinson, Financial Advisor                                      Rob Robinson, Client Associate

Maureen Tarquinio, Sr Registered Client Associate            Ariana Dickerson, Sr Client Associate

Mary Cox, Sr Registered Client Associate

*Lending and other banking services available through Wells Fargo Advisors (NMLS UI 2234) are offered by banking and non-banking subsidiaries of Wells Fargo & Company, including, but not limited to Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. (NMLSR ID 399801), Member FDIC, and Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, a division of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. Certain restrictions apply. Programs, rates, terms, and conditions are subject to change without advance notice. Products are not available in all states. Wells Fargo Advisors is licensed by the Department of Business Oversight under the California Residential Mortgage Lending Act and the Arizona Department of Financial Institutions (NMLS ID0906158). Wells Fargo Clearing Services, LLC, holds a residential mortgage broker license in Georgia and is licensed as a residential mortgage broker (license number MB2234) in Massachusetts.

Investment and Insurance Products are:

· Not Insured by the FDIC or Any Federal Government Agency

· Not a Deposit or Other Obligation of, or Guaranteed by, the Bank or Any Bank Affiliate

· Subject to Investment Risks, Including Possible Loss of the Principal Amount Invested

Wells Fargo Advisors is a trade name used by Wells Fargo Clearing Services, LLC, Member SIPC, a Registered broker-dealer and non-bank affiliate of Wells Fargo & Company.

 

At Lifetime Financial Growth we take pride in delivering cutting edge strategies.  We give clients the confidence to take control of their lives and guide them to build a clear path to their financial future.

The focus of Lifetime Financial Growth centers on our clients’ vision for their future to create a lasting impact on their wealth potential. Uniquely positioned to offer our clients access to one of the most comprehensive financial product platforms available today, Lifetime Financial Growth envisions and enhances our clients’ goals through purposed macro-management, informed fiscal education, and experienced asset servicing solutions.

Our commitment to the community is to accomplish all of our objectives while serving as a good citizen within the community through our charitable endeavors and by our leadership.

 

Maddin, Hauser, Roth & Heller, P.C. is a multi-specialty law firm serving individuals, businesses and governmental entities. The firm's estate planning and probate practice group has extensive experience in providing lifetime and post-mortem estate, financial, and tax planning, as well as probate and trust administration services.  Members of the practice group are able to provide a full range of services in connection with the accumulation, preservation, and transfer of assets to families and other beneficiaries.  Typical matters in which the firm is asked to help include the following:

• Business Succession Planning
• Charitable Planning and Foundations
• Elder Law
• Estate Planning and Probate
• Estate and Trust Litigation
• Fiduciary Advice

Our firm's other core practice areas include:

• Real Estate
• Financial Services
• Insurance Defense and Coverage
• Employment, Employee Benefits, and Workforce Management
• Corporate and Tax
• Bankruptcy and Restructuring
• Complex Litigation

At Maddin Hauser, our clients expect a high level of performance from us, and we expect the same from one another.  Our attorneys and support staff apply an abundance of energy, skill, and enthusiasm to every task.  We listen, we respond with clear and thoughtful communication, and we help our clients persevere through every challenge. Our approach means we alsays strive to out-perform your expectations.

 

Jim Smallegan is a Wealth Management Advisor who is affiliated with Northwestern Mutual. Jim helps clients with comprehensive financial planning. Over the past 20 years this has included working with and coaching business owners. Recognizing each for their individual stories, thoughtfully thinking through and documenting their dreams, goals and objectives. Working with clients he develops financial plans that guide clients through a customize approach to reaching their goals and objectives. Experience and resources are presented in an exacting blend which can include; Wealth Management, Life insurance planning, disability insurance planning, Long term Care Insurance planning, Retirement Planning, Retirement accumulation strategies, Retirement distribution strategies, Estate planning strategies, Business Succession Planning, Key person planning, and Employee benefits planning. Goals and dreams are the central focus of the decisions and structure for the financial plan that is customized for each client.

Northwestern Mutual is a premier national financial services leader. Northwestern Mutual has been helping families and businesses achieve financial security for 160 years. Through a distinctive, whole-picture planning approach including both insurance and investments, we empower people to be financially confident so they can live life differently. Northwestern Mutual Investment Services is the fifth largest independent broker dealer in the country as of 2019 (investment news).

 

With roots in one of the nation’s largest and most well-respected audit, tax, and advisory firms, Plante Moran Wealth Management is a leading provider of investment advisory, trust, tax, and insurance services. Established more than 40 years ago, PMWM has 250+ wealth management professionals specializing in investments, estate planning, business transition, strategic philanthropy, trust, insurance, and personal tax. Our practice delivers a holistic range of innovative solutions and strategies that are tailored to clients’ needs and objectives — from business challenges to personal finance and family goals. With our collaborative, client-centric focus, working with us is like having your own personal CFO to help navigate the complexity of wealth management and achieve financial success.

 

 

 Established in 1913, Plunkett Cooney is home to approximately 140 attorneys in seven Michigan cities, Chicago, Indianapolis and Columbus, Ohio. Our attorneys advise their clients in a range of areas, including business formations and licensing, contract law, mergers and acquisitions, estate planning and probate litigation, franchise law, government relations, real estate, regulatory law, employment law and a host of other areas key to the success of any business.

 

Pugh Moak P.C. is a third generation estate planning law firm focusing on making estate planning document understandable and efficient.  Our services include estate planning, special needs planning, small business planning, probate and trust administration.  https://www.pughmoak.com/

 

Rehmann’s Estate and Trust Advisory services team brings an encompassing approach to financial planning and management, marshaling the combined strength of our tax, financial and legal professionals with the goal of providing confidence and financial health for generations to come. Our collective skills and commitment to client service help distinguish Rehmann as one of the Midwest’s prominent wealth advisory firms.

Rehmann is a professional advisory firm that provides accounting and assurance, business solutions and outsourcing, specialized consulting, and wealth management services. For over 80 years, Rehmann has provided forward-thinking solutions to our clients nationwide. With over 1,000 associates in Michigan, Ohio, and Florida, we are the momentum behind what’s possible. 

 

 The Schluter & Hughes Law Firm, PLLC is a multi-faceted probate and estate planning boutique law firm that understands life is a journey that needs a village to support it. Our team of professionals have come together with an intentional and common purpose – helping individuals and families architect experience at every intersection of their lives. Our dedicated professionals, in the areas of Estate Planning, Elder Law, Probate, Estate & Trust Administration, Care Coordination, and Fiduciary Tax & Accounting, are ready to help. We recognize everyone has a unique set of circumstances. This is why we are set up as a boutique style firm, offering customized service with a coordinated effort for our clients. To learn more, visit our website www.schluterhugheslaw.com

 

 Varnum is a full-service law firm with a roster of experienced and creative estate planning professionals across Michigan and Florida.  Our Southeast Michigan attorneys include Tom, Bergh, Kathleen Cieslik, Robert Kass, David Thoms and Rebecca Wrock.  We work in close coordination with other members of our estate planning team in additional locations across Michigan and Florida, providing a rich reservoir of talent and experience.

In addition to traditional estate planning and drafting, our clients and friends have access to creative charitable and tax solutions, as well as resources for preserving closely-held business interests and legacy properties such as lakefront cottages, including the efficient transition of interests to new generational owners.  We have a large and experienced tax planning and controversy practice, featuring several former IRS trial attorneys and others with unique credentials, who handle contested matters both administratively and in court. Our tax team has extensive experience with regard to transfer tax issues in addition to traditional civil and criminal income tax disputes.

We look forward to continuing our collaborative work with other professionals. Please feel free to contact any member of the team directly.

 

With more than 3,000 associates and 70,000 clients, Wipfli ranks among the top 20 advisory and accounting firms in the nation.  Business today is more fluid than ever.  Helping firms achieve their goals takes imagination, discipline and a process that delivers results today while anticipating tomorrow's demands.  That's Wipfli.  Learn more at wipfli.com