Kellen concentrates in the areas of estate planning, real estate, and trust/estate administration and chairs the firm’s Estate Planning & Elder Law section.

For estate planning, Kellen prepares custom plans to ensure that each client, from high-net-worth individuals to those seeking Medicaid, is protected in the event of death, incapacity, or residence in a long-term-care facility.  This typically involves the use of living trusts, wills, durable financial and medical powers of attorney, and the retitling of real estate and other assets to avoid probate.  For high-net-worth clients, this may involve more specialized trusts and other techniques for estate-tax reduction, asset protection, and charitable giving.

Kellen particularly enjoys creating succession plans for family cottages and other properties that allow them to stay within the family while maintaining the principal residence exemption and avoiding property tax uncappings, management disputes, and losses to creditors.

On the opposite end, Kellen works with those who have suffered a loss to administer the decedent’s estate, transfer title to assets through probate proceedings or otherwise, file estate tax returns, and resolve any other loose ends.

Before joining Scholten Fant, Kellen worked at a large international law firm headquartered in Detroit, where he handled complex litigation and commercial foreclosures.  Out of law school, he served as a law clerk to the Honorable Lawrence P. Zatkoff, former Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, and later worked on appellate cases for the Michigan Court of Appeals.  Kellen grew up in Norton Shores and appreciates the opportunity to serve the lakeshore community.