Kellen concentrates in the areas of estate planning, real estate, and trust/estate administration.

More specifically, Kellen recommends custom estate plans to ensure that each of his clients, from high net worth individuals to those seeking Medicaid and everyone in between, are 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 transfer and 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 avoidance, asset protection, and charitable giving.

Kellen particularly enjoys creating succession plans for family cottages that allow them to stay within the family for generations while 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 represented lenders in 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 United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, and later worked on appellate cases for the Michigan Court of Appeals.  Kellen grew up in Muskegon and appreciates the opportunity to serve the lakeshore community.