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Trusts, Estates and Succession Planning

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The attorneys who are a part of Davis & Kuelthau’s Trusts, Estates and Succession Planning Practice Group are dedicated to assisting clients in achieving their individual goals. We help clients preserve and protect assets during lifetime and plan for the use of assets to benefit family members, friends and charitable entities at death. Much of our planning is focused on assisting clients in minimizing taxes on the transfer of assets to future generations. Each of our estate planning attorneys is experienced in creating the documents which will best achieve our clients’ estate planning objectives and in developing estate plans which will reduce the impact of estate and gift taxes. In addition, each of our estate planning attorneys is skilled in handling the administration of estates and trusts. Many of our attorneys have experience in other specialized areas including business succession planning, marital property agreements, charitable gift planning, private foundations and other non-profit organizations, retirement plan distribution planning, planning for disabled beneficiaries, and elder care planning.

Estate Planning Documents

Although each estate plan is highly unique, certain documents will be a part of most estate plans. Our attorneys will work with you to carefully customize the following documents to achieve your unique goals and objectives.

Revocable Living Trust

The Revocable Living Trust is the most important document in your estate plan. It will hold your assets during lifetime and/or receive assets after death. The Revocable Trust specifies how your assets will be managed and distributed. Assets transferred to a Revocable Trust during lifetime will avoid the probate administration process. You will be able to change your Revocable Trust at any time that you choose, so long as you are competent to do so. Most commonly, you will serve as the initial Trustee and will be the only beneficiary of the Revocable Trust during your lifetime. If you are married, you and your spouse will often establish a joint trust. In that case, the two of you will most commonly serve as the initial Trustees and be the only beneficiaries of the Revocable Trust while both of you are alive. You will specify the successor Trustee who will manage the Revocable Trust assets if you should become disabled, or after your death. If you are married, the Revocable Trust will often be structured to save estate taxes at the second death. This is accomplished by creating a Family Trust after the first death with a portion of the estate assets of you and your spouse. The survivor of you and your spouse will often be the Trustee of the Family Trust and can utilize the assets for his or her benefit and the benefit of your children. If the Family Trust is properly structured, it will not be taxed at the time of your death or the death of your spouse. Incorporating a Family Trust as a part of your Revocable Trust can save substantial estate taxes for you.

Your Revocable Trust will also contain provisions for distribution to family members, friends and charities after your death. We will often create trusts which continue for children and other young or disabled beneficiaries which allow the Trustee to manage and control these assets for a period of time for the benefit of your loved ones. We will work closely with you to develop a Revocable Trust which expresses your wishes for the distribution of assets after your death.

Last Will and Testament

Because most of the estate plans we create include a Revocable Trust as a part of the plan, we will most often create a “pourover” Will for you which distributes all assets to the Revocable Trust upon death. In working with you on your estate plan, we will also structure ownership of your assets to avoid the probate process, if possible. In that case, you will not need to rely upon your Last Will and Testament to transfer your property on death. The Last Will and Testament allows you to name a Guardian for minor or disabled children. We will work closely with you to explain the ramifications of guardianship and to assist you with the process of choosing a Guardian for your children.

Marital Property Agreement

We generally recommend a Marital Property Agreement for all of our estate planning clients who are married. The Agreement typically does not cover the distribution of assets upon divorce, but does specify how assets are owned by the couple during lifetime and at the time of the death of one of them. Such an Agreement is often recommended because the Wisconsin Marital Property Act sometimes makes it difficult to determine which spouse owns assets upon death without a Marital Property Agreement. Without a Marital Property Agreement, classification of property under the Marital Property Act may also have adverse tax consequences. We often recommend that clients designate most of their property as marital property because marital property tends to have significant tax advantages. However, certain assets are often classified as the individual property of one spouse. For example, we work closely with clients to explain the ramifications of designating property which has been received by gift or inherited by one spouse as marital property. We will also explain the advantages and disadvantages of designating retirement plan assets as marital property. The type of Marital Property Agreement which we recommend for you will be unique to your situation.

Durable Power of Attorney

We recommend that you consider a Durable Power of Attorney appointing your spouse or other trusted person to manage your financial affairs in the event of disability or incapacity. We will thoroughly explain the ramifications of designating another individual to serve as your financial agent.

Health Care Power of Attorney

We recommend a Health Care Power of Attorney to assist your family in making health care decisions on your behalf. This document allows you to designate your spouse or other trusted person to make health care decisions for you should you be unable to make these decisions due to disability or incapacity. We will thoroughly explain your choices with respect to health care decision making.

Additional Estate Planning Documents

Clients with larger estates or special needs may have additional documents included as a part of their estate plan. Our attorneys may be recommending one or more of the following documents for you, in which case we will describe the advantages of including these documents as a part of your estate plan.
  • Charitable Trusts 
  • Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax Trusts 
  • Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts 
  • Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts 
  • Qualified Minor’s Trusts 
  • Qualified Personal Residence Trusts
  • Special Needs Trusts for Beneficiaries with Disabilities

Beyond the Documents

Our practice group is highly skilled in assisting with the transition of closely-held businesses, planning for retirement plan distributions, developing lifetime gifting strategies and identifying unique issues which may impact the estate plan which you have put in place. If you have legal needs beyond our expertise, we work closely with attorneys in other practice areas to ensure that your goals are achieved.

If you would like additional information regarding our Trust & Estates practice, please contact Catherine M. Priebe at 414.225.1425 or cpriebe@dkattorneys.com.

Attorneys' Notable Representations

  • Hertzberg

    Catherine M. Priebe

    After providing basic estate planning services for the CFO of a national, multimillion dollar company Cathy assisted the CFO with gifting stock in the company to irrevocable trusts established for his children. The irrevocable trusts were designed to freeze the value of the stock for gift tax purposes in order to allow future appreciation to pass to the heirs over several generations on an estate tax free basis.

  • Maris

    Charles G. Maris

    With a client in the process of retiring and selling his business interest to his partner, Charlie assisted with the preparation of not only the standard estate planning documents such as a will, revocable trust, powers of attorney but also a commercial real estate offer to purchase and a stock purchase agreement so that his common stock interest and interest in the commercial building are both completely purchased when he retires.

  • Flood

    Gerard J. Flood

    Jerry represented a couple recently who were near retirement and planned a move to Florida.  He updated their Wisconsin estate plan (Wills, Joint Revocable Trust, Marital Property Agreement, Durable and Health Care Powers of Attorney and medical disclosure documents) prior to the move and assisted them with the income tax issues (capital gains on sale of principal residence) and the steps to follow for the change in residency.  After their move and residency change, he prepared their Florida estate plan:  republished their Wills, prepared a Florida Deed with the Florida homestead tax exemption, and prepared Florida Durable Powers of Attorney, Health Care Surrogates and Living Wills.

  • Nusslock

    Kathy Nusslock

    She frequently represents individual and corporate personal representatives and trustees in litigation over a decedent's distribution elections.  

     


  • Kuelthau

    Robert E. Kuelthau

    In the area of trust and estate planning, Robert assists with the preparation of Wills and Trusts, Powers of Attorney, Marital Property Agreements and other related documents. He currently serves as the sole or co-trustee of many family trusts.

  • Cisler

    Timothy A. Cisler

    In 2007, Tim assisted another family in splitting off various factions of a business so that discounted gifts could be made to their children based on their children’s business acumen.

  • Maris

    Charles G. Maris

    Recently, Charlie had a client who was to be married to a non-U.S. citizen. The client’s fiancé is a citizen of Japan and the estate plan not only included a prenuptial agreement but also the preparation of a special domestic trust to ease the estate tax burden as the fiancé is not entitled to the marital deduction for estate tax purposes.

  • RIEGER

    Ann Rieger

    Ann facilitated a transaction whereby a successful business owner sold company interests to carefully structured, irrevocable trusts established for the benefit of his children. The design of the plan enabled the client to maintain cash flow from installment payments made under the sale agreement, while avoiding the payment of capital gains tax. Following conclusion of the transaction, the entire business value was excluded from the client’s taxable estate resulting in significant tax savings.

  • Ulatowski

    Adrian T. Ulatowski

    Adrian completed an estate plan for a couple who owns a small business and has two children and did not have an estate plan commensurate with the size of the estate accumulated over the years. He also assisted them in the preparation of a Revocable Trust to accommodate the flow of funds to and for the benefit of the surviving spouse and ultimately for the children. In addition to the preparation of the Revocable Trust, he prepared Last Wills and Testaments, Declaration of Trust, Marital Property Agreement, Durable Powers of Attorney and Durable Powers of Attorney for Health Care.

  • Cisler

    Timothy A. Cisler

    In 2008, Tim assisted a family in administering their parent’s Trust, filing State and Federal Estate Tax Returns and distributing the assets of the Estate.

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