Michele Fuller
Michele P. Fuller is the founder of Michigan Law Center, P.L.L.C, Moving to Mastery, LLC, and President of Advocacy, Inc. This non-profit organization serves as a trustee of special needs and settlement trusts. Her law practice focuses on advocacy, protection, and asset preservation for persons with disabilities, including working in
the following areas of law: special needs planning, special needs trust administration, and settlement planning.
Michele was appointed Special Assistant Attorney General and was honored to design the settlement process for the $600 million Flint Water Case. She was recently inducted as a Fellow of the Academy of Court-Appointed Neutrals because of that work. She has served as Chair of the Elder Law and Disability Rights Section (ELDRS) of the State Bar of Michigan. She has leadership positions in several national organizations: Advisory Board Member of the Academy of Special Needs Planners (ASNP) and Michigan Chapter of NAELA Board of Directors. She is also active in the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA), the Michigan Association for Justice (MAJ), and a regular contributor to the Institute for Continuing Legal Education (ICLE) and recently agreed to serve on their Elder Law and Special Needs Advisory Board.
Michele is a frequent presenter for various national and statewide organizations such as ElderCounsel,
MassMutual, the American Bar Association, the American Association for Justice, Michigan Association for Justice,
the Institute of Continuing Legal Education, Brain Injury Association of Michigan, and the Michigan Guardianship
Association, among others.
Michele is honored to have received the 2018 State Bar of Michigan Unsung Hero Award, given annually to
an attorney demonstrating dedication in their practice for the betterment of others. She has also been nominated to
the Super Lawyers list for several years. Other awards include the following: Super Lawyers, American Institute of
Legal Counsel 10 Best Elder Law Attorneys and Distinguished Lawyers, Women-in-Law Elder Law and Special Needs Planning Attorney of the Year by Lawyer’s Monthly Magazine in 2016, and Parenting Magazine Top Special Needs Child Advocate in 2013.
Michele and her award-winning special needs attorney and spouse, Kevin Urbatsch, frequently write
together. Their publications include: Administering the Michigan Special Needs Trust; the 2 nd  and 3 rd  editions
of Administering the California Special Needs Trust; and Special Needs Trusts: Protect Your Child’s Financial Future, 6th and 7 th  Editions, NOLO Press. She is also the author of Saving Grace, an elder law client’s experience, and Finding Peace: a guide for caregivers, to be published in 2020.
Michele and Kevin have also co-authored several nationally published articles, including Traps for the
Unwary During Special Needs Trust Administration, in Estates and Trusts Magazine, the Future of Planning for
Persons with Disabilities, which was published in the Fall 2013 edition of the NAELA Journal, and Pooled Trusts: An Approach to Special Needs Planning for Families of Modest Means, published in the May-June 2013 edition of
BiFocal, a Journal of the ABA Commission on Law and Aging. Michele has also contributed to Michigan Bar
Journal, Planning for a Person with Disabilities, Considerations when Settling a Lawsuit for an Individual Lacking
Capacity or a Minor, and Divorce and Disability: Identifying and Resolving the Unique Issues of a Spouse with
Disabilities. In addition to the Michigan State Bar Journal, Michele has contributed to the MAJ Journal, Elder Law
Answers, NAELA News, Trial Magazine for the AAJ, and other publications.
Michele graduated with Honors as a member of the James Madison College at Michigan State University
with a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations. Michele then attended American University International Law
Master’s program and obtained her Juris Doctor from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law.
