When heirs or beneficiaries can’t be located in a Wisconsin probate, the estate can’t ignore them; instead, the personal representative must use reasonable diligence to identify and find all interested persons before distributing the estate. That duty includes identifying heirs and beneficiaries, obtaining current addresses, providing required notices, and keeping records of...
Category: Beneficiary Designations
Wisconsin Estate Planning: Estate Planning for Schoolteachers: How Your Benefits Come into Play
As a schoolteacher, you do far more than teach lessons. You manage a classroom, mentor students, and juggle a busy schedule—often while balancing other responsibilities at home. But one important task is often too easy to postpone: estate planning.
Estate planning is not just for the wealthy. It is...
Wisconsin Estate Planning: Seven Estate Planning Traps Most People Miss—and Seven Questions to Audit Your Family’s Future
Think back to how your life was seven years ago. Your family, your finances, your relationships, and even the accounts you use have probably changed in ways both obvious and subtle. Seven years does not feel like a long time until you start making the list.
Your estate plan...
Estate Planning Tips for Unmarried Partners
More couples than ever are building deep, lasting relationships without ever walking down the aisle. Whether by choice, circumstance, or principle, many Americans are opting out of marriage—but not out of commitment. Data indicate that cultural norms regarding marriage in the United States have undergone significant shifts over the past several decades....
Treating Your Children Fairly May Mean Unequal Inheritances
When thinking through their estate plan and how they want their assets(money and property) managed after they pass away, most parents wish to treat their children equally, often out of a sense of fairness. However, sometimes being fair or doing what is right by your children may mean giving unequal inheritances.
Different Names or Aliases and Estate Planning
What is in a name?
If you are a beneficiary or a creditor of an estate, or if you are setting up an estate plan, your name means a great deal.
It is not unusual for a person to go by different names, such as the...
Keep Your Beneficiary Designations Current!
You regularly check the balances of your retirement, bank, and investment accounts. But when was the last time you checked the beneficiary designations on these accounts (and really, all the other accounts that allow you to name a beneficiary)?
It may have been years since you first opened an...
Reasons You Need an Up-to-Date Estate Plan
Although we live in a world where information is easily accessible through the internet, there are still many misconceptions surrounding estate planning. Most of us do not dedicate our time to learning more about topics like estate planning, because we may not know that we need an estate plan or realize the...
Avoiding Intestacy
About two out of three Americans will die without a will. This is known as dying intestate.
While the reasons for not having a will vary, the end result is the same for everyone: they do not get to choose who receives their property when they die. Instead, their...
Have You Thought Through Your Retirement Plans?
Beginning your retirement is a great milestone that is worth celebrating. You have put in many years of hard work, and you are now able to focus your energy on the next phase of your life. However, before you begin this next chapter, you need to make sure that you have fully...