Category Archive: Firm News
- Feb. 22 2019
Naming Guardians for Minors and Young Children
Naming guardians for minors and young children is a major priority for Wisconsin parents working to create an estate plan. For any parent of minors or young children, a holistic estate plan must detail your wishes to ensure your children … Read more
- Jan. 3 2019
Transfer by Affidavit and Small Estate Affidavits in Wisconsin
Wisconsin has adopted a “small estate affidavit” statute to allow residents with a small probate estate to avoid both formal and informal court-administered probate. The State of Wisconsin allows this through the use of a Wisconsin Transfer by Affidavit. Wisconsin … Read more
- Nov. 20 2018
Pet Trust: Providing for Your Pets in Your Estate Plan
While pet owners love their animal friends, many people fail to overlook the care of their pets during the estate planning process. When working on their estate plans, people tend to focus on their spouses, children, and grandchildren. Pet owners … Read more
- Sep. 26 2018
Nonjudicial Settlement Agreements in Wisconsin
Under Wisconsin law, nonjudicial settlement agreements can be used to modify trusts that otherwise would be considered irrevocable without court action. With a nonjudicial settlement agreement, an irrevocable trust which appears incapable of being updated, can sometimes be updated without having … Read more
- Aug. 27 2018
Credit Shelter Trusts in Wisconsin
In years past, many Wisconsin couples set up credit shelter trusts as part of their estate planning, to avoid or reduce Wisconsin and Federal estate taxes upon death. Due to changes in Wisconsin and Federal estate tax laws, many credit … Read more
- Jul. 23 2018
Will Substitute Agreement
A Will Substitute Agreement delivers flexibility in retaining assets outside of a trust, while avoiding probate upon death. Such an agreement offers the convenience of owning real estate in one’s own name, with the confidence that this real estate will … Read more
- Jun. 21 2018
Wisconsin Marital Property Law
Wisconsin marital property law, or more formally Wisconsin Marital Property Code, sets out who owns what in marriage. The law can automatically classify property owned by married couples living in Wisconsin as the “marital property” of both of them. It … Read more
- May. 31 2018
What to Bring to Your First Estate Planning Meeting
As a service to our clients, we are sharing guidance on what to bring to your first estate planning meeting with our firm. Based on our decades of estate planning experience, we ask our clients to spend time considering some … Read more
- Mar. 23 2018
Avoiding Probate: Definitions and Key Reasons
Many of our clients name avoiding probate as a key goal when requesting our assistance in preparing a well crafted estate plan. At Wokwicz Law Offices, we have decades of experience navigating our clients around probate. A Brief Overview of … Read more
- Jan. 29 2018
Marital Trusts: Deciding When to Update
In recent years, there have been significant estate tax changes in Wisconsin that may impact marital trusts. Married couples with an an older marital revocable trust are advised to have their trust reviewed. In this article, our estate planning attorneys … Read more