Now is the perfect time to start working on an estate plan. As newlyweds, you are likely in the process of deciding which of your accounts and property (your assets) to combine and how to turn two households into one. You may also be setting up new bank accounts and creating a...
Category: Estate Planning
Your Post-Honeymoon Legal Checklist
Your wedding day was absolutely perfect. You and your spouse went on your honeymoon and had the time of your lives. Now you are back and can breathe a sigh of relief as the years ahead unfold before your eyes. Well, not so fast. With your honeymoon over, there are several things...
Does Your Revocable Living Trust Reduce Your Federal Estate Tax Bill in Madison, WI?
Many believe that once they set up and fund a revocable living trust, property held in the trust will completely avoid federal estate taxes after they die. In reality, a living trust does not provide any unique estate tax avoidance strategies.
The primary mechanisms for reducing estate taxes—the unlimited...
Incapacity Planning: The Other Part of Estate Planning in Madison, Wisconsin
Why You Need to Worry About Incapacity Planning
Death is the elephant in the room when we talk about estate planning. We often use phrases like pass away and pass on to make our meetings feel more comfortable and avoid being overly macabre, but the not-so-subtle subtext of an...
Whom Do You Trust to Make Your Financial Decisions?
You wake up and check your investments over a cup of coffee. That tech stock you have been eyeing continues to trend upward, so you log in to your online brokerage account and buy some shares.
Later in the day, you get a notice that your mortgage payment has...
Estate Planning for Collectors and Hobbyists in Madison, WI
Americans often prefer to stay busy. When we are not working, many of us turn to hobbies to keep us engaged and productive. We spend hours each day on our hobbies and leisure activities. Over the course of a lifetime, this time adds up to a significant investment.
Our...
Estate Planning for Newlyweds
Getting married is a special time in your life; you may have a beautiful wedding, a fun reception (with a delicious cake and special gifts), and a romantic honeymoon. It is also the right time for you and your new spouse to plan for your future—for richer or for poorer, in sickness...
Wills, Trusts, and Dying Intestate: How They Differ in Madison, WI
Most people understand that having an estate plan benefits them and their loved ones. However, many individuals do not initiate the estate planning process because they do not fully understand the nuances of foundational estate planning tools such as a will and a trust and the full implications of dying without either...
Stopping Mail Addressed to a Deceased Person
Once you have been appointed the executor or personal representative of a deceased loved one’s probate estate, or when you step in as the successor trustee of the loved one’s trust, one of the first things you should do is to notify the post office of the death and ask them to...
Third-Party Special Needs Trusts in Estate Planning
A special needs trust (SNT) allows an individual to provide for a disabled beneficiary without jeopardizing the beneficiary’s eligibility for needs-based government benefits.
SNT funds can generally be used to pay for almost anything that falls outside the basic support that programs such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and...