Lauretta K. Murphy is a Member of the firm and has been practicing law since 1988. Her practice areas include elder law and disability planning, and probate and estate planning. She specializes in elder law, trust and estate administration, and special needs.
Probate and Estate Planning
Ms. Murphy works with a wide variety of individuals from seniors to baby boomers, married couples to single parents, from young families to non-traditional families. She strives to make clients comfortable when she meets with them to identify goals and analyze their financial and personal situation. Ms. Murphy uses plain English to explain estate planning options. She describes options such as a will and a trust to meet each family’s needs. She prepares documents customized to each client’s unique situation and concerns. Regardless of the differences, she finds some common goals clients have. These include:
- Protecting minor children or disabled loved ones
- Preserving government benefits
- Minimizing taxes
- Coordinating retirement plans and life insurance policies
- Avoiding probate
- Making charitable donations effectively
Ms. Murphy represents clients in Michigan probate courts. She administers descendant’s estates, handles claims and disputes, assists with having a guardian or conservator appointed and counsels on other legal problems that may arise.
Elder Law and Disability Planning
Ms. Murphy is the chair of Miller Johnson’s Elder Law and Disability Planning practice group. This select group of attorneys specializes in the legal and practical aspects of planning for the needs that arise as people age. Her mission is to serve as an “agent of hope” when families are in crisis over nursing home and long term care issues. Her caring manner eases their anxiety and provides a level of trust in her counsel so that they know there is a solution in sight. Her clients are prepared when faced with difficult decisions due to Ms. Murphy’s vast experience in drafting proper documents, asset protection planning, and researching topics from Medicaid eligibility to quality nursing home care. Some specific elder law services she provides include:
- Preparing powers of attorney and patient advocate designations
- Filing guardianships and conservatorships
- Providing assistance with Medicaid/Medicare issues such as spend down and asset sheltering
- Preparing Medicaid applications and forms, and assisting with appeals if needed
- Reviewing nursing home contracts and policies
- Identifying resources for people afflicted with Alzheimer’s or other dementia
- Protecting the homestead – preserving the family's primary residence to benefit the homeowner and his or her family
Ms. Murphy believes that every person deserves the highest level of respect and consideration. Her practice also includes planning to maximize resources for people with disabilities and special needs. Ms. Murphy prepares trusts to protect people with disabilities so they can maintain government benefits while family funds are used to enhance quality of life. She works with disabled people who receive funds from insurance proceeds and money judgments to draft and fund special needs trusts specifically authorized by state and federal law to shelter assets.
Ms. Murphy is a widely acknowledged expert on Medicaid special needs trusts, asset protection and estate planning. She also advises trustees of special needs trusts in making appropriate distributions which will not affect eligibility for SSI, Medicaid, or other government programs. She keeps current with the ever-changing and increasingly complicated government rules and is well networked into a system of other elder care professionals.
Ms. Murphy is a valued member of the firm’s Health Care Reform Team since some of the health care reform changes focus on elder abuse, long-term care, and Medicare. Because of the complexity and ambiguity of the two acts that make-up the health care reform legislation, she is committed to informing contacts of new regulations as they are released in order to ensure compliance.
Professional Affiliations and Activities
Ms. Murphy serves on the Board of Directors as President for Elder Law of Michigan, Inc. and is also a member of the West Michigan Estate Planning Council having been a past president and on the Board of Directors. She is a member of the State Bar of Michigan and was the secretary and treasurer for the Elder Law and Advocacy section. Ms. Murphy is a member of the Grand Rapids Bar Association and was president of the Grand Rapids Bar Association Probate Section. She belongs to the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, Women Lawyers Association of Michigan and American Bar Association.
Articles and Presentations
Ms. Murphy is a frequent speaker to professionals and community groups on Medicaid, estate planning, wills and trusts, planning for disability, living wills, patient advocate designations, planning to avoid probate, planning for disabled children, estate tax shelters, sophisticated estate planning techniques, elder law and other topics.
Ms. Murphy is an editor of the fourth edition of “Advising the Older Client or Client with a Disability” published by The Institute of Continuing Legal Education (ICLE) released in 2009. She also contributed, as a co-author, to the chapter "Medicare Benefits and Procedures."
In May 2007, she was interviewed by both the ABC and NBC affiliate stations regarding Medicaid changes and other elder law issues. She has been a panelist on the public television programs “Successful Aging” and “Caring for Your Parents.” She has also been quoted in articles like “Estate Recovery in Limbo,” Grand Rapids Business Journal, July 15, 2008 and "State May See Shift in Long-term Care Costs,” The Grand Rapids Press, April 10, 2005.
Articles she has written include:
- "Elder Law - Weighing Your Options" in the fall of 2004 in Michigan Generations
- "2005 Medicaid and Health Care Planning Update" during the spring of 2005 in the newsletter published by the Institute of Continuing Legal Education
- “Am I My Mother's Keeper” The Grand Rapids Press, November 1, 2005
- “Lessons From the Terry Schiavo Case: Sign a Patient Advocate Designation,” spring of 2005, Miller Johnson’s Priority Read® newsletter
- “Lifetime Charitable Donation from IRA,” fall of 2006, Miller Johnson’s Priority Read® newsletter
Honors
Ms. Murphy is listed in the “Best Lawyers in America®” for Trusts and Estates. She is a fellow in the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC). She was selected to join this prestigious professional association on the basis of her professional reputation and ability in the fields of trusts and estates and on the basis of having made substantial contributions to these fields through lecturing, writing, teaching, and bar activities. She has been named a Michigan “Super Lawyer” for Estate Planning and Probate.
Community Activities
Ms. Murphy is on the Board of Directors for both the Council on Aging of Kent County and Disability Advocates. She is an advocate for and member with the Area Agency on Aging, Association for Retarded Citizens, Gerontology Network and Triad – Council Against Senior Exploitation. Ms. Murphy currently serves on the Grand Rapids Art Museum Foundation Board and the Board of Directors for the Hugh Michael Beahan Charitable Foundation. She is a member of the Management Advisory Board for Covenant Village Retirement Community. She also does legal work for the refugee program at Bethany Christian Services.
Ms. Murphy was the president of the Council on Aging of Kent County, vice president and Board of Directors for Citizens for Better Care and founding Chair of the Kent and Ottawa Council Against Senior Exploitation. Ms. Murphy was president of Grand Rapids QUOTA Community Service Club.
Education
Ms. Murphy received her law degree magna cum laude in 1988 from Notre Dame Law School and her undergraduate degree summa cum laude in 1984 from Aquinas College. She is admitted to practice in Michigan.