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Please Click HerePosted on June 11, 2019 by Ruder Ware Alumni
After working and saving, clients are concerned that unexpected costs will become unplanned for drains on their Retirement Accounts (e.g, 401(k), IRA, Roth IRA, 403(b), etc.). As the need to pay for nursing home care nears, those concerns grow and questions begin to be asked about whether retirement accounts are safe from the nursing home. […]
Posted on May 16, 2019 by Shanna N. Fink
Some clients decide to hire an attorney to prepare their estate planning documents because they do not like the default laws in Wisconsin about who gets their property if they die without a will. In Wisconsin, if you die without a will, or your will doesn’t give all of your property away, your property will […]
Posted on March 12, 2019 by Ruder Ware Alumni
Did you know that Medicaid is the largest source of funding for nursing home care? Medicaid, often called Medical Assistance or Title 19, has many rules that are confusing, and thus a mystery to many people. Even more of a mystery surrounds the idea that you can protect your assets and still be eligible for […]
Posted on February 14, 2019 by Ashley L. Hawley
In my opinion, education is the most impactful aspect of my role as an estate planning attorney. I often tell the story that when I first decided upon estate planning – over ten years ago – I excitedly told my husband that I had settled upon my specialty. He responded supportively – “That’s great!” …So, […]
Posted on January 16, 2019 by Ruder Ware Alumni
When faced with the possibility of paying for nursing home care, many people I meet with are concerned about what will happen to their house. Inevitably, I am asked, “Will the nursing home take my house?” To protect the house, clients want to immediately give it away to their child or children. Although this sounds […]
Posted on December 28, 2018 by Shanna N. Fink
If you are married, it is likely that either you or your spouse assume primary responsibility for financial matters, like paying your bills, filing your tax returns, choosing your investments, buying insurance, and applying for loans. If you are single, then you are probably the only person who knows everything about your finances. In either […]
Posted on December 28, 2018 by Ashley L. Hawley
The term “Guardianship” makes most people think of a child whose parents passed away or are in the process of getting divorced. However, in the estate planning arena we speak of Guardianships for adults. In Wisconsin, a Guardian is an agent, appointed by the Court, to take over for an adult individual who becomes incapacitated […]
Posted on December 28, 2018 by Shanna N. Fink
You might own a house. Maybe you own a cabin or cottage, hunting or farm land, or other properties as well. Regardless of the type of property that you own, the previous owner of the property gave you a deed when you bought the property. If you bought the property by yourself, the deed named […]
Posted on December 28, 2018 by Ashley L. Hawley
In today’s world the “traditional family” of a man, woman and their 2.5 children is becoming a lot less common. The term “blended family” has been coined to describe multiple families that are brought together and integrated into each other. A blended family can mean that one or both parents bring children from a previous […]
Posted on February 5, 2018 by Mark J. Bradley
As Shanna Yonke mentioned in her January 22, 2018 Legal Update The New Tax Law Provides Estate Planning Opportunities, President Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act into law on December 22, 2017. The Act (officially, Public Law 115-97) is the most sweeping tax legislation to be enacted in decades. It is broad in scope, […]