Attorney and Counselor, The Private Firm
Matt Wozniak
Counsel for Families, Owners, and Fiduciaries
Schedule a ConversationPracticing in Polish and English ยท Clients across the United States and Europe
He Came to Law From Accounting
He Was Trained to Find What Others Overlook
Matt Wozniak came to the practice of law from accounting. Before he drafted a trust or reviewed a purchase agreement, he worked in a discipline where a single misplaced figure changes the answer, and where the work is not finished until every number reconciles. He carried those habits into law school and into practice.
He earned his Master of Business Administration at Wayne State University and his Juris Doctor at Western Michigan University Cooley Law School. The combination matters in the work he does. Estate planning, probate, and contract law reward the lawyer who reads the entire document, verifies each assumption, and declines to present a plan until it has been tested against what could go wrong.
The problems his clients bring him are rarely dramatic. They are quiet. A trust that was signed but never funded. A deed that was never recorded. A buy-sell agreement whose valuation formula stopped reflecting the business years ago. A beneficiary designation that nobody updated after a divorce. None of these announce themselves, and each is capable of undoing a family's plan or an owner's succession long after the file is closed.
Matt's work is to find those things before they matter. He asks the additional question. He reads the schedules and exhibits, not only the signature pages. He follows up after the documents are executed, because a plan that is signed but not implemented is not yet a plan.
A plan that is signed but not implemented is not yet a plan.
The standard he applies to every file
Planning, Administration, and Transactions Handled with Care
Counsel for Families, Owners, and Fiduciaries
Estate, Trust, and Legacy Planning
Matt builds estate plans around the family in front of him rather than around a template. He begins with the assets, the tax posture, the business interests, and the relationships, including the ones that carry tension, and then he designs the structure that fits. His planning work includes wills, revocable and irrevocable trusts, durable powers of attorney, patient advocate designations, asset protection planning, and special needs trusts that preserve eligibility for public benefits. He explains each instrument in plain language, because a client who understands the plan is far more likely to maintain it.
Probate and Trust Administration
When a death occurs, the family is asked to become administrators at the worst possible moment. Matt guides personal representatives, trustees, and beneficiaries through the sequence that follows: inventories, notices, creditor claims, accountings, tax filings, court deadlines, and distributions. He tracks the calendar so that fiduciaries do not breach their duties by inadvertence, and he carries the administrative weight himself rather than returning it to a grieving family. Where a plan was poorly drafted or never completed, he works to repair the position rather than to assign blame.
Business Transactions, Contracts, and Real Estate
Matt represents business owners in transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, entity formation, and business succession planning. He drafts and reviews contracts with the same discipline he applies to trust instruments, on the premise that the value of an agreement is decided by its least examined clause. He also handles commercial and residential real estate, from purchase and sale through leasing and closing, and he advises employers on employment agreements, restrictive covenants, and workplace policies.
Litigation When a Matter Cannot Be Resolved
Matt prefers to resolve disputes before they reach a courtroom, and careful drafting prevents a great many of them. When resolution is not available, he tries cases. His litigation work includes probate and trust disputes, contract actions, and real estate disputes.
Where His Work Begins
Where Clients Turn to Him
Estate Planning, Wills, and Trusts
Plans built for the specific family, the specific assets, and the specific business interests involved.
Probate and Trust Administration
Steady guidance for personal representatives and trustees through every filing, notice, accounting, and deadline.
Asset Protection and Special Needs Planning
Structures that shield assets from avoidable exposure and preserve public benefit eligibility for family members with disabilities.
Business Transactions and Succession Planning
Formation, purchase and sale, mergers and acquisitions, and the transfer of a business to the next owner or the next generation.
Commercial and Residential Real Estate
Acquisitions, sales, leasing, and closings, with the title and survey detail examined rather than assumed.
Contract Drafting, Review, and Disputes
Agreements written to be enforced, and reviewed with attention to the terms that decide outcomes.
Matters He Handles
Representative Experience
- Complex transactional matters, including mergers and acquisitions.
- Estate plans structured around closely held business interests and succession objectives.
- Probate and trust administration on behalf of personal representatives, trustees, and beneficiaries.
- Special needs trusts preserving eligibility for means tested public benefits.
- Commercial real estate acquisitions, dispositions, and leasing.
- Employment agreements, restrictive covenants, and workplace policy review.
- Contract drafting, negotiation, and enforcement across industries.
How He Works With Clients
Built on Attention and Follow-Through
Clients reach Matt. He returns calls, he answers email, and he meets in person, and he keeps clients informed at each stage rather than leaving them to wonder where a matter stands. He answers the question that was asked, and then the question the client did not know to ask. He treats availability as part of the representation rather than a courtesy extended when the schedule permits.
Beyond the Legal Brief
Clients Across the United States and Europe
Reliable. Trustworthy. Honest.
Matt speaks Polish and English. The Private Firm represents clients throughout the United States and in Europe, and Matt works with Polish speaking families and business owners in their own language. That matters when a family's property, heirs, or business interests sit on both sides of the Atlantic. Precision in a legal document is demanding enough in one language, and he does not leave a client to manage it in a second.
248.781.4500
matt@thefirm.net
Admissions and Education
Admissions
State Bar of Michigan, 2014 (P78554)
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan
Education
Thomas M. Cooley Law School, Juris Doctor, 2012
Wayne State University, Bachelor of Science, Accounting, 2002
Languages
English and Polish