Kathleen A. Cieslik

Estate Planning Attorney

Kathleen is a trusts and estates attorney focused on creating customized estate plans for a wide range of individuals and multi-generational families which achieve goals such as tax avoidance, business succession planning and charitable giving. She also provides counsel to individual and corporate fiduciaries regarding the timely and efficient management of trusts and estates, including probate administration when necessary. An experienced litigator, Kathleen also handles controversies and frequently appears in Probate Court to handle both routine and contested matters throughout Southeast Michigan.

Experience

Routinely represent high net worth clients including leading planning for the second generation of an ultra-high net worth family which utilized various wealth transfer techniques collectively removing over $30M in assets from taxable estates through grantor trusts.

Implemented plan which transferred situs of a $25M trust to a favorable jurisdiction which allowed for decanting resulting in the expansion of special power of appointment to allow a client to update her planning to provide for her desired beneficiary.

Management of taxable estates, including advice with regard to funding marital trust or family trust, obtaining business valuations and assist accountants with Form 706.

Effectively implemented postmortem trust modification by seeking probate court approval to effectuate a high value specific bequest made orally in close proximity to death.

Lead litigation and negotiate resolution on behalf of an irrevocable trust regarding decades of unprepared marital trust accountings following the surviving spouse’s death.

Honors and Recognitions

Best Lawyers in America®, One to Watch, Trusts and Estates, since 2021

DBusiness, Top Lawyers, Trust & Estates, 2025

Grand Rapids Magazine, Top Lawyers, Trusts and Estates, 2023

Top Lawyers in Michigan, Trust and Estates, 2024-2025

Super Lawyers, Rising Stars, Estate Planning & Probate, since 2023

Professional Affiliations

Financial and Estate Planning Council of Metro Detroit

Oakland County Bar Association

State Bar of Michigan Probate and Estate Planning Section: Council member; Chair, Electronic Wills Committee; Member, Guardianship, Conservatorship & End of Life Committee; Uniform Fiduciary Income & Principal Act Ad Hoc Committee; Uniform Community Property Disposition at Death Act Ad Hoc Committee; Uniform Power of Attorney Act Committee; Nonbanking Entities Trust Powers Committee

Community Involvement

Detroit Regional Chamber’s Leadership Detroit, Class XLV, member

Michigan State Alumni Band, member

Planned Giving Roundtable of Southeast Michigan, board

Presentations

When Good Intentions Aren’t Enough: Common Pitfalls in Charitable Estate Planning, Planned Giving Roundtable, August 2025

Allow me to Reintroduce Myself: Valuable Trust Tools You May Not Be Using, ICLE, Probate Institute, June 2025

Panelist, Teamwork: Professional Advisors and the Charitable Gift Plan, Planned Giving Roundtable, June 2025

Creating Flexible Trusts for an Uncertain Tax Future, ICLE Tax Conference, May 2025

Panelist, Actionable Strategies for Engaging the Affluent Woman Donor, a Multi-Disciplinary Female Panel – Planned Giving Roundtable, June 2024

Drafting an Estate Plan for Estates Under $5 Million, ICLE, presented annually since Spring 2022

Behind the Curtain: What Goes On in Charitable Estate Planning, Planned Giving Roundtable, June 2022

Taxes and Estate Planning: Where Do We Go From Here?, ICLE, Fall 2022