Kelly M. Burnell

Member,Detroit

T 313-393-7514F 313-393-7579kburnell@bodmanlaw.comEmail 313-393-7514

Practices & Industries

Education

Michigan State University College of Law, J.D., summa cum laude
University of Michigan, Stephen M. Ross School of Business, B.B.A.

Admissions

Michigan

Overview

Ms. Burnell is a Member of Bodman PLC and Co-Chair of the firm’s High Net Worth Practice Group. She is a trusted advisor to high-net-worth individuals and families, family business owners, family offices, fiduciaries, and closely held businesses on sophisticated wealth planning, tax planning, business succession, and legacy planning matters. She helps clients preserve, manage, and transition wealth through integrated legal strategies tailored to their financial objectives, family values, and long-term goals.

Ms. Burnell advises clients throughout every stage of the wealth planning lifecycle, including estate planning, trust and estate administration, wealth transfer strategies, charitable planning, asset protection, and ownership transitions. She works closely with clients and their professional advisors to develop practical solutions addressing the legal, tax, financial, and personal considerations associated with significant wealth.

Business owners regularly rely on Ms. Burnell for guidance on entity formation and restructuring, ownership reorganizations, recapitalizations, buy-sell agreements, holding company structures, succession planning and exit strategies. She assists family-owned businesses with structuring ownership interests, centralizing control, enhancing tax efficiency, protecting privacy, and minimizing liability exposure to support successful transitions across generations.

Ms. Burnell also advises families on the formation, structuring, and administration of family offices and other wealth management structures. She works with families to evaluate appropriate models, establish decision-making processes, coordinate legal, tax, investment, accounting, and risk management advisors, and create systems designed to efficiently manage family wealth. In addition, she counsels families on leadership transitions, next-generation education, family stewardship, and continuity planning.

Ms. Burnell has experience advising clients on significant personal and business transactions, including the purchase and sale of residential properties, investment and commercial real estate, and property management. She regularly assists clients with complex real estate matters as part of broader wealth preservation, tax planning, and succession strategies.

A significant component of Ms. Burnell’s practice involves philanthropic planning and charitable giving. She assists clients with the formation and administration of private foundations, donor-advised funds, charitable trusts, and other charitable organizations, helping families incorporate philanthropy into their broader wealth transfer and legacy objectives.

As Co-Chair of Bodman’s High Net Worth Practice Group, Ms. Burnell leads a multidisciplinary team that advises affluent individuals, families, family offices, family enterprises, and closely held businesses on complex matters involving wealth preservation, tax planning, business transitions, and the management and transfer of family assets.

Ms. Burnell is consistently recognized as a leading private wealth attorney, including by Chambers High Net Worth for Private Wealth Law. She is a frequent speaker on estate planning, wealth transfer, family offices, succession planning, philanthropic strategies, and wealth preservation.

Prior to joining Bodman, Ms. Burnell was an attorney with a global accounting firm, where she advised corporate clients on tax and financial incentive matters, including negotiating and securing incentives for significant capital investments and job creation in Michigan. She also counseled clients on tax issues associated with mergers and acquisitions and state and local tax planning strategies. This experience provides valuable perspective in advising business owners and families on complex tax, business, and wealth planning matters.

Ms. Burnell grew up in a small town in Northern Michigan, an experience that continues to shape her commitment to building lasting relationships, providing thoughtful counsel, and helping families preserve their legacies for future generations. She currently resides in Plymouth with her husband and three children.

Honors, Awards, and Recognitions

Crain’s Detroit Business “Notable Women in Law” 2024
Chambers HNW 2021-2025, Private Wealth Law
DBusiness Magazine “Top Lawyers” 2020-2026, Trusts and Estates

Civic, Cultural and Community Activities

CATCH, Member, Board of Trustees

Professional Affiliations

State Bar of Michigan
- Business Law Section
- Probate & Estate Planning Section
- Taxation Section
Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation Network of Professional Advisors
Financial and Estate Planning Council of Metropolitan Detroit
Michigan Women’s Tax Association
Washtenaw Estate Planning Council

Publications

Quoted in “Ready to Retire? Consider Your Options Before Exiting Your Company,” Crain’s Detroit Business, April 18, 2024 (sub. req.)
Quoted in “A Tough Split: How Family Businesses Can Protect Themselves in Divorce,” Crain’s Detroit Business, May 2, 2022 (sub. req.)
“Other Voices: Tax Credits Can Help Revive Communities,” Crain’s Detroit Business, October 9, 2011 (sub. req.)

Speaking Engagements

“Business Transition Webinar with Comerica Bank,” Michigan Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, September 24, 2024
“Estate Planning Tax Considerations for 2015,” Speaker, Institute for Continuing Legal Education (ICLE), February 19, 2015, Ann Arbor, Michigan
“2014 Annual Accounting & Regulatory Update: Estate Planning and Property Transfer Update,” Presenter, UHY LLP, December 4, 2014, Troy, Michigan
“Directed Trusts and Divided Trusteeship: Origin Evolution and Implications,” Speaker, Midwest Trust and Wealth Management Conference/Michigan Bankers Association, October 7, 2014, Plymouth, Michigan
“2013 Annual Accounting & Regulatory Update: Estate Tax Planning & Succession Transfers,” Co-presenter, UHY LLP, December 4, 2013, Troy, Michigan

Representative Matters

Implementing dozens of wealth transfer and tax planning strategies for clients, including life insurance trusts, qualified personal residence trusts, and gifts and sales of closely-held family business interests, marketable securities and other assets to multi-generational trusts.
Assisting several individual clients make millions in lifetime transfers to their children free of estate, gift or income tax through grantor retained annuity trusts.
Establishing a family limited liability company that holds over $100 million in assets, which included structuring and drafting the LLC governance documents to provide for centralized management, creditor protection, and ownership restrictions, assisting in funding the LLC and advising our client in gifting and selling membership interests to trusts for multi-generational grandchildren at greatly reduced tax costs.
Working with clients to form private foundations focused on stewardship, preserving family values, and leaving a legacy.
Structuring estate plans for high net worth individuals in a tax efficient manner to leave the majority of their assets to private foundations.
Counseling clients with respect to asset protection and premarital planning matters, as well as preparing and negotiating prenuptial agreements and establishing domestic asset protection trusts.
Assisting a client establish a family-owned microbrewery business from its inception, including real estate acquisition, contract negotiations, tax and employment matters, and complying with state and federal liquor licensing and regulatory requirements.
Representing long-time clients in connection with highly desirable commercial real estate in Detroit.
Representing a client in connection with the $4.5 million sale of a personal residence in an exclusive Detroit suburb and the $3.6 million sale of a private residential lot in an upscale guarded neighborhood near Grosse Pointe.
Helping a Fortune 500 company obtain more than $7 million in tax and business development incentives to establish a new headquarters facility in Michigan.
Helping an international company obtain over $1 million in property tax savings to establish a new research and development facility in Michigan.
Advising a large corporation on complicated issues associated with MEGA tax credits and corporate reorganization in a highly pressured situation with a tight timeframe, resulting in a favorable ruling from the Department of Treasury and preserving tax credits worth several million dollars.

Ann Arbor

Detroit

Grand Rapids

Troy