Oct 21, 2026 · Special Needs Planning
Special Needs Trust in Wisconsin: How It Works
A direct inheritance can cost a loved one their SSI and Medicaid eligibility overnight. Here's how a properly drafted Wisconsin special needs trust lets them receive support without losing either.
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Oct 19, 2026 · Divorce Planning
Updating Your Estate Plan After Divorce in Wisconsin
Wisconsin law automatically fixes some estate documents at divorce, but leaves others, like your 401(k) beneficiary, completely untouched. Here's exactly what changes on its own and what you must update yourself.
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Oct 16, 2026 · Trusts & Wills
Trust vs. Will in Wisconsin: Which Do You Need?
A will and a trust solve different problems in Wisconsin. See how probate, cost, privacy, and the marital property step-up compare, and which one (or both) your family actually needs.
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Oct 14, 2026 · Estate Tax
Minnesota Estate Tax Exemption: The $3M Limit Explained
Minnesota's own $3 million estate tax exemption hasn't moved since 2020 and doesn't carry over between spouses. Here's what that gap costs families who don't plan around it.
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Oct 12, 2026 · Medicaid Planning
Wisconsin Medicaid Divestment Rules: What Triggers a Penalty
A gift made years ago can still cost your family months of denied nursing home coverage. Here's how Wisconsin's five-year look-back, penalty formula, and exemptions actually work.
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Oct 9, 2026 · Trusts
Revocable Living Trust in Minnesota: How It Actually Works
A Minnesota revocable living trust can keep your family out of probate court and cover you during incapacity, but only if you actually fund it. Here's exactly how funding works and where it most often goes wrong.
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Oct 7, 2026 · Guardianship Planning
Guardianship for Minor Children in a Wisconsin Will
A will can nominate who raises your kids, but the nomination alone leaves a timing gap and says nothing about who controls their inheritance. Here's how to close both gaps correctly.
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Sep 28, 2026 · Probate Real Estate
What Happens to a House in Probate in Wisconsin
A house titled only in the deceased's name is frozen until a personal representative gets authority over it, but Wisconsin law lets that person sell it without a special court hearing. Here's exactly how it works.
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Sep 25, 2026 · Health Care Directives
Minnesota Health Care Directive: What It Actually Covers
Minnesota has no next-of-kin law, so without a signed health care directive, not even a spouse automatically has authority to make your medical decisions. Here's what the directive covers and how to sign one correctly.
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Sep 23, 2026 · Blended Families
Blended Family Estate Planning in Wisconsin: A Full Guide
A remarriage doesn't automatically protect your children from a first marriage, and Wisconsin's elective share can override a plan that tries to disinherit a new spouse. Here's how to structure a plan that protects both.
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Sep 21, 2026 · Wills
Dying Without a Will in Minnesota: Who Inherits
Minnesota's intestate succession law hands your spouse a fixed dollar amount plus half the balance, not automatically everything, the moment a blended family or solely owned real estate is involved. Here's exactly how the formula works.
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Sep 18, 2026 · Beneficiary Designations
Beneficiary Designations vs. a Will in Wisconsin
In Wisconsin, a beneficiary designation on a retirement account or life insurance policy overrides your will every time. Here's how the two documents actually interact, and where families get it wrong.
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Sep 16, 2026 · Small Estates
Minnesota Small Estate Affidavit: How It Works
Minnesota lets heirs collect up to $75,000 in personal property without opening a probate case, using a sworn affidavit. Here's exactly how it works and what it can't touch.
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Sep 14, 2026 · Health Care POA
Health Care Power of Attorney in Wisconsin: What It Covers
Wisconsin's health care power of attorney names who decides for you if you can't, but only if it's signed, witnessed, and worded correctly. Here's what the law actually requires.
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Sep 11, 2026 · Cabin Planning
How to Keep the Family Cabin in the Family in Wisconsin
A Wisconsin cabin with no trust or LLC becomes a tenancy in common among heirs, and any one sibling can force a partition sale. Here's how families actually keep the cabin for the next generation.
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Sep 9, 2026 · Probate
How to Avoid Probate in Minnesota: 5 Ways That Work
Minnesota gives families at least five reliable ways to keep an estate out of probate court, from TOD deeds and joint tenancy to a small estate affidavit and a fully funded living trust.
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Sep 7, 2026 · Powers of Attorney
Wisconsin Power of Attorney Requirements: The Full Guide
Wisconsin requires two separate powers of attorney, financial and health care, each with its own signing rules. Here's exactly what the law requires and what happens if you skip it.
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Sep 4, 2026 · TOD Deeds
Transfer on Death Deed in Minnesota: How It Works
A Minnesota transfer on death deed can skip probate for the cost of a recording fee, but a Medical Assistance clearance certificate, multiple heirs, and blended families can all undo it.
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Sep 2, 2026 · Trust Funding
How to Fund a Trust in Wisconsin: The Complete Checklist
A signed Wisconsin trust that isn't funded is just paperwork. Here's the exact asset-by-asset retitling checklist, plus the mistakes that quietly leave families in probate anyway.
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Aug 26, 2026 · Estate Tax
Does Wisconsin Have an Estate Tax? (2026 Guide)
Wisconsin has had no state estate or inheritance tax since 2007, but the federal estate tax, a newly proposed state bill, and Wisconsin's marital property rules still shape the real answer for your family.
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Aug 24, 2026 · Trusts
Revocable Living Trust in Wisconsin: How It Really Works
A revocable living trust keeps your family out of probate court and protects you at incapacity, but only if it's actually funded. Here's how funding, the Wisconsin Trust Code, and the marital property double step-up in basis all fit together.
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Jul 30, 2026 · TOD Deeds
Transfer on Death Deed in Wisconsin: How It Works (and When It Backfires)
A transfer on death deed lets Wisconsin real estate skip probate for the cost of a recording fee. But there are at least six situations where it backfires badly. We walk through all of them.
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Jul 30, 2026 · Marital Property
The Wisconsin Marital Property Act, Explained in Plain English
Most married couples in Wisconsin own far more property 50/50 than they realize. We walk through the Wisconsin Marital Property Act, the double step-up in basis, and the blended family trap hiding in the intestacy statute.
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Jul 30, 2026 · Probate
Wisconsin’s Transfer by Affidavit: The $50,000 Probate Shortcut
Estates of $50,000 or less in solely owned property can skip Wisconsin probate entirely with a transfer by affidavit. We walk through the $50,000 math, the process, and the risks.
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Jul 30, 2026 · Wills
Dying Without a Will in Wisconsin: Who Actually Gets What
If you die without a will in Wisconsin, state intestacy law decides who inherits, and the results surprise almost everyone, especially blended families and unmarried couples. Here is the full breakdown.
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Jul 30, 2026 · Costs
How Much Does an Estate Plan Cost in Wisconsin? (Honest Numbers)
Straight answers on what estate planning typically costs in Wisconsin, from simple wills to trust-based plans, plus the probate math that shows what doing nothing costs.
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Jul 30, 2026 · Probate
How to Avoid Probate in Wisconsin: 5 Ways That Actually Work
From the $50,000 transfer-by-affidavit shortcut to TOD deeds, marital property agreements, and living trusts: which probate-avoidance tools fit which families.
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