​No parent wants to think about the possibility that they won’t be around to watch their children grow up. But thinking about it – and planning in the case of it – is actually what will do the most good to care for the next generation throughout their lifetime.
 
When the parents of minor children are deceased, two critical factors lie in the balance – who will be their guardians and what happens to their inheritance.
 
The big impetus for naming a guardian is that when parents don’t, the families will be left fighting about who should be in charge. Even if in-laws get along wonderfully now, if there is a situation where both spouse’s parents think they are the best fit, it can become tense. Throw in additional factors like families living in multiple states, and guardianship disagreements escalate into ugly situations.
 
Inheritance can be an equally touchy subject if a plan is not set up ahead of time. It is important to note that many people underestimate their net worth. Two average life insurance plans, two 401(K) retirement plans, and one modest family home can easily add up to an inheritance of $1 million. With no plan in place, the inheritance will enter a custodial account and the day each child turns 21, their full portion of the funds will be released. I don’t know about you, but if I was given $500,000 at age 21…it probably wouldn’t have lasted very long.
 
When you as parents take time to make your own plan, you get to set the parameters for guardianship and inheritance, ensuring your wishes are honored if the unthinkable occurs. A comprehensive estate plan consists of legal documents including a will and a trust. Where a will provides direction on how you would like your assets handed down and assigns guardianship to minors, a trust protects your legacy, privacy, and retains control over your wealth.
 
Following are some common parameters parents include in estate plans that would be difficult to protect otherwise: 
 
Guardianship Intentions
While you can’t control most aspects of how your children will be cared for by their guardians, you can use your trust to set your intentions. For example, setting money aside for musical instruments, sports expenses, summer camps, or college education. Or, while the guardian will have access to the trust to cover payments related to the health and wellness of your children, you may want to leave them money as a gift to use for themselves. If pets are part of your household now, you may want to set up a way for them to stay with the children under the guardian’s care, if possible. Consider your dreams for your family now, and how you may still be able to make them happen through the way your estate is managed in your absence.
 
Delayed Distribution
You can establish a trust with money available to use at the trustee’s discretion until the beneficiaries are at an age or maturity to control the purse strings. This allows them to comfortably make payments on items like housing, clothing, education, and vacations, but prohibits payments for business investments or delaying employment. A delayed distribution could look like this: one-third of the funds are released at 25 years old; half are distributed at 30; and then the remaining funds are released at 35. This scenario allows for the freedom to enjoy some of the inheritance but also the ability for children to complete their education, gain job skills, and build work ethic. It also makes sure there is money still available when the children are older, more mature, and may have long-term priorities your legacy could contribute to.
 
Added Protections
There are no rights to an inheritance. Next of kin and probate law are only enforced when there are no other plans in place by the deceased. So, if you have protections that you want enforced so a guardian does not have full access to assets, you have philanthropic goals after the children turn 18, or there are specifics around making sure your family is cared for and the money used wisely, a trust is the ideal place for the proceeds.
 
Putting an estate plan together is easier than most people think. Schedule a free consultation with Block Legal Services to learn more about the time and investment required. We are available for short, no-cost phone calls to see how we can help, or, for a risk-free one-hour meeting if you are ready to get started.
 

​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. 
​

Who is an estate plan for?
Watch our video and get your question answered in less than a minute!
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.

​This is a really interesting question because an attorney is trying to figure out not only who the client is, but who they are trying to benefit and how they can benefit them. The reality of an estate plan is that the most benefit that an attorney can provide is not to the person who is sitting in the office, it is to their loved ones and other family members.
The estate plan really is helping those people along the way.
Having an estate plan in place can make the process easier and reduce conflict. That is just one piece of it, that it really helps the people that you leave behind.

As a client, you are not going to get to see how your estate plan plays out because you are not going to be around anymore. However, you can have that sigh of relief knowing that you have done everything you can and that you are leaving everything in the best shape that you possibly can.

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

Can you have an estate plan as an unmarried couple?
Watch our video and get your question answered in less than a minute!
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.

If you want to learn more about this check our short article here.
​
If you are in a committed relationship and you are not married, it is actually very important to have done some thinking about an estate plan.
​One of the reasons for this is because under state law, if you are married, there are some protections that you have as a spouse that people will transfer to you automatically. As a spouse you have some legal rights about things such as medical information. If you are not a married couple, then under the law you are a stranger.

With an estate plan you can establish that this person that you are with has some legal rights not only to receive property if you pass away, but also to make decisions for you if you are in the hospital and to have access to information. There are times where we have created an estate plan that functionally mimics all of the legal protections that a married couple has without requiring that they go through the legal process of being married.
Not only is it perfectly possible to do estate planning as an unmarried couple, it is really a good idea to do.

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

Watch our video and get your question answered in less than a minute!
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.

In our opinion, everyone can benefit from an estate plan. That does not mean that you need to hire a lawyer to put documents into place, because an estate plan is more of a strategy. As long as you have a coherent thought out strategy on what would happen if something happens to you, then you have got a plan. Maybe this includes legal documents or maybe involves just having beneficiary designations, but everyone should at least have spent some time thinking about this.
There are some people where this is more important for them. If you have children that are minors, then it is important to figure out who should take care of them when you are gone. One of the worst case scenarios would be if something happened to you and having your remaining family fight over who is going to take care of your small children. That can create bad blood and tensions that you can avoid if you make proper plans for it during your lifetime.
The other piece of it is if something happens to you and you are in a hospital and someone needs to make medical decisions for you, if you have planned for that ahead of time and have the right documents in place, then that is a fight that does not have to happen and can help people step in when they would need to without unnecessary complications. 

​Contact an attorney for more information. Book a Free Consultation here.

Watch our video and get your question answered in less than a minute!
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.

You're wondering if a will is enough for you? Generally speaking our advice to clients is that no, a will is not enough. 
A will is not going to accomplish what you want it to accomplish. A will is a set of instructions to a court about things that are going to go through the court process. They are really easy techniques that you can use to stay out of court.

Going to court is time consuming and bothersome, however doable. It is not the worst thing that can happen, but we can avoid it and if we can, why wouldn't we? If you are going to rely on just a will, then you have to be prepared to go through court. A lot of times, people who are relying just on a will have actually done other things like beneficiary designations or joint ownership that take things out of court already. It's already not going to be dealt with when dealing with the will. Generally speaking, if you think that having just a will by itself is a complete strategy, usually it's not.

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

Watch our video and get your question answered in less than a minute!

Generally speaking, an estate plan is a strategy.
There are a lot of different components to it. Part of it is legal documents, while the other part of it is pieces outside of the legal documents that can include things like a will or a trust. However it is more than that. It also considers powers of attorney for health care and finances, includes beneficiary designations at a bank, joint ownership of who is even on the account and whose name is on the deed.
It also can include if you are married, especially if you are coming from a previous relationship, it can include marital property agreements and figuring out not only where your things are going to go, but also what is considered 'your things'. When you boil it down, an estate plan is simply just a strategy. See more information about Estate Plans.

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 it, schedule a free consultation with us.

Watch our video and get your question answered in less than a minute!

A will is a piece of an estate plan and an estate plan is an overall strategy whereas a will is a portion of that strategy. Generally speaking, when you do an estate plan you want to have a comprehensive idea that's going to deal with all of your assets, not only after you pass away but also while you're alive.

​A will only comes into effect after you're gone, and it only deals with some assets that haven't already been figured out.  If you've got a bank account that has a beneficiary designation, a will is never going to touch that.
Also, if you go into the hospital and you have a coma or another medical situation, the will does not go into effect yet. An estate plan deals with more holistic, comprehensive planning than a will does. 

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.

Watch the video to learn about your options.

​There are a number of different strategies to avoid probate.
The basic concept is that any asset that does not have an automatic trigger to transfer to a new person is considered a probate asset.
For example, if you have a house that is in your name and that is all you have done, that house becomes a probate asset.
There are a number of techniques and tactics that you can use to have those assets automatically transfer.
A combination of those are usually what constitutes an Estate Plan that once you come up with a strategy on how you want to make those transfers, going through the process that makes that all of your assets do transfer without going through probate.
Whether that is a beneficiary designation, joint ownership, or putting the assets into a trust, figuring out the method and technique that works best for you and your assets as well as your family on how those assets should transfer so that they do not have to go through the 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 it, schedule a free consultation with us.

​Wisconsin Intestate Succession statutes state that when someone dies without a will, the deceased spouse or legal domestic partner is considered next of kin. After that, children receive priority as the next of kin to inherit the estate. If there is no spouse, or no children, the estate goes to the deceased’s parents, then siblings. However, Intestate Succession only follows bloodlines and legal relationships. If you want someone who isn’t legally related to you to inherit something, you’ll need to set it up.
 
According to the U.S. Census, in 2019, the number of unmarried partners living together in the U.S. had nearly tripled in two decades from 6 million to 17 million, representing 7% of the total adult population. If couples are not married and are not legal domestic partners (requires signing and filing a declaration of domestic partnership with the county registrar of deeds), they need to cover their bases if they want their partner to inherit their estate if they die.
 
The following checklist can help individuals and couples to start thinking about their estate, which includes financial assets, real estate assets, and all belongings. No matter how much or little people think their estate is worth, these steps will ensure a loved one is not left out of the picture if their partner were to pass.
 
The Basics: Beneficiary Status and Rights of Survivorship
A formal estate plan (that is, a pile of paperwork from a lawyer) is not needed to securely designate the beneficiary of financial assets. Individuals can add their partner’s name to financial assets including bank accounts, retirement accounts, investment accounts, annuities, and insurance plans.
 
Rights of survivorship means that if an asset is jointly owned, all ownership and/or funds pass directly to the surviving owner in the event of death. For real estate properties, make sure both names are on the deed with rights of survivorship. Double check all joint checking/savings accounts, credit cards, and any other asset where both names are listed have rights of survivorship.
 
It is important to note that many unmarried couples choose to keep their bank accounts and real estate investments separate. It is also important to understand that beneficiary status and rights of survivorship don’t cover belongings or the event that the couple perishes at the same time. This is where the comprehensive estate planning strategy comes into play.
 
The Strategy: Estate Planning for Life and Death
While the law only looks at bloodlines and legal partnerships in the absence of a will, any group of people can create an estate plan together. Many unmarried couples plan their estate together, so everything transfers over to the surviving partner automatically. If there are shared assets and dependents involved in the relationship (including pets), it is even more reason to make sure a couple’s living and non-living wishes are clearly stated.
 
An estate plan is a strategy, often including a collection of legal documents, that, if done correctly, lets individuals decide where their property goes and allows loved ones to avoid probate after they pass on. An estate plan typically includes:
 
 
1.Will – A legal document that gives instruction to the probate courts about your wishes regarding the care and distribution of your assets after your death. A will cannot reach out and grab things, it can only direct property that is already going through the courts.
 
2.Powers of Attorney – The medical and financial power of attorney documents inside of an estate plan ensures the person put in charge is able to make decisions should the individual become incapable of doing so. 
 
3.Trusts – A crucial and diverse aspect of estate planning, trusts will protect an individual’s or couple’s legacy and ensure privacy and control of their wealth. The most frequent type of trust that is involved with estate planning and estate administration is a Revocable Trust (sometimes called a living trust or an inter vivos trust).
 
4.Advanced Directives – A legal document that tells doctors and loved ones an individual’s wishes about their health in the case they cannot communicate those decisions themselves.
 
 
Unmarried couples need to cover their bases when it comes to their estate so that their assets – and the future security of their loved one – are protected from probate, avoidable taxes, and legal contests from would-be heirs. Start today with a free consultation.