​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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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.

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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.

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​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.

When a loved one dies, there are prescribed windows for when a will enters and exits probate. Wisconsin courts want a probate case to be opened and closed within 12-18 months. When a person plans to contest a will, they only have 30 days to do so after the probate petition is filed.
 
If you are concerned about the way a will is going to be executed, you need to speak up fast before your window expires. First, you should confirm that you are a named beneficiary in the current or a previous version of the will or have a family relationship that would have entitled you to an inheritance. This means you have a legal right to petition. Depending on the situation, challenging the way the estate is administered – instead of contesting the will itself – may be more effective. Here’s why.
 
Will Contests are a Strange Beast
To contest a will, you need to act quickly and have solid evidence that the will documents are not valid. As a beneficiary, you will receive a notification from the court when the probate case is going to be opened. This is the absolute best time to voice an objection because no one has been given any authority yet.
 
A case can be opened either by getting a signature from all of the people involved, or by having a hearing. If you are unsure, do NOT sign anything. Without your signature, a hearing will be required. At the first hearing for the probate case, a judge or commissioner will ask if anyone is objecting to the case being opened. If there is an objection, they schedule a hearing to learn more about it. Do NOT miss this court date just because you haven’t talked with a lawyer yet. Between the first hearing and the second, you will have time to hire an attorney, have conversations with other beneficiaries, review all of the estate documents, and gather your evidence.
 
There are three premises on which a will could be invalid: the deceased lacked mental capacity when the will was signed, the deceased was subject to undue influence, or fraud was involved. If your reasons to contest the will do not fall into one of these premises, if you do not have proof, or if you missed the window to object, Block Legal Services recommends changing your focus to challenging the administration of the estate. Once probate begins, there are two opportunities to challenge if you don’t feel the wishes of the deceased are being fulfilled.
 
Challenge Opportunity No. 1: The court-appointed person should not be in charge
If there is a will, it nominates the executor or personal representative (PR) of the estate.  The law heavily favors the appointment of a PR that was named in a valid will. The only way to prevent their appoint would be to show the court that they are legally, mentally, or physically incapable of doing the job of personal representative, which involves settling claims against the estate and distributing the assets.
 
If there is no will, the situation is very different. You can file paperwork to nominate yourself as the PR. At that point, anyone who disagrees would have to show the court why you would be unable to do the job. If multiple people have filed for who gets to be PR, the court will have to decide who would be the best choice.
Once someone is appointed by the court to be the PR, it becomes much more difficult to challenge them. If you would like to request that the PR be replaced, you will need to provide a legitimate reason why. The standard for removing a Personal Representative can be tough – you will need to prove the PR is neglecting their duty, guilty of fraud or misconduct, or is incompetent.
 
If the PR does something you don’t agree with during the probate process – let’s say they sell your loved one’s house to their best friend for $1 – it might not be enough to get them removed immediately! Ultimately, they are responsible for making the beneficiaries whole. If you don’t see this occurring, you will have the opportunity to object at the very end of the whole process.
 
Challenge Opportunity No. 2: Challenge the accounting itself
You can position yourself as a watchdog throughout the estate settlement and asset distribution process with the goal of bringing any objections in front of the court when the final accounting is presented. At this time, you don’t have to challenge whether a will was valid in the first place. You can directly challenge the way a will was administered in order to ensure you and the other beneficiaries received what they were supposed to receive.
 
The final accounting is the closing out of the estate, where the PR presents a list of what happened to each asset – including receipts. This is the best bet for most beneficiaries looking to challenge a will. You can share concerns you had along the way, flag suspicious accounting, provide a list of tasks you felt were completed incorrectly – with the goal of all beneficiaries walking away whole.
 
The law has tunnel vision when it comes to probate – they want each case to open, settle, and close efficiently – and rightfully so. Courts assume everything is correct in a will unless someone can bring evidence that shows a reason to believe it is not correct. The best thing to do for your own estate is to arm yourself early, raise concerns as soon as you have them, and object as quickly as you can. It is much easier to drop an objection that turns out to be unfounded than to raise one too late.
 
Prevent Future Concerns Around Your Estate
All that is needed to sign a will is a list of heirs, assets, and where you want those assets to go. You can avoid concern and uncertainty by your beneficiaries after you pass with an estate plan. A strong estate plan can do so much more than simply direct how your assets are handed down. It can offer a variety of protections during your lifetime, not only for your assets, but for you and your family – all while remaining private. This includes wills, trusts, power of attorney, avoiding probate or protecting from probate litigation, and prenuptial and postnuptial agreements.
 
This article was written with the assumption that there is a will in place and that the loved one is deceased. If your loved one is still alive and you feel uncomfortable with the way their estate is being handled, please visit the National Center on Elder Abuse to connect with state resources that can help you take action.

A common concern we hear in the initial stages of estate planning is that people think they do not have enough assets for an estate plan to be worth it. “I just need a simple will,” they often say. However, the premise of an estate plan is not for tax purposes (unless you are a multi-millionaire) and is not about solely about distributing the money. The primary reason for an estate plan is to develop a strategy – to put a structure in place that gives you the flexibility you want and will handle the contingencies of life.  

A good example of this can be seen in a complicated trust we recently developed. Our clients were looking to leave their vacation cabin to their 15 grandchildren with the expectation that they would all be able to use it. While the cabin was only worth $25,000, it was important to them that all their grandchildren would have access and that there was no animosity within the family. By establishing these wishes through a trust instead of a will, they guaranteed they would be honored once they were gone without causing needless complication or court involvement.
Beyond the transfer of wealth and assets, there are other factors that should prompt you to have an estate plan in place, such as:

1. Minor Children: Who will be responsible for looking after your children? What happens if that person is no longer around? There are many circumstances where if custody goes through the court systems, your children may not end up with who you intended them to be with. An estate plan eliminates any doubt of who has custody once you are gone.
2. Power of Attorneys (medical & financial): If you are in the hospital, do you want your loved ones to be able to make decisions on your behalf? The medical and financial power of attorney documents inside of an estate plan ensure the person you put in charge is able to make decisions should you become incapable of doing so. 
3. Interpersonal Conflicts: You may believe fighting about assets and medical care is above your family, but we have seen it countless times when there is a lack of an estate plan in place. With a properly thought out and explained estate plan, many conflicts between family members can be avoided. Without a consistent plan, you may have inadvertently left landmines. [WB1] 

Some estate plans include a trust, but many do not. Without a trust, your wishes will be honored, whether that is through a beneficiary designation or through your will. With a will, for your assets to be allocated according to your wishes, they will have to go through the probate courts, which usually means:
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1. Loss of privacy: Everything now happens under the oversight of a judge, meaning you have invited a third party to weigh in and judge your family dynamics. If there is a will in place, it is left up to the judge’s interpretation, which could result in unwanted outcomes. For example: recently we had a home-written will that had to go through probate court. The judge assigned decided the will was ambiguous and therefore needed another hearing and opened a can of worms.
2. Unwanted Expenses: The cost of probate can be substantial. Even the most basic cases, not involving any conflict, can involve attorney and court fees totaling thousands of dollars, even for a small estate.
3. Delays: The average uncontested probate case may take longer than a year. You are at the mercy of the court timeline.

With a proper estate plan in place, these inconveniences can often be avoided. Beginning the process of creating an estate plan tends to be the hardest part. Take the first step by consulting a lawyer to get all your questions answered and come up with a strategy specific to your needs. From there, your attorney will walk you through the entire process.

Keep in mind, it is often less expensive to set up an estate plan and go through the work on the front end, rather than not having one in place and going through probate. In many cases, estate plans can be done in less than three weeks.

Start today with a free consultation.

One of the biggest misconceptions surrounding wills is the notion that if you have one, your family won’t have to go to court once you’re gone. Unfortunately, that is not the case; a will only deals with property that does go through court.
Let’s take a step back and look at what a will is and what probate means.

• A will is a legal document that spells out 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.

 

• Probate is the court process that deals with the transfer of your assets when there is no other alternative. Assets only go to probate when there is not already another way for those assets to transfer to the next owner, such as a transfer on death deed, joint ownership, trust, or a beneficiary designation set up prior to death.

In layman’s terms, a will is a set of instructions to the probate court on how to distribute your probatable assets. However, not all assets will end up in probate.

Let’s look at an example where this would be the case: Say you pass away, and your will specifies that your two children are to inherit the house, but you have a beneficiary designation in place that names only your oldest child as the heir to the house, what happens next? Since a beneficiary designation triggers first, the house would stay out of probate and be given to your oldest child, even though your will specifies otherwise. If you did not have the beneficiary designation set up, the house would then go to probate court and your will would designate where the house goes. 

If a will cannot keep your family out of court, how do you ensure your assets go where you intend while also keeping your family out of court? The simplest way to do this is to create an estate plan.

• An estate plan is a strategy, often including a collection of legal documents, that, if done correctly, lets you decide where your property goes and allows your loved ones to avoid probate after you pass on.

An estate plan typically includes a will, powers of attorney, trusts, and advance directives.  It is a comprehensive strategy that dictates not just who will receive your money, but who can step in to take care of you, and lets you take care of the people you are leaving behind according to your intentions. Having an air-tight plan in place will give your loved ones peace of mind when you are gone.  

If you have been thinking or on the fence about creating an estate plan, here are four things you should consider:

• An estate plan is beneficial to everyone, not just wealthy individuals. It does not cost as much as people believe and can be done in less than three weeks. Start the process with a free consultation.

 

• At a minimum, you can, and should, have a basic estate plan that requires no documents and no financial obligation. This would be a simple strategy that shows you have thought about what happens if you get sick and where you would like your assets to go.

 

• If you are planning on putting together your own estate plan, make sure you are educated, and your plan is intentional. However, just because you can do it by yourself, does not mean it is the best decision. After all, just because you can purchase and install car parts yourself does not mean you wouldn’t consult an expert beforehand.

 

• Just start – You might not know all the answers right away, and that’s okay. Do not make it more complex than it must be. Working with an estate planning attorney will help you answer every question and keep track of everything needed.  

As a closing thought, when deciding if you need a will or an estate plan, keep in mind the limitations of a will. A will serves certain functions. If it is used correctly, it works great. But, if you are intending for it to do something it cannot legally do, it will not work.

Ask yourself how a will fits into your overall strategy. If what you think you need is a will or a will is all you have but you have no strategy to go with it, an estate plan may be what you are actually looking for.

Talk to one of our lawyers today by setting up a no-obligation consultation to decide what the right step is for you.