|
|
45200 Card Rd Ste 108
Macomb,
Michigan
48044
Phone: (586) 803-8500
Elder Law Advisory Board Member
Practice areas: Probate/Estate Planning, Elder Law
|
Michele P. Fuller has practiced law since 1997 and is the founding attorney of two allied practices: Fuller Special Needs Law, which serves families through special needs estate planning, inheritance planning, and trust design, and The Architected Settlement Law Group, where she is developing the discipline of Settlement Architecture for catastrophic injury cases. She is also the founder and President of Advocacy, Inc., a Michigan nonprofit that serves as professional trustee of standalone special needs trusts. Ms. Fuller served as co-counsel on behalf of the minor patient claimants in the $13 million Hawthorn class action and, as Special Assistant Attorney General, designed the settlement process for the $600 million Flint water case. She was inducted as a Fellow of the Academy of Court-Appointed Neutrals in recognition of that work. Ms. Fuller has led the Elder Law and Disability Rights Council of the State Bar of Michigan (SBM) and holds leadership positions in several national organizations, including the Advisory Board of the Academy of Special Needs Planners, the Board of Directors of the Michigan Chapter of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, and the ICLE Elder Law and Special Needs Advisory Board. She remains active in NAELA and the Michigan Association for Justice. Ms. Fuller is coauthor of "Administering the Michigan Special Needs Trust," the 2nd and 3rd editions of "Administering the California Special Needs Trust," and the 6th and 7th editions of "Special Needs Trusts: Protecting Your Child’s Financial Future" (NOLO Press). She is also a frequent presenter for national and statewide organizations including the American Bar Association (ABA), the American Association for Justice (AAJ), the Michigan Association for Justice (MAJ), ICLE, ElderCounsel, MassMutual, the Brain Injury Association of Michigan, and the Michigan Guardianship Association. Ms. Fuller's nationally published articles have appeared in the NAELA journal, "BiFocal" (a journal of the ABA Commission on Law and Aging), "Estates and Trusts Magazine," the "Michigan Bar Journal," the MAJ journal, the AAJ's "Trial Magazine," NAELA News, "Elder Law Answers," and other publications. Since 2016, she has co-hosted the Special Needs Planning Symposium, held each February in Napa, California and now attended by nearly 600 special needs planning attorneys and fiduciaries, and since 2021 she has co-hosted the Great Lakes Special Needs Planning Symposium. Ms. Fuller is also the 2018 recipient of the Unsung Hero Award of the SBM, given annually to an attorney who has exhibited the highest standards of practice and commitment for the benefit of others. Her other recognitions include multiple Super Lawyers nominations, the American Institute of Legal Counsel 10 Best Elder Law Attorneys and Distinguished Lawyers, Women-in-Law Elder Law and Special Needs Planning Attorney of the Year (Lawyer's Monthly Magazine, 2016), and Top Special Needs Child Advocate (Parenting Magazine, 2013).
Featured ICLE Contributions:
Elder Law Certificate Program (Certificate)