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.

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.

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.

What do I Need for an Initial Meeting with an Estate Planning Lawyer?
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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.

Bottom line is you don't need anything. Part of what an estate planning attorney helps with is the whole decision-making process. We are part of the process of figuring out what you want to do with your estate and how to do it. I have sometimes had people say, "oh, I don't have everything put together yet. I'm not ready to come see an attorney". That's great. That's what we're here for.

We are here to help you get everything put together. Not just functionally, your documents, but also conceptually. If you say, well, we don't know who we want to leave things to, we can help figure that out. We can help talk through what are some of the things that you need to think about.

• What are the different roles that are going to be involved?
  
• Who's going to need to do what?
  
• And what does that entail?

We are part of the planning process. So, when I have clients ask me, what do I need to bring to the initial consultation? The answer is just bring yourselves and your questions.

If you would like to start a conversation about this, just reach out for a Free Consultation. We can help.

Why is it Important for Parents of Young Children to Have an Estate Plan?
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This video is for informative purposes only. It is not intended as legal advice. Small details can have big consequences. If you want to know more about Estate Planning, schedule a free consultation with us.

So why is it important for parents to have an Estate Plan? Young children present an issue that doesn't exist with other types of estate transfers. If you have got young kids, you need someone to take care of them. And if you don't put something into place that names the guardian, then there's going to have to be a court process to determine who should be that guardian. This can be a contested process. If there's more than one person who thinks that they should be in charge, then there can be a court fight about who's best fit to do it.

​If you can name that person ahead of time, which, you can, that eliminates that potential fight. It keeps them not only out of a costly court battle, but it keeps that bad blood from coming up and a conflict that can last the rest of your kids lives. Apart from that, from a purely financial perspective, figuring out who is going to be in charge of assets that you might leave to your kids and structuring that in a way that's not going to be cumbersome for the people that you left behind is going to help them stay out of the court process. It's going to keep them from having to report to the courts on an annual basis about what they've done, and it can really help with the quality of life for the people that you've left in charge when they're dealing with the lives of your children.

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

What is the difference between a trust and a will?

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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.

So what is the real difference between a trust and a will? Both legal documents that can be used to transfer assets, but the methods that they use and the court involvement that's required is very different. A will is a set of instructions to the probate court. So, it's only ever going to be involved when an estate is already going through the probate process.

​A trust is set up to be entirely out of court and it can function in a very similar way where you say in a trust who you want things to go to, under what conditions, who's going to be in charge of things, who's involved in administering everything. A trust has some advantages in that it stays out of the court process, and it's got a lot more flexibility - you can have the trust go for a longer period of time - while a will only governs for a short period of time after you've passed away.
Also, once all the assets are handed out, a trust can last for the entirety of, for example, a child's childhood and can last as long as it needs to stay open. So, they can be similar and function, but they get there in very different ways.

This video is for informative purposes only. It is not intended as legal advice. Small details can have big consequences. Contact an attorney for more information. Book a Free Consultation here.

​Administering the estate of a deceased family member is complex in itself. When an estate is left with only a will or intestate (without a will), it enters probate, making the process even more complex. Wisconsin probate law requires all next of kin to be notified, including all of the family members the deceased may not have wanted to receive an inheritance.
 
It is important to understand when it comes to estate planning and probate, Wisconsin will always favor one thing— blood lines. All next of kin are allowed to contest a will that has entered probate if they choose.
 
Families often don’t understand who is next of kin. Following is the process Wisconsin courts will go through to identify the rightful heirs.
 
The Table of Consanguinity
First things first: If a decedent has a spouse and no children, but has not drafted a will, the entire estate goes to the spouse. When no spouse is present, it starts to get interesting.
 
Consanguinity refers to the degrees of relationship within a family. In Wisconsin, state law references the following Table of Consanguinity when discussing intestate succession:

To interpret this table, start with “Person Deceased” in the top left. The remaining labeled boxes map out each individual’s relationship to the deceased by title and degree of distance. An inheritance flows, starting in the left column, to the decedent’s children and descendants.
 
If the deceased has no living children, grandchildren, or great grandchildren – direct bloodlines – probate courts jump to column 2 and work down the line of the deceased’s parents. An important term to understand in consanguinity is “per stirpes.” This means that, in a case in which a would-be beneficiary is deceased but has children or grandchildren, the would-be beneficiary’s portion of the estate is then split between their living heirs.
 
In Wisconsin, the court will only go so far as to notify any living descendants of the grandparents of the deceased when searching for next of kin. At that point, if no beneficiary is found, the state then stops looking and “escheats” the assets by releasing them to a state fund.
 
A Seamless, Holistic Approach
As you can see, probate can get complicated – and ugly – when a person’s estate is not protected, and inheritance is up for debate. To make matters more complex, the only assets that enter probate are those that are owned individually by the deceased and do not have a beneficiary associated with them – such as real estate, vehicle titles, and bank accounts. All other assets – artwork, digital files, personal belongings, etc. – would still need to be administered by an executor outside of court.
 
Estate plans provide protections for you and your loved ones during your lifetime and after death. They ensure estates are handled according to your wishes – without the involvement of probate courts. Block Legal Services works with you to understand your unique circumstances, family, assets, and goals. We educate you about the pros and cons of each estate structure and together craft a plan that makes sense of your situation. 

Do you want to rest easy knowing that your affairs have been taken care of?
Schedule a free consultation today. 
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