What happens to my assets when I die?
There are a lot of different things that can happen with your property, but basically if you have an asset, any piece of property that is in your name, that you own, and you are the only owner, and there is not any way for that asset to transfer automatically, then that is what is called a probatable asset.

Probate is the court that is involved with transferring assets after somebody passes away. The general legal basis behind that is that during your lifetime, you are the only person who has ownership of your own assets. No one else can come in and take your things from you because they are yours.
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​The same principle applies after you are gone. Now you have this asset that is stuck, it is in your name, but if you are no longer around to be able to transfer it, the court has to step in and use the court authority to grant somebody else the ability to transfer those assets in your name, and that is the process of probate. There are certain laws that govern what happens with where everything goes and what court process is needed. That is the general probate process.

This video is for informative purposes only. It is not intended as legal advice. Small details can have big consequences. Want to know more about Estate Planning, schedule a free consultation with us.

How long does it take to do an estate plan?

The first meeting is usually about an hour, hour and a half, depending on how many questions there are.
After that first meeting, usually, we've developed a strategy that we want to implement and we figured out what documents we are going to help draft. Typically, those documents take a few weeks to put together and get out to you. It may take a little less, it may take a little bit more.

Once we send the documents out, as far as our firm is concerned, we're ready to sign. And it really just depends on our clients' comfort level with the documents and their availability.
Most of the duration between when we first meet with someone, and when we have them come back in for signing, is just a question of schedules.

This article is for informative purposes only. It is not intended as legal advice. Small details can have big consequences. Want to know more about Estate Planning, schedule a free consultation with us.

Does a will keep my beneficiaries out of probate?
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A will does not keep beneficiaries out of court. ​Actually, the way that the document is designed is the opposite of that. A will only deals with core assets. It functionally serves as a set of instructions to the probate courts about what should happen to assets that are already going through there. It does not deal with anything outside of the court process. 

​If you have an account that has a beneficiary designation that says it goes to one place and a will that says goes somewhere else, the beneficiary designation wins and it's going to go where that says. It doesn't matter what the will says if it doesn't go through the probate courts. ​So no, will absolutely does not keep you out of court.

If you would like to know more about the topic, just reach out for a Free Consultation. We can help.
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This video is for informative purposes only. It is not intended as legal advice. Small details can have big consequences. Want to know more about Estate Planning, schedule a free consultation with us.

What is a trust?
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What is a Trust? The most basic way of explaining what a trust is, is when one person gives property to a second person, not for the second person to own, but for them to use on behalf of a third person. So if you say, when I die, I want my sister to be in charge of all of my money for my kids, that concept is what a trust is.
There's a lot more complexity that we can put into it. We have got a lot of flexibility and tools that we can use along with that, but that is the basic idea - is simply that that one person is holding assets for the benefit of someone else.

Learn more about Trusts here, or book a Free Consultation today.

This video is for informative purposes only. It is not intended as legal advice. Small details can have big consequences. Want to know more about Estate Planning, schedule a free consultation with us.

How is an Estate Plan the only way to avoid probate?
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There's a number of different strategies when it comes to avoiding probate. The basic concept is that any asset that does not have an automatic trigger to transfer to a new person is a probatable asset. So, if you have a house that's in your name and that's all you've done, that house becomes a probatable asset.

There are a number of techniques and tactics that you can use to have those assets automatically transfer. And a combination of those are usually what constitutes an estate plan. Once you've come up with a strategy on how you want to make those transfers, going through the process of making sure that all of your assets do transfer without going through probate, whether that is a beneficiary designation or joint ownership or putting the assets into something like a trust, is essential.

We support you in figuring out the method and technique that works best for you and your assets and your families on how those assets should transfer so that they don't have to go through the probate process. ​If you would like to know more about the topic, just reach out for a Free Consultation. We can help.

This video is for informative purposes only. It is not intended as legal advice. Small details can have big consequences. Want to know more about Estate Planning, schedule a free consultation with us.

How does a prenup fit an estate plan?
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We actually call it a marital property agreement because it can happen before or after you get married, and they're equally valid either way. 
​The marital property agreement determines what is going to be considered to be your assets. An estate plan says what happens to my assets when I die. So there are two different pieces of it, but it's really important that they work well together. 

So if you have an estate plan that says I want all of my property to go to my children that were from a previous relationship and my spouse has children from a different relationship, that's part of it. But it hasn't figured out what you mean when you say all of my property. It may not be what you think it is because in Wisconsin, everything that you own and everything that your spouse owns is presumed to be equally owned by the both of you. So it's important if your intention is, especially in a blended family, if your intention is for your assets to go to someplace that's different from where your spouse's assets would go that you have some sort of agreement in place to figure that out.
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If you would like to start a conversation about this, just reach out for a Free Consultation. We can help.

This video is for informative purposes only. It is not intended as legal advice. Small details can have big consequences. Want to know more about Estate Planning, schedule a free consultation with us.

The Cost of Doing an Estate Plan
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Estate planning is not only about the distribution of your assets after your death. It is also about protecting your wishes in the event that you are living but unable to make decisions on your own. 

There's a variety of different costs that an estate plan can end up being, but keep reading to learn exactly what to expect. To start, it doesn't cost anything. At Block Legal we do all of our initial consults free of charge. And generally speaking, an estate plan is a strategy. So, what does it cost to have a strategy? It doesn't cost anything. We only charge for the actual legal work that we do and the legal documents that we produce for you. Sometimes we get through the end of our first meeting and decide there are no documents needed at this time.

​One of the considerations that goes into our advice is what is your budget. And if your budget is modest, we can figure out what's the biggest bang for the buck for that. How can we help the most for that budget? If your needs are more expansive, then we have got more options that are available. But the bottom line is to have a meeting to discuss your options and to help put together a strategy. There's no charge for us for that.

Block Legal Services has the expertise you need for a holistic approach to estate planning, including creating trusts, wills, and POAs, and representing clients in probate and estate administration. Schedule an initial consultation today to see how we can help.

This video is for informative purposes only. It is not intended as legal advice. Small details can have big consequences. Want to know more about Estate Planning, schedule a free consultation with us.

How long does it take to do an estate plan?
Watch our video and get your question answered in less than a minute!

The first meeting is usually about an hour, hour and a half depending mainly on how many questions there are. After that first meeting we develop a strategy that we want to implement and we have figured out what documents we are going to help draft. 
Typically those documents take a few weeks to put together and get out to you. It may take a little less than that, may take a little bit more. Once we have sent the documents out then as far as our firm is concerned, we are ready to sign and it really just depends on our clients comfort level with the documents and their availability. Most of the duration between when we first meet with someone and when we have them come back in for signing is just a question of schedule.

​Want to know more about your Estate Planning, schedule a free consultation with us.

This video is for informative purposes only. It is not intended as legal advice. Small details can have big consequences. 

What does a Personal Representative do?
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A personal representative is in charge of handling all the affairs of the estate. What that means is they gather all the assets, figure out what debts there are, make sure that the debts are paid off, Then, from there, they have other requirements on what they're allowed to do and what they're not allowed to do.

A personal representative does not decide who gets to inherit from the estate. If someone has a will that says 50% goes to each of my kids, the personal representative doesn't get to change that. They do, however, get to decide what makes up that 50%. So if half the estate is in cash and half is in real estate, they can decide what to do with that. Does the house get sold and the cash divided? Does the house get given to one or both of the beneficiaries?

​There are some decisions that the personal representative gets to make, but they have a responsibility to the estate and to the beneficiaries of the estate to act in a proper way and to look out for the best interests of the beneficiaries. So they're bound by what's called a fiduciary duty to look out for the best interests of the beneficiaries.

​If you would like to know more about the topic, just reach out for a Free Consultation. We can help.

​This video is for informative purposes only. It is not intended as legal advice. Small details can have big consequences. Want to know more about Estate Planning, schedule a free consultation with us.

What is Personal Representative?
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PR stands for personal representative. This is the person who has been appointed by the court to be in charge of an estate that's going through the probate process.
A will, will often nominate a personal representative, and a lot of times that person has the impression that they're allowed to start acting on behalf of the estate as soon as the person has passed away. A document like a will can only nominate a personal representative. That person does not have any authority until the court actually appoints them. So, a personal representative is nominated in the will, but is appointed by the court to act on behalf of the estate and handle all the affairs of the estate.

If you would like to know more about the topic, just reach out for a Free Consultation. We can help.

This video is for informative purposes only. It is not intended as legal advice. Small details can have big consequences. Want to know more about Estate Planning, schedule a free consultation with us.