At Ruder Ware we strive to make a difference – and we appreciate differences. We enjoy working with a wide variety of clients to address their immediate and long-term estate planning needs. Our clients include couples with young families, small business owners, corporate executives, retirees, dairy producers, and philanthropists. We listen carefully and respond with innovative and flexible strategies designed to preserve, enhance, and transfer our clients’ assets as they desire.
Personal Client Services
Our estate planning attorneys apply their creativity, knowledge of the law, and drafting skills to tailor cost-effective estate plans for each client’s circumstances. They do not use a one-size-fits-most approach. Depending on your circumstances, our attorneys are able to provide a wide range of services, including:
- Income, gift, and estate tax planning
- Prenuptial Agreements
- Marital Property and Domestic Partnership Agreements
- Probate avoidance
- Planning for the sale or retention of a family business
- Planning for the financial security of family members
- Planning gifts to charities and individuals
- Guardianship
- Special needs planning
- Durable Powers of Attorney for Financial Matters
- Powers of Attorney for Health Care and Living Wills
- Wills
- Trusts (including trustee services if requested)
- Revocable and Irrevocable Living Trusts
- IRA Protection Trusts
- Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts (ILITs)
- Qualified Terminable Interest Property (QTIPs) Trusts
- Qualified Personal Residence Trusts (QPRTs)
- Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts (GRATs)
- Generation-skipping Trusts
- Charitable Remainder Trusts
- Charitable Lead Trusts
Peace of Mind Through Organization
We also help clients organize their affairs to reduce the cost and simplify the administration of their estates. This includes coordinating beneficiary designations of life insurance policies and retirement plans, properly titling assets, and assisting with the collection of information that will be necessary for estate administration.
We Work With Your Trusted Advisors
Our attorneys will work directly with your accountant, financial planner, life insurance agent, and other professional advisors to ensure that the various components of your estate plan are integrated properly.
Founded in 1920, Ruder Ware provides business, employment, estate planning, and litigation services through its offices in Wausau, Eau Claire, and Green Bay, Wisconsin. A full-service law firm, over 40 attorneys provide clients with a one-stop approach to their legal needs. Ruder Ware, Business Attorneys for Business Success.
Posted on January 15, 2020 by Kayla E. Murphy
For many people, the first time they start thinking about an estate plan is when they start to have family members that depend on them financially – typically, a spouse or a child. Let’s take, for example, a young married couple with young children. The couple may think they need a will, but they might […]
Posted on January 7, 2020 by Ruder Ware Estate Planning Attorneys
The federal appropriations bill enacted into law on December 20, 2019 changed federal law in ways that may affect your retirement assets, including 401(k) plans and IRAs. Those changes, often referred to as the “SECURE Act,” may affect you during your lifetime and also the way those retirement assets may be distributed to your beneficiaries […]
Posted on December 19, 2019 by Ashley L. Hawley
Picture this: you are lying on the beach in sunny Aruba, thinking about your best friend, Kristin, who valiantly volunteered to watch your three children while you and your spouse got away from the Wisconsin winter for the first time in ages – when all of a sudden you see a hotel staff member racing […]
Posted on November 14, 2019 by Aric D. Burch
It is common for a client whose spouse is receiving Medicaid to lack adequate estate planning to protect those Medicaid benefits in the event the client dies before their spouse. Yet, after all of the time and energy spent to qualify for Medicaid, it would be awful to see those benefits lost simply because proper […]
Posted on October 9, 2019 by Shanna N. Yonke
It seems like our world becomes more digital each day. We can manage almost every aspect of our lives online. But, unless you have updated your estate plan in the last few years, chances are good that your estate planning documents do not address what will happen to your electronic documents, e-mails, text messages, blogs, […]
Posted on August 28, 2019 by Jessica A. Merkel
Leaving an inheritance to a loved one with special needs who is or will be receiving government benefits (SSI, medical assistance, long term care services) is tricky and can have unintended negative consequences if not done carefully. Well-meaning gifts may result in the loved one (who I will refer to as the “Special Needs Beneficiary”) […]
Posted on July 17, 2019 by Ashley L. Hawley
As our aging population grows so does the cost of nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and in-home care services. Contrary to popular belief, Medicare will only cover certain short-term stays and typically will not cover non-rehabilitative long-term care. This leaves many elderly and disabled individuals with few options for covering costs. Often, at first, family […]
Posted on June 11, 2019 by Aric D. Burch
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. Yonke
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 Jessica A. Merkel
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 […]
More Insights...
