Serving as a trustee is both an honor and a serious legal role. A trustee is the person or institution legally responsible for carrying out the instructions in a trust. This includes managing and controlling trust property for the benefit of others and making distributions according to the trust’s terms, not personal...
Category: Estate Planning
Wisconsin Estate Planning: How do you name a Guardian for your child in Wisconsin?
In Wisconsin, naming a guardian for your child is done through a legally valid will (or sometimes a separate guardianship designation within estate planning documents). This is one of the most important decisions parents can make, because if you don’t name a guardian, a court will decide who raises your child. Here’s...
Wisconsin Probate FAQ’s: How a Creditor Can Disrupt Probate
When someone dies, their will typically names a Personal Representative who must open the estate and provide public notice of the death. This is often done by publishing in a local newspaper, so potential creditors can come forward. The Personal Representative must also make reasonable efforts to identify known debts and notify...
Wisconsin Probate: How to avoid delays in Probate in Wisconsin?
Avoiding delays in Wisconsin probate is largely about reducing uncertainty, paperwork gaps, and court friction before and during administration. Probate itself includes mandatory waiting periods, but most avoidable slowdowns come from incomplete planning or inefficient administration.
The fastest probate is often the one that is partially avoided. Good planning...
Wisconsin Estate Planning FAQ’s: Estate Planning and Tax Strategies for Your Different Kinds of Assets
Thoughtful estate planning can help your family inherit with fewer tax headaches, but it’s important to distinguish smart tax avoidance from illegal tax evasion. Tax avoidance means structuring transactions to lawfully minimize taxes. Whereas evasion relies on concealment or deceit and is a crime. With careful planning, reviewing options, and keeping an...
Wisconsin Estate Planning: How to protect your business you own after your death?
Protecting a business after your death is about making sure ownership, control, and cash flow transition smoothly—without court delays, frozen accounts, or forced liquidation. In Wisconsin, businesses can be tied up in probate unless you build a clear succession structure in advance.
Start with legal ownership and a written...
Wisconsin Estate Planning: Should newly married couples combine their estate plans in Wisconsin?
Newly married couples in Wisconsin should coordinate their estate plans closely, but not automatically merge them into a single, identical plan on day one. Marriage creates shared legal and financial interests, yet each spouse still has individual property rights and a separate legal identity. Wisconsin’s marital‑property rules also affect default inheritance if...
 Wisconsin Estate Planning: How to keep your assets out of Probate in Wisconsin?
The core idea is simple: probate only controls assets owned in your name alone at death with no automatic transfer mechanism. To avoid probate, structure ownership so assets pass by contract, titling, or trust instead of through the court.
A revocable living trust is the most comprehensive method. You...
Wisconsin Estate Planning: How to know when a loved one can no longer make legal decisions in Wisconsin?
In Wisconsin, a loved one is considered unable to make legal decisions when they lack legal capacity—meaning they cannot understand, appreciate, or communicate decisions about their personal, financial, or medical affairs at a functional level. Capacity is decision‑specific, not all‑or‑nothing: a person may competently handle simple daily choices yet be unable to...
Wisconsin Probate: When can an Estate that was closed by reopened in Wisconsin?
In Wisconsin, a closed estate can be reopened only in limited, specific situations where something important was missed, fraud is discovered, or additional administration is necessary. Courts will not reopen an estate simply because someone disagrees with the outcome. The governing idea is straightforward: an estate is reopened only when justice or...