Estate Planning

Healthcare planning can often be a daunting task. However, as you age, healthcare planning can become more of a maze if you’re trying to plan for your future without help.  For elders, healthcare planning often involves care coordination, legal services, and advocacy services – all of which help you and your family prepare for your… Read more

When creating your estate plan, you run into numerous new terms, such as will, trust, power of attorney.  Each serves a specific purpose for your estate plan, but unless you’re an estate planning attorney, you may not know which does what. Let’s specifically look at trusts. A trust is a legal arrangement between the person… Read more

All states have rules and laws regarding probate administration – and Wisconsin’s no different. In Wisconsin, probate is the legal process of transferring assets after a person’s death while also dealing with any amounts owed to creditors or for taxes. A local probate court supervises this process. In Wisconsin, if your estate is valued at… Read more

If you have done any research into estate plans, then you have likely heard about revocable living trusts. Not only is it something you can do as part of your estate plan. It’s something that we highly recommended for most people. However, this begs the question, what about irrevocable trusts. What’s the difference between a… Read more

A common concern for parents as they start getting older is how they are going to pass their house to their children. Estate planning is where this often comes into play, but people tend to explore other options as well. Let’s look at all of them and determine what is the best way to leave… Read more

Are you worried about probate for your estate? We understand that. At Collins Law, we handle estate planning for many of our clients. Is probate required in Wisconsin? Let’s take a look at the letter of the law to help you navigate probate, when it happens, and how you can avoid it if you want… Read more

We know we are constantly touting the merits of having an estate plan, but what happens when you don’t have one in place. If you’re married, with an estate plan will your assets go to your spouse in Wisconsin? We hear this all the time as a defense against estate planning, not only is this… Read more

There are a lot of reasons people build estate plans. Some want to ensure their money and assets go to charity, others want to have a plan in place for their business, but most are thinking about their children. Often when you build an estate plan, your children are minors still. This has left Wisconsin… Read more

An estate plan is a lot like a car. When it’s new, it’s going to work perfectly for you, but over time things happen, and the only way to keep that car running like new is to keep up with your routine maintenance. What do you have to do to maintain an estate plan? There… Read more