A divorce encompasses the loss of a joint life plan, financial partnerships, and the complex emotions that arise during the transition. Because Wisconsin is a community property state, the court operates under the legal presumption that all assets and income acquired...
It has become a common practice to list beneficiaries on assets as a means of avoiding probate and to avoid the necessity of setting up a revocable living trust to hold or collect your assets. Having accounts payable on death (POD) or transferable on death (TOD) is a...
By Attorney Wyon F. Wiegratz Competency/Free Will: You must be an adult (18 or older) and have the mental capacity, that is, be of a sound mind to understand what you are doing. You must not be under the influence of drugs or the influence of another person. If you...
By Attorney Wyon F. Wiegratz The test for change of residency is principally a tax test by your old home state. Usually, your new state, such as Florida, wouldn’t raise questions concerning residency unless there is a homestead tax question. The burden of proof is on...
By Attorney Wyon F. Wiegratz As a licensed attorney in both Florida (FL) and Wisconsin (WI), I am often asked to help other attorneys and help our snowbird clients with how they should hold FL real estate. This often involves retitling property, especially when those...
By Attorney Wyon F. Wiegratz As a licensed attorney in both Florida (FL) and Wisconsin (WI), I am often asked if FL has a transfer on death (TOD) deed similar to that in Wisconsin. Unfortunately, FL has yet to adopt a statute allowing for a simple transfer on death...
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 was signed into law on December 22, 2017, and became effective January 1, 2018 (the “Act”). While most of the Act is made up of provisions that change individual and business income taxes, there were some significant changes to the...
By: Wyon F. Wiegratz As a licensed attorney in both Florida (FL) & Wisconsin (WI), I am often retained by other WI law firms to assist with estate planning for their clients who have property in FL, are actual FL residents, or are planning to be residents in FL....
Every year I like to post a quick Estate and Gift Tax update for you to reference throughout the year. This way, if you’re anything like me, you won’t find yourself constantly “Googling” different estate and gift tax thresholds at the beginning of the year for a quick...
One common estate planning misconception is when Powers of Attorney start and end. A Power of Attorney is a tool used to grant authority to someone to act on your behalf in case they need to. Powers of Attorney can start or be effective either immediately or...
