West Bloomfield · Power of Attorney Guide
Michigan tore up its power of attorney law on 1 July 2024. The Uniform Power of Attorney Act, 2023 Public Act 187, repealed the old durable power of attorney sections of the Estates and Protected Individuals Code and replaced them with a stand-alone statute that gives your agent something Michigan families never had: a bank that refuses a valid document can be ordered by a court to accept it and made to pay your legal costs. Most power of attorney lawyers in West Bloomfield have not updated their pages to say so. We compared three on bar records, what each firm actually drafts, published fees and verified reviews.
DJA Editorial · Legal Directory Research
Checked against state bar licensee records, court sources and public review platforms ·
The short answer
Three practices within a short drive of West Bloomfield, each suited to a different household. This is a shortlist rather than a ranking, and the smallest firm on it has the longest bar record.
1
Douglas E. Kuthy, P.C.
Best for a household with one foot in Michigan and one in Florida
2
Law Office of Julie A. Paquette, PLC
Best for a couple who need the plan to survive being questioned
3
Gudeman & Associates, P.C.
Best when the estate documents sit alongside a debt or business problem
At a glance: Power Of Attorney Lawyers in West Bloomfield, compared
| Firm |
Best for |
Focus |
Bar record |
Fees |
Rating |
| Douglas E. Kuthy, P.C. |
Best for a household with one foot in Michigan and one in Florida |
Estate planning only, wills, trusts and powers of attorney |
Michigan P38697 and Florida 956678 |
Free consultation, rate not published |
4.9 · 15 Google |
| Law Office of Julie A. Paquette, PLC |
Best for a couple who need the plan to survive being questioned |
Estate planning and trusts, team-based |
Julie A. Paquette, Michigan, number unpublished |
Not published, consultation by appointment |
4.7 · 148 Google |
| Gudeman & Associates, P.C. |
Best when the estate documents sit alongside a debt or business problem |
Bankruptcy and business law, with wills and trusts alongside |
Edward Gudeman, Michigan, number unpublished |
Not published, one fee complaint on record |
4.9 · 66 Google |
Power Of Attorney in West Bloomfield: the local picture
7 business days
The bank has to take it now
Under MCL 556.220, in force since 1 July 2024, a person presented with an acknowledged Michigan power of attorney must generally accept it within seven business days, or request supporting documentation and then accept within five business days of receiving it. Refuse without a listed ground and a court can order acceptance and award your reasonable attorney fees and costs.
2 witnesses
The document your financial POA cannot replace
Health care runs on a separate Michigan document, the patient advocate designation under MCL 700.5506, and the statutory financial form says in terms that it does not cover medical decisions. The designation needs two witnesses, and your spouse, parent, child, grandchild, sibling, presumptive heir, a named beneficiary, your physician or the advocate themselves cannot be one of them.
Free
What you can get without paying anyone
Michigan now publishes an optional statutory form power of attorney in the statute itself, at MCL 556.401, and the State Bar of Michigan runs free public guidance on patient advocate designations. Neither is tailored advice. What they do tell you is roughly what a competent document contains, which is useful before anyone quotes you a fee.
What clients in West Bloomfield say: Reviews in this practice area are unusually informative, because estate planning clients describe the product rather than a result. Across these three the same things get praised: being made to think about what you actually want instead of being handed a template, the documents arriving organised and explained, and the lawyer still answering the phone a year later. One firm’s clients repeatedly mention a bound and indexed binder with signing instructions. Another’s describe a team of named attorneys and paralegals. The one negative account worth reading concerns fees quoted before the work was scoped, which is exactly the thing to pin down in writing at the first meeting.
How we chose these Power Of Attorney Lawyers in West Bloomfield
We looked at practices drafting powers of attorney for West Bloomfield and the surrounding Oakland County communities, then compared them on things you can check yourself: the State Bar of Michigan record for each named attorney, what the firm actually drafts as against what it lists, whether fee terms are published, where the office is, and the visible client reviews on Google.
The three are a shortlist, not a ranking, and each suits a different household. Firm details come from each firm’s own site and attorney profiles, cross checked against Google Business Profile listings, State Bar of Michigan and Florida Bar records and public attorney directories, plus the Michigan Compiled Laws for the statutory, witnessing and acceptance requirements. Bar numbers we could not confirm against an official register during this update are flagged on the page rather than filled in, and no figure appears unless the firm or the statute supplies it.
1. Douglas E. Kuthy, P.C.
Best for a household with one foot in Michigan and one in Florida
★★★★½ 4.9 / 5 · Google · 15 reviews
The longest record here and the only lawyer admitted in two states. Douglas Kuthy has held Michigan bar number P38697 since the late 1980s, also holds Florida Bar admission, clerked for an Oakland County Circuit Court judge, served as a Special Assistant Attorney General and chaired hearing panels for the Michigan Attorney Discipline Board. For the many Oakland County families who winter in Florida, a power of attorney lawyer in West Bloomfield who is licensed in both states removes a real problem, because a document drafted for one state is not automatically comfortable in the other.
Identity and footprint
Office5755 Fox Hunt Lane, West Bloomfield Township, MI 48322
Actually in West BloomfieldThis is the only one of the three with an address inside West Bloomfield itself. It reads as a home office rather than a commercial suite, which suits a practice built on appointments.
Phone248.432.1612, consistent across the site, Google and every directory profile
Hours conflictThe site states Monday to Friday, 10:00am to 5:00pm, closed at weekends with appointments available. The Google listing shows open 24 hours, seven days. A third profile gives 9:00am to 5:00pm.
AttorneyDouglas E. Kuthy, sole attorney. A directory profile describes the practice in the singular while the site heading uses the plural.
Directory listingsHolds a Distinguished Justice Advocates listing, plus Leaders of Law, Legal Ambassadors and Local Counsel listings, all badged on this page
One listing is offThe Legal Ambassadors profile files him under Bloomfield Hills rather than West Bloomfield.
CoverageMore than fifty Oakland County city pages, from Birmingham and Bloomfield Hills to Holly, Ortonville and Northville
Practice and scope
Core workEstate planning only: wills, revocable living trusts, powers of attorney, and planning organised by life stage for families with minors, blended families, empty nesters, senior citizens and single people
No litigationThere is no probate dispute or trust litigation offering on the site. This is a drafting practice.
Free toolPublishes an estate planning checklist, which is the kind of thing clients actually use before a first meeting
Where the page falls shortThe body copy is written as a list of things the reader will learn rather than the information itself. Every section opens with Discover, Explore, Learn about, Dive into or Understand, and then moves on without answering. Estimated reading time is three minutes.
The new statute is missingNothing on the page mentions the Uniform Power of Attorney Act, 2023 PA 187, the seven business day acceptance rule at MCL 556.220, or the optional statutory form. The page does link to MCL 556.201 in passing but never explains what changed.
The health care sideThe page links correctly to MCL 700.5506, which is the patient advocate designation, but calls it a health care power of attorney throughout. Michigan does not use that term in the statute, and the distinction matters when a hospital asks for the document.
Outbound linksThe page links out to a financial advisory blog and a medical library rather than to Michigan sources.
Credentials and licensing
State Bar of MichiganDouglas E. Kuthy, bar number P38697, current
Second admissionThe Florida Bar, ID number 956678, which is the credential that distinguishes this practice from the other two on this page
EducationUniversity of Michigan, B.A. 1979, then a J.D. in 1986 from what was then the Detroit College of Law, now Michigan State University College of Law. Directory profiles give one name or the other, which is the same institution.
Discipline system serviceServed as a hearing panel chairman for the Michigan Attorney Discipline Board, which is the body that hears complaints against Michigan lawyers. Appointment to it is by the Board rather than something a firm can buy.
Public serviceFormer Special Assistant Attorney General for the State of Michigan
ClerkshipsJudicial clerk to the late Hon. Richard D. Kuhn and research intern to the Hon. Gene Schnelz, both of the Oakland County Circuit Court, which is the court this county’s probate disputes sit beside
TeachingHas taught business law at the University of Michigan
Fees and consultation
ConsultationFree, advertised in the site header and in directory profiles
PaymentA directory profile states credit cards are accepted
What clients say about costOne reviewer describes complex estate planning completed at a fair and reasonable cost. That is a client’s view rather than a published rate.
Worth askingWhether the fee includes updating documents drafted before 1 July 2024 to work cleanly under the new Act, and whether a Florida-facing version is extra
What clients say
✓ The bound, indexed binder comes up repeatedly
✓ Made clients think rather than handing over a template
✓ Available after the work is finished
✓ Described as fairly priced by clients
· 15 reviews, the smallest base here
Fifteen reviews at 4.9, and they are unusually concrete for this practice area. More than one describes the deliverable: a leather or organised binder with a table of contents, every document, full signing instructions and a flash drive copy. Another describes being asked what the family actually needed before any drafting started, rather than being handed a form. Several mention that he remains reachable afterwards, which matters with documents you will not use for twenty years. The base is small, so read all fifteen rather than the average.
Why they fit West Bloomfield: The natural choice if part of your life is in Florida, because one lawyer holding both admissions saves you coordinating two, and Oakland County has a lot of households in exactly that position. Thirty nine years at the Michigan bar, an Oakland County Circuit clerkship and service chairing Attorney Discipline Board hearing panels is the deepest institutional record on this page. Go in knowing the trade offs. This is one lawyer with the smallest review base here, no fee is published, the Google hours contradict the site, and the page itself reads as an outline of topics rather than answers, with nothing at all on the statute that changed in July 2024. Ask what a full set of documents costs and whether anything you signed before then needs redoing.
2. Law Office of Julie A. Paquette, PLC
Best for a couple who need the plan to survive being questioned
★★★★½ 4.7 / 5 · Google · 148 reviews
The deepest client record in the area by a wide margin. Julie Paquette runs a Bloomfield Township office a few miles from West Bloomfield with 148 Google reviews behind it, and a second office near Grand Rapids. Named attorneys and staff appear throughout those reviews rather than just the founder, which is what a working team looks like from the client seat. The practice has also drawn same-sex couples specifically, several of whom say they went looking for estate planning attorneys near West Bloomfield who would understand why the documents had to be airtight.
Identity and footprint
Nearest office7 W Square Lake Rd, Bloomfield Township, MI 48302, a short drive from West Bloomfield
Second office125 E Division St NE, Rockford, MI 49341, in the Grand Rapids area, on (616) 741-2158. That listing carries only two reviews.
Phone(248) 648-1148 for the Bloomfield Township office
HoursMonday to Friday, 9:00am to 5:00pm, closed at weekends, at both offices
Named in reviewsJulie Paquette herself, attorney Madelyn Lane, and a team member named Korin, each praised separately. That spread is the clearest sign here of a practice that is not one person.
Two locations, one firmA West Michigan and a Metro Detroit office under one name is unusual for an estate planning practice of this size
Money page noteThe link on this page goes to the firm homepage, because that is the page supplied
Practice and scope
Core workEstate planning, trusts and related personal planning documents, which in Michigan means wills, trusts, financial powers of attorney under the new Act, and patient advocate designations
A distinct client baseMultiple reviewers describe seeking the firm out as same-sex couples who married recently and wanted documents that would hold regardless of how the law shifts. Two separate reviews make that point in detail.
Why that matters technicallyFor couples whose relationship might be questioned by a hospital or a bank, the patient advocate designation and the financial power of attorney are the documents that do the work, and execution formality matters more than usual
Team deliveryReviewers describe an initial needs meeting with one person and a final trust review with another, which indicates a structured process rather than an ad hoc one
Referral sourceOne reviewer identifies as a tax and financial planning professional who works alongside estate planning attorneys and refers to this firm
Credentials and licensing
Julie A. PaquetteFounding attorney, practising in Michigan
Madelyn LaneNamed as an attorney in several client reviews and credited with running full estate matters
Other team membersAt least one further client-facing team member, Korin, is named repeatedly in reviews
Bench depthMore than one attorney, which is the practical difference between this firm and the solo practice above if you need continuity over decades
One credential to ask forAsk whether anyone at the firm is a member of the Probate and Estate Planning Section of the State Bar of Michigan, which is the professional body for this work in this state
Fees and consultation
ConsultationBy appointment during office hours.
What reviewers reportNobody in the readable set complains about cost, and several describe the process as efficient, but no figure appears in any of them
Worth askingWhether the quoted package includes the patient advocate designation and its witnessing, since that document has its own execution requirements and cannot simply be signed at the kitchen table with your spouse and daughter as witnesses
What clients say
✓ 148 reviews, by far the deepest here
✓ Multiple attorneys named individually
✓ Sought out by same-sex couples
✓ Referred by financial professionals
· 4.7 average, so critical reviews exist
A hundred and forty eight reviews is more than the other two combined and then some, and the tone is about being listened to. Two reviewers describe married same-sex couples who went looking specifically for a firm that would handle their planning without prejudice and found it here. Others name Madelyn Lane and a team member called Korin as much as the founder, and one is from a tax professional who refers clients. At 4.7 there are critical entries somewhere in the record, so read past the first page before deciding.
Why they fit West Bloomfield: The strongest fit when the plan has to withstand a question from outside the family: a hospital asking who you are to the patient, a bank looking for a reason to say no, a relative who may contest. A hundred and forty eight reviews, several named attorneys and a visible track record with couples who needed exactly that is a genuine advantage over a solo practice. The honest caveats are transparency. The firm’s own pages were not readable during this update, so no attorney roster, practice scope or fee term could be confirmed from source, no P number is published for anyone, and the nearest office is in Bloomfield Township rather than West Bloomfield. Ask who your attorney would be, what their bar number is, and what the package costs.
3. Gudeman & Associates, P.C.
Best when the estate documents sit alongside a debt or business problem
★★★★½ 4.9 / 5 · Google · 66 reviews
A Royal Oak firm whose centre of gravity is debt, not estates. Edward Gudeman trained at the University of Michigan Law School and his listed memberships are the American Bankruptcy Institute and the Consumer Bankruptcy Association, which tells you where the practice lives. It does draft wills and trusts, and clients say so warmly. Where it earns a place among wills and trusts attorneys in Oakland County is the overlap: if you are signing powers of attorney while also restructuring debt or winding down a business, one firm can see the whole picture.
Identity and footprint
Office401 N Main St, Royal Oak, MI 48067, roughly 15 miles east of West Bloomfield
Two phone numbersThe Google listing gives (248) 927-2755. Attorney directory profiles give (248) 546-2800. Both appear live.
HoursMonday to Thursday 8:30am to 5:00pm, Friday 8:30am to 1:00pm, closed at weekends. The early Friday finish is worth knowing if you work full time.
Attorneys named by clientsEdward Gudeman and Jon Silver, with staff named warmly in several reviews
Not just a law firmThe Google listing categorises the business under accounting and finance as well as law, which fits a debt and business practice
DistanceThis is the furthest of the three from West Bloomfield, and estate planning usually involves at least two in-person visits
Money page noteThe link here goes to the firm homepage rather than an estate planning page, because that is what was supplied
Practice and scope
Where the practice sitsConsumer and business bankruptcy and business law, with wills and trusts offered alongside. The founder’s listed professional memberships are both bankruptcy bodies.
Estate work is real but secondaryMultiple reviewers describe having wills and trusts prepared here and being satisfied, so this is not a bolt-on nobody uses
The genuine overlapPowers of attorney and debt problems intersect more often than people expect, particularly where an ageing parent’s affairs involve a business, a guarantee or a property that is underwater
Court experienceOne reviewer describes being prepared for a court appearance, which is bankruptcy work rather than estate planning
A question this firm should be askedWhether the person drafting your power of attorney does estate planning as their main work or as a sideline to a bankruptcy practice
Credentials and licensing
Edward GudemanUniversity of Michigan Law School, practising in Royal Oak
Professional membershipsAmerican Bankruptcy Institute and Consumer Bankruptcy Association, both of which are debt bodies rather than estate planning ones
Jon SilverNamed alongside Gudeman in client reviews
A bereavement in the firmOne review refers to an attorney named Brian who appears to have died during the reviewer’s matter. Continuity is a fair thing to ask about in a small firm.
Fees and consultation
One fee complaint on the recordA reviewer states the firm took $2,100 before telling them what their Chapter 13 monthly payment would be, and describes receiving inconsistent advice about which chapter to file. That is a bankruptcy matter rather than an estate one, but it is the only detailed cost account in the visible set.
What that suggests you should doGet the scope and the fee in the same document, and get it before you pay anything. That is sound practice with any firm and particularly here.
What clients say
✓ 66 reviews at 4.9
✓ Wills and trusts clients satisfied
✓ Staff named and praised
· Most matters described are bankruptcy
✗ One detailed complaint about fees
Sixty six reviews at 4.9, and the mix tells you what the firm does. Several describe bankruptcy matters handled patiently, with documentation explained and court appearances prepared for. Two describe wills and trusts work and recommend it. Edward Gudeman and Jon Silver are both named, as is office staff. The outlier is a detailed one-star account about $2,100 paid before a Chapter 13 payment figure was given, with the filing chapter changing between conversations. Read that one in full before you commit money.
Why they fit West Bloomfield: Worth the call when the power of attorney is part of a messier picture: a parent with debts, a family business being unwound, a property that is worth less than the loan against it. Sixty six reviews at 4.9 and named partners praised for patience is a real record, and a firm that lives in debt work will spot problems an estate planning boutique might not. The honest caveats are focus and distance. Both of the founder’s listed memberships are bankruptcy bodies, the visible matters are mostly bankruptcy rather than estates, Royal Oak is the furthest of the three from West Bloomfield, two phone numbers are live, and the one detailed complaint in the record is about money taken before the work was scoped. Ask who drafts the documents and what it costs, in writing.
What to check before hiring a Power Of Attorney Lawyer in West Bloomfield
✓ Check whether your document predates 1 July 2024
The Uniform Power of Attorney Act replaced Michigan’s old durable power of attorney sections on that date. Documents signed earlier are not automatically void, but the rulebook around them changed, including how a bank must respond and what your agent’s duties are. If yours is older, ask a lawyer whether it still does what you think, rather than assuming.
✓ Know that the bank now has a deadline
Under MCL 556.220 a person presented with an acknowledged Michigan power of attorney must generally accept it within seven business days, or ask for supporting documentation and accept within five business days of getting it. A refusal outside the listed grounds can be taken to court, and the court can order acceptance and award your reasonable attorney fees. Say that politely at the counter.
✓ Get two documents, not one
A Michigan financial power of attorney does not cover medical decisions, and the statutory form says so on its face. Health care runs on a patient advocate designation under MCL 700.5506. Ask any firm you call to quote for both, and ask whether the price includes properly witnessing the designation, because that is where do-it-yourself versions fail.
✓ Line up the right witnesses before the signing
For the patient advocate designation you need two witnesses, and Michigan disqualifies your spouse, parent, child, grandchild, sibling, presumptive heir, anyone named as a beneficiary in the document, your physician, the patient advocate themselves, and employees of your insurer, your treating facility or the home for the aged where you live. In practice that rules out almost everyone in the room. Arrange it in advance.
✓ Ask what happens if nobody honours it
The alternative to a working power of attorney is a petition in Oakland County Probate Court for a guardian or conservator, which costs money, takes time, becomes a public file and puts a judge rather than your family in charge. Ask each firm how often their documents get questioned and what they do when a bank digs in. The answer tells you how much thought went into the drafting.
✓ Look the lawyer up yourself, it takes two minutes
The State Bar of Michigan runs a free member directory showing bar number and standing, and the Attorney Discipline Board publishes its decisions. Search the individual who will draft and witness your documents. Only one of the three practices on this page has a P number discoverable in public profiles, which is a low bar that two of them do not clear.
Power Of Attorney Lawyers in West Bloomfield: frequently asked questions
Did Michigan change its power of attorney law?
Yes, substantially. The Uniform Power of Attorney Act, 2023 Public Act 187, was signed in November 2023 and took effect on 1 July 2024. It repealed the durable power of attorney provisions that had sat in the Estates and Protected Individuals Code at MCL 700.5501 to 700.5505 and replaced them with a stand-alone statute at MCL 556.201 and following. The Act sets out an agent’s mandatory and default duties, supplies an optional statutory form, and for the first time puts real pressure on banks and others to accept a valid document.
Can a bank refuse my power of attorney?
Only on limited grounds now. Under MCL 556.220 someone presented with an acknowledged Michigan power of attorney generally has to accept it within seven business days, or request supporting documentation such as a certification or translation and then accept within five business days of receiving it. If they refuse outside the listed grounds, a court can order them to accept it and can make them pay the reasonable attorney fees and costs of the action. That is a genuinely new lever for Michigan families.
Does a financial power of attorney cover medical decisions?
No, and Michigan is unusually clear about it. The statutory form itself states that the power of attorney does not authorise the agent to make health care decisions. Medical decision-making runs on a separate document, the patient advocate designation, governed by MCL 700.5506 to 700.5515. You need both, and they are executed differently. A common and expensive mistake is assuming one document covers the whole of an incapacity.
Who can witness a Michigan patient advocate designation?
Not most of the people you would naturally ask. MCL 700.5506(4) requires two witnesses and disqualifies your spouse, parent, child, grandchild, sibling, presumptive heir, anyone known at the time to be a beneficiary of the document, your physician, the patient advocate themselves, and employees of a life or health insurer covering you, of a health facility treating you, or of a home for the aged where you live. A witness must also not sign unless you appear to be of sound mind and free of duress or undue influence.
When does a patient advocate designation actually take effect?
Not when you sign it. The designation must state that the authority is exercisable only when you are unable to participate in medical or mental health treatment decisions, and MCL 700.5508 governs how that determination gets made. It also needs to reach your medical record. Until then you make your own decisions, which is the point. This is why people who sign one and then assume their advocate can ring the hospital tomorrow are usually disappointed.
What happens if I never sign one?
Your family ends up in Oakland County Probate Court asking a judge to appoint a guardian for your person, a conservator for your money, or both. That process costs money, takes time, creates a public court file and gives decision-making authority to whoever the court picks rather than whoever you would have chosen. Under MCL 700.5306 a probate court can even override a patient advocate designation that was not executed properly, which is another reason to get the formalities right.
DJA Editorial
Legal Directory Research
Compiles Distinguished Justice Advocates city guides from state bar records, statutes and publicly visible client reviews. Firms appear as a shortlist rather than a ranking. Figures a firm publishes about itself are labelled as such, and anything that could not be verified is flagged on the page rather than estimated.
Sources and method
- State Bar of Michigan member directory and Attorney Discipline Board records, plus The Florida Bar and public attorney directories: bar numbers, admissions, education and practice history, with anything unconfirmed flagged on the page.
- Firm websites, attorney profiles and directory listings: office addresses, phone numbers, named attorneys, practice scope, consultation policy and hours.
- Google Business Profile listings for each firm’s nearest office: ratings, review counts, opening hours and the review text behind the client themes.
- Uniform Power of Attorney Act, 2023 Public Act 187, MCL 556.201 to 556.505, effective 1 July 2024: the repeal of the former EPIC provisions, agent duties, execution and the statutory framework.
- MCL 556.220: the seven business day and five business day acceptance deadlines, the grounds for refusal, and liability for attorney fees and costs on an unlawful refusal.
- MCL 556.401 and 556.214: the optional statutory form power of attorney and the agent’s mandatory and default fiduciary duties.
- MCL 700.5506 to 700.5515: the patient advocate designation, the two witness requirement, the disqualified witnesses and when the authority becomes exercisable.
- MCL 700.5306: the probate court’s power to appoint a guardian and to modify a guardianship where a patient advocate designation was not properly executed.
