Our Firm
The people behind our team at Moore and Kerbawy
James L. Moore, JD
Counsellor at law | Law offices of James L. Moore, PC
“The expert’s-expert”
James L. Moore, JD, Counselor at Law, principle and founder of The Law Offices of James L. Moore, PC is known as the “expert’s-expert”. Moore’s reputation as a practical problem solver and bottom line communicator provides an environment which allows him to connect with the audience due to his extensive personal, legal, and practical business experience. Moore has 30 years of experience as an estate planning, business succession and tax attorney helping hundreds of clients plan for, protect, and preserve their personal estates and businesses. Moore’s focus provides a proven system that allows individuals and business owners to pass along their wisdom and legacy values with their wealth and business.
As a Senior Contributing Fellow with the National Network of Estate Planning Attorneys and a former member of the National Advisory Council of the US Small Business Administration appointed by then President Ronald Regan, Moore is a sought after speaker and legal strategist. He has spoken to groups of tax, legal, financial, and other business professionals ranging from small business owner retreats to 5,000 participant weekend personal development seminars.
Moore obtained his Juris Doctorate after the completion of a tour of duty in Viet Nam as a Marine Corps infantry officer. Since then, he has added to his professional education by obtaining the Advanced Estate and Business Succession Planning designation through the National Network of Estate Planning Attorneys. Moore has also earned the CExP designation (Certified Exit Planning Professional) from the Business Enterprise Institute and was recently selected by the State Bar of Michigan as a “Master Lawyer”.
TOPICS OF INTEREST TO BUSINESS OWNERS
- Family and Business Wealth Protection Planning
- Stage 2 Business Solutions™ Objective Review
- Strategic Planning for Business Owners
- Tax Reduction Strategies
- Succession Planning Strategies
- Advanced Estate Planning Strategies
- Business Relationships, Roles, and Succession
- Blueprinting Client-Centered Counseling and Design Programs
Richard Kerbawy
“A servant’s heart.”
Richard Kerbawy has served the Mid-Michigan community for more than four decades. He was an Assistant Ingham County Prosecuting Attorney for four years before being appointed Chief Attorney Referee for the Ingham County Circuit Court Family Division, where he heard abuse and neglect, delinquency and custody cases for 23 years. He has decades of serving as faculty for the Michigan Supreme Courts Judicial Institute, Lansing Community College’s Police Academy, the State Court Administrators Office and Children’s Charter for the Courts of Michigan. Richard has also served on the Board of Director’s of the Boys and Girls Club of Lansing for over 38 years as well as many other community boards. Richard will serve your legal needs.
What Sets Us Apart
Our Goal is to Co-Create a comprehensive Family Wealth Protection Plan, or business Exit Plan, that will actually work with people who care.
Yes, you have to invest time, energy, emotion and money. However, it will produce peace of mind for you and protection for your family or business.
No Law Firm can be an expert at everything. The focus or our practice is wealth and personal protection for families and individuals and smooth transition or exit planning for business owners. What makes us unique is our membership in two national organizations. Wealth Counsel estate planning for families and individuals; and, the Business Enterprise Institute on the business owner side.
The mission of both of these organizations is quite simple…”If it doesn’t work for the client, it doesn’t work, period.”
In working with us you are not going to find perfection. What you will find is a law firm that deals with difficult life, disability, death, and business succession issues on a regular basis which has produced exceptional results people did not think were possible.
There are other ways to do this planning. For example, using a general practice law firm or trying to do it yourself on the computer. The real question is will those other ways produce a plan that actually works, or not?
Our mission is to reduce, and in some cases eliminate, your anxieties, fears, and concerns about the future. We actually help people act in their own best interests. Peace of mind not just a piece of paper.
The key question to ask yourself is, “If I decide to invest the time, emotion, energy, and money to create a Family Wealth Protection Plan™; or a business Exit Plan, what’s in it for me?”
What We Believe
We are a full-service, estate planning law firm based in Grand Rapids and Lansing, Michigan.
We believe estate planning is a process designed to improve the quality of life for your loved ones. Estate planning empowers you to control how your assets are used in the event of an illness as well as how your assets are to be passed onto future generations.
Our firm emphasizes the need for expanded client counseling and education on how your estate plan works and on what actions you need to take care of during your lifetime to assure that your estate plan performs in the manner you expect. The administration of your plan is as essential as the quality of the legal documents themselves.
This commitment to full service requires a higher level of client support than provided by most legal firms. Our estate plans are designed to succeed beyond what is common in today’s marketplace.
What We Offer
We focus our law practice primarily on: Estate Planning, Disability Planning and Business Succession and Business Exit Planning.
Whether you are planning to reduce estate taxes, avoid probate, protect a child’s inheritance from divorce or creditors, it is critically important to manage the mechanics of your estate plan.
Beyond drafting the highest quality documents customized to your unique needs, our law firm guides and supports your estate plan work. We offer trust funding assistance to ensure that your assets are properly planned in the event of disability or death. Trust funding is a critical element in successful estate planning. Trust funding makes sure your estate plan attains its goals. We also offer education and training to ensure that the loved ones you designate know what to do should they need to assist.
Our trust settlement services help to ease administration at death for your loved ones. Settlement services ensure your wishes are carried out according to your estate plan.
What People Are Saying About Our Firm
“I gave the presentation a ‘9’ on a scale of 1 to 10 in terms of clarity and practical and useful content.”
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Jeff Rodgers, President and CEO;
Matrix Manufacturing, Inc.
“We found Mr. Moore’s presentation “Stage 2 Business Solutions”™ to be of tremendous value in getting us to “begin the planning process”. Great job!
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Matt Metzger; COO,
Metzger Trucking, Inc.
“Prior to attending the workshop “The Truth About Estate Planning In An Era of Tax Reform “ we were both confused and concerned about a lot of information we thought we knew in this area especially things we had been told regarding what Mr. Moore calls “family and business wealth protection planning” and “business succession planning”. The workshop provided clear, down to earth ideas and strategies and a clear path to follow”.
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Cathy Gildner, CFO,
Cheboygan Cement Products, Inc.
Collaborations
