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 2nd and 3rd editions of Administering the California Special Needs Trust; and Special Needs Trusts: Protect Your Child’s Financial Future, 6th and 7th 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, and other publications.
Michele is a frequent presenter for various national and statewide organizations such as ElderCounsel, MassMutual, the American Bar Association, American Association for Justice, Michigan Association for Justice, the Institute of Continuing Legal Education, Michigan Brain Injury Association of Michigan and the Michigan Guardianship Association, among others. She is of council for several non-profit organizations, national and statewide, which administers pooled special needs trusts.
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.