Category Archives: Estate Planning

Is your child turning 18? Consider suggesting that he or she execute a durable power of attorney and advance healthcare directives.

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As your child prepares to begin college or enter the workforce, estate planning is likely the last thing on his or her mind—or yours.  However, there are numerous situations in which young adults can benefit from executing basic estate plan documents.  For example, should a child be in an accident and become disabled or incapacitated, even temporarily, his or her parents may not be able to act on the child’s behalf without court approval.  Alternatively, the child may be out of the country (or simply out of town) and require his or her parents to do something as simple as signing a lease or sending money to the child from his or her bank account.

A Durable Power of Attorney for financial matters, if activated, allows a parent or other individual designated by the child to act on the child’s behalf with respect to most financial and/or business matters.  Similarly, a Power of Attorney for Health Care authorizes the child’s agent to make medical decisions on his or her behalf, including decisions regarding medical consent and life support issues.  Further, a HIPAA Authorization provides the child’s parent or other designated individual access to the child’s healthcare and treatment information.

For these reasons, we strongly recommend that all adults, even those who have just turned 18, execute a Durable Power of Attorney, Power of Attorney for Health Care, and HIPAA Authorization for Release of Protected Health Information.

If you have any questions on this topic, please contact Attorney Emily E. Ames at eames@llattorneys.com or (920) 393-1190.

Someday, Even Your Estate Plan Will Be Electronic

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In today’s day and age, most transactions may be accomplished electronically.  However, there is still one field where old-fashioned pen and paper is typically still required: Trusts and Estates.  Given the sensitivity of estate planning documents, difficulties in authentication, and the potential for data loss or hacking, many people would be (rightfully) hesitant to create or store such documents electronically.  Despite these obstacles, interest in electronic wills and other estate planning documents has increased in recent years.

The Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA) of 1999, setting forth nationwide rules for electronic transactions, has been adopted in 47 states (including Wisconsin) and the District of Columbia.  The Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act, passed by Congress in 2000, allows the use of electronic records and signatures in interstate commerce.  However, both Acts specifically exclude application to the creation and execution of wills, codicils, and testamentary trusts.

Currently, Nevada and Indiana are the only states to have enacted legislation explicitly authorizing electronic wills (although, electronic wills have been successfully admitted to probate in other jurisdictions under the harmless error doctrine).  Efforts to pass similar legislation in Florida, Arizona, New Hampshire, and Virginia have been unsuccessful.

In late 2017, the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL) formed a Committee for Electronic Wills.  According to the NCCUSL website, the Committee will “draft a uniform act or model law addressing the formation, validity and recognition of electronic wills.”  See http://www.uniformlaws.org/Committee.aspx?title=Electronic%20Wills.  In addition, the Committee will consider expanding its mission to address other estate planning documents, including advance medical directives and powers of attorney for health care and finance.

It will be years, or even decades, before electronic wills and other estate planning documents become commonplace, but the trend is clear: someday, even your estate plan will be electronic.

If you have any questions on this topic, please contact Attorney Emily E. Ames at eames@llattorneys.com or (920) 393-1190.

To Gift or Not to Gift…That is the Question

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A gift is defined in the dictionary as: “something given voluntarily without payment in return, as to show favor toward someone, honor an occasion, or make a gesture of assistance; present.” That definition makes a whole lot of sense. Think of gifts that you’ve received for your birthday, Christmas, or your anniversary. A box with a bow or an envelope with money in it, are the types of gifts that everyone understands. Describing these gifts would not make for a very informative article. The gifts I’m interested in telling you about occur all the time without much thought, but are considered the same as the box with the bow as far as state and federal government authorities are concerned. If you or anyone you know may be applying for Medicaid (Medical Assistance), you should be familiar with these examples.

An extremely common example of a gift, that isn’t as clear or simple as above, is selling something, but giving a loved one a “deal” on it. For example, your house is worth $150,000 but you sell it to your son for $80,000. That’s a $70,000 gift that needs to be reported and accounted for. Or your car is worth $1,000, but you sell it to your 16-year-old grandson for $1. This is also a gift.

Another situation that is common is where parents transfer a cottage or home to family members, and the parents continue to pay the real estate taxes on the property despite having no responsibility to do so. Even though the money never goes to the family members directly, payment of someone else’s obligation is a gift.

Not charging rent to someone can be a gift. If you own a rental property, but let a family member live there rent free, that can be a gift in certain situations.

Likewise, paying a family member to assist you with personal care or other activities, without a written agreement, can also be considered a gift.

There are certainly other examples of gifts that are not as simple as handing someone a box with a bow on it. Whether something is a gift or not a gift is extremely important if Medicaid (Medical Assistance) is a possibility. Currently there is a 5 year “look back” period as it relates to gifts. Any gift made within 5 years of application must be returned in full, or a penalty is imposed on the applicant. Even if intentions were good at the time, the moral of the story is to be careful, especially when you or a loved one is considering Medicaid as an option to pay for long term care (e.g. nursing home care). If you aren’t sure if something would be considered a gift or not, seek someone with experience in the area to advise you on the correct way to do what you want to do.

Leave a Dog a Bone

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Something that not a lot of people think about, even very serious animal lovers, is what happens to your pet after you pass away? As with most estate planning issues, the answer is: it is up to you. If you do nothing, a pet is considered under Wisconsin law to be personal property, and would be treated like a piece of furniture or that antique clock that everyone has their eye on. In some cases, there is a beneficiary willing to adopt your pet, or find a good home. In other cases, there is not. When that occurs, pets often are shuttled to an animal shelter, where they sometimes find a good home.

An example we love to use when discussing estate planning for pets, is that of real estate and hotel tycoon, Leona Helmsley, who famously left $12 million dollars to her dog, Trouble. Even if you don’t have $12 million dollars, but you love your pets like family, how do you plan for them? There are several options, but the two most common are to set up a “pet trust” or to specifically discuss your pet in your will. The first option is more complex, but it also gives one the assurance of exactly what a trustee of a pet trust is allowed to do for the lifetime of a pet. A pet trust is also a private document that does not get filed with the register in probate, so it never becomes public knowledge. It also avoids your pet ever becoming a piece of personal property subject to distribution.

The simpler option is to either bequeath your pet to a specific person (hopefully you know ahead of time that the person wants your pet), or direct your personal representative to take special steps in regards to the care and maintenance of your pet. Keep your pets in mind when you do your estate planning. I’m sure they will appreciate it!

The Probate Boogeyman

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A common theme we hear from our estate planning clients is, “I hear Probate is terrible, and I want to avoid it”. Most of the time, after further discussing the client’s wants and needs, it becomes obvious the person didn’t have any idea what probate was, or why they should or shouldn’t be afraid of it.

Probate is the Court-supervised legal process by which the “Probate” Court determines that a decedent’s will is valid, determines who will be in charge of administering the estate (in Wisconsin that person is called a Personal Representative), determines who the decedent’s heirs are, determines what assets the decedent had at his/her death (that are subject to probate), and determines whether the Personal Representative ultimately distributed the property correctly. Probate is a very common occurrence. Are there downsides to Probate? Absolutely. While every case is different, the common problems with probate are that it tends to take longer to complete than other methods (usually 6 to 12 months), there are court fees associated (.2% of the total value of the Estate), and Probate is a public record with most probate records readily accessible over the Internet. Depending on the circumstances of the case, a probate also makes it easy for disgruntled “heirs” to have a venue to battle over an estate, or for claims to be made. In addition, notification requirements can be cumbersome if there are many or unknown heirs. Most people that are afraid of probate know someone that has been through a messy probate, or have dealt with one themselves.

There are good things about probate. The positives of probate are it gives a clear and defined procedure to settle disputes, it creates a more open environment and it ensures that everything is administered properly. While I’m generally an advocate of avoiding probate, there are times where the increased costs of that type of planning (trusts, etc.) don’t make sense for a client. Probate can certainly be a bad thing, but it isn’t always something one needs to lose sleep over. The most important thing is that the client receives the proper estate plan for them, which may or may not involve probate.

Estate Planning – The Fundamentals

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Evan Lin recently partnered with Associated Bank as a presenter for the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters Benefits Conference held at the Paper Valley Hotel in Appleton on October 29, 2016. Attorney Lin’s presentation was titled “Estate Planning – The Fundamentals.”