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Stephanie G. Rapkin
Estate Planning and Probate srapkin@juno.com (414) 243-3401 Estate Planning Means: Arranging Financial Security for You and Your Family. Planning for Catastrophic or Unknown Events While Still Competent. Planning Your Legacy in the Manner You Choose. Devising a Strategic Succession Plan for A Business. Thus, with proper guidance, estate planning offers a vision for securing your family’s prosperity, security, and legacy. Probate Work Means: Having someone with expertise expedite the process. Eliminating the worry and the stress of the process. Reducing the maze of paperwork and keeping to the deadlines. In other words, with the benefit of counsel, probate can be less onerous. |
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Some common definitions and concepts
Probate: Probate is a court supervised process for the transferring of assets and property. The court supervises both estates with a Will and without a Will (known as intestate). If one dies without a Will (intestate) the laws of the State governs to whom your assets and property go. Informal probate is truly a relatively simple proceeding in Wisconsin and there are many advantages to using probate to transfer assets. There are however, many types of property and assets that can pass at death without having to go through the probate process. An example of those assets are: Life Insurance, Retirement Benefits, Joint Tenancy Property, Marital Property with Right of Survivorship and Assets held in Trusts.
Marital Property: Wisconsin is the only state in the U.S. with Marital Property, although it is similar in nature to community property. Marital property is based on the presumption that assets acquired by spouses during a marriage belong 50%-50% to each spouse. Marital property has the advantage of receiving a full step-up in basis upon death. This is a significant income tax advantage.
Will: A document that transfers your probate property and or assets to those individuals and/or charities as you choose at your death. A Personal Representative [also known as an executor (male) or executrix (female)] is selected by you in the Will. Their job is to see to the disposition and transfer of assets and or property, make sure that your last income tax return is filed, see to it that your personal accounts are closed and assets are liquidated or sold if need be, pay any outstanding bills and obligations and generally enforce your desires as stated in your Will.
Trust: There are many different types of trusts for all sorts of different circumstances. Trusts can be free standing or they can be created and contained within a Will. They may last for many years or they may be of a short term duration. Trusts may be designed to care for for children, pets, elderly, special needs individuals, for retaining certain assets for multiple generations within a family or for tax planning purposes. They hold assets and distribute the assets/income out in accordance with specific instructions created by you and as set forth in the trust document.
Financial Power of Attorney: A document to name someone to manage and control your financial affairs while you are incapacitated or unavailable to attend to your own financial affairs. Having a financial power of attorney means that there is a mechanism in place so that a court doesn't have to declare you incompetent and decide whom to appoint as your guardian. There are also various other types of financial power of attorney. Some are designed for just the short term, such is when one is out of the country and financial matters must be attended to.
Health Care Power of Attorney: A document to name an agent and enable that person to make health care decisions for you in the case of your incapacity - be it physical or mental incapacity. Everyone over the age of 18 should have a Health Care Power of Attorney.
Living Will: A document to determine what type of health care treatment you want if you are terminally ill or in a vegetative state and unable to make your own health care decisions. Like a Health Care Power of Attorney, everyone over the age of 18 should have such a document.
Marital Property: Wisconsin is the only state in the U.S. with Marital Property, although it is similar in nature to community property. Marital property is based on the presumption that assets acquired by spouses during a marriage belong 50%-50% to each spouse. Marital property has the advantage of receiving a full step-up in basis upon death. This is a significant income tax advantage.
Will: A document that transfers your probate property and or assets to those individuals and/or charities as you choose at your death. A Personal Representative [also known as an executor (male) or executrix (female)] is selected by you in the Will. Their job is to see to the disposition and transfer of assets and or property, make sure that your last income tax return is filed, see to it that your personal accounts are closed and assets are liquidated or sold if need be, pay any outstanding bills and obligations and generally enforce your desires as stated in your Will.
Trust: There are many different types of trusts for all sorts of different circumstances. Trusts can be free standing or they can be created and contained within a Will. They may last for many years or they may be of a short term duration. Trusts may be designed to care for for children, pets, elderly, special needs individuals, for retaining certain assets for multiple generations within a family or for tax planning purposes. They hold assets and distribute the assets/income out in accordance with specific instructions created by you and as set forth in the trust document.
Financial Power of Attorney: A document to name someone to manage and control your financial affairs while you are incapacitated or unavailable to attend to your own financial affairs. Having a financial power of attorney means that there is a mechanism in place so that a court doesn't have to declare you incompetent and decide whom to appoint as your guardian. There are also various other types of financial power of attorney. Some are designed for just the short term, such is when one is out of the country and financial matters must be attended to.
Health Care Power of Attorney: A document to name an agent and enable that person to make health care decisions for you in the case of your incapacity - be it physical or mental incapacity. Everyone over the age of 18 should have a Health Care Power of Attorney.
Living Will: A document to determine what type of health care treatment you want if you are terminally ill or in a vegetative state and unable to make your own health care decisions. Like a Health Care Power of Attorney, everyone over the age of 18 should have such a document.