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More American families are increasingly becoming blended families, where couples come together with children from previous relationships. Things often proceed smoothly until a parent dies and a lawyer, or the family's personal representative, begins reading the last will and testament.  Generally, when a parent dies, the standard procedure for most married couples is to transfer everything to the surviving spouse and then to their children. However, this approach can be disastrous for blended families because a surviving spouse often has no legal obligation to leave assets to stepchildren. There are instances where stepchildren lose out on their inheritance while stepsiblings receive everything. Therefore, for blended families, the key to avoiding crises later in life is to create comprehensive estate planning.

When there is a disability, chronic health issue, or addiction, parents often create a special needs trust, where funds in the trust are typically used for the child's treatment and recovery. Special needs trusts allow parents of special needs children to extend care and financial assistance for t...

Probate is the legal process of transferring the property from a deceased person's estate to their heirs or beneficiaries. Additionally, probate is required in Wisconsin for any assets, without a trust, that exceeds $50,000. Probate is overseen by the local probate court.  When someone with asse...

As the U.S. economy transitions to slower growth, some entrepreneurial Wisconsinites who were laid off may decide to start their own business. It's an exciting opportunity. However, without a detailed plan you may find yourself in legal trouble. The first step to avoiding legal challenges is by ...

Probate is the legal process of transferring the property from a deceased person's estate to their heirs or beneficiaries. Additionally, probate is required in Wisconsin for any estate, without a trust, that exceeds $50,000. Probate is overseen by the local probate court.  Additionally, Wisconsi...

The Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 (AMLA) established the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), which creates a new beneficial ownership information reporting requirement as part of the United States government's efforts to make it harder for bad actors to hide or benefit from their ill-gotten gains through shell companies and/or other opaque ownership structures.

Under Wisconsin law, unless you are under a legal guardianship due to disability, you become an adult at age 18. Most college age children are considered adults because they are at least 18 years old. Accordingly, when your child becomes an adult at age 18 and goes to college, you lose your parental rights to be involved in your child's medical and financial affairs—meaning that your child has the legal rights to manage his/her affairs independently without your consent or involvement. 

Having worked hard to build your wealth and wanting to transfer your wealth to your children, you may be concerned about the possibility of how your children's spouses, without prenuptial or postnuptial agreements, may mismanage your children's inheritance if there is a divorce. Fortunately, there are legal means to protect your wealth and ensure that only your children benefit from their inheritance. This blog will focus on leaving assets to your beneficiaries (i.e., children) and not their spouses in a revocable living trust in Wisconsin.  

A permit and retail license allows a person to sell cigarette, tobacco, and vapor products in Wisconsin. Under Wisconsin law, tobacco products include cigars, cheroots, granulated tobacco, plug cut tobacco, snuff, chewing tobacco, clippings, and other forms of tobacco prepared in such a manner as to be suitable for chewing or smoking in a pipe or otherwise. See Wis. Stat. § 139.75(12).

An alcohol retail license enables individuals to sell alcoholic beverages to individual retail customers from a particular premises. See State of Wisconsin 

A wrongful death action is a suit brought by the decedent's spouse or representative to recover losses suffered by the spouse or representative because of the decedent's death, caused by someone else's negligent act. As such, the surviving family has the right to pursue compensation for those los...

Why do most people set up a trust? The most common answer is that people want to make sure that their loved ones are financially protected. Setting up a trust may also provide privacy and important tax advantages.  The individual arranging a trust is called a grantor or settlor. The grantor turns...

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (or the Trump Tax Cuts of 2017) will allow taxpayers to shield more assets from the estate tax in 2023. See Ashlea Ebeling, The Moves Wealthy Families Are Making to Skirt Estate Taxes. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 allows individual taxpayers to transfer up to...

When you choose not to have an attorney draft your will and/or create a trust, there may be conflict between your heirs/beneficiaries. For instance, Aretha Franklin made the right choice in drafting her last will and testament, but she made a mistake by refusing to properly keep the wi...