Milwaukee, WI Estate Planning Attorneys

Estate planning is about protecting the people you care about most—not just managing assets. Surveys consistently find that a majority of American adults have no will. The gap between knowing you need a plan and actually creating one leaves families exposed to outcomes they never intended. A complete estate plan includes a will or trust, financial power of attorney, healthcare power of attorney, living will, and—when applicable—guardianship designations and nursing home planning.

At Gimbel, Reilly, Guerin & Brown, LLP, the estate planning practice is led by partners with decades of Wisconsin experience, supported by attorneys who handle the full range of estate planning services. Clients get the added security of a firm whose trial lawyers can defend the plan if it is ever challenged. The firm has been named Shepherd Express “Best of Milwaukee” in Law Firm Estate Planning.

What Does a Complete Estate Plan Include?

Estate planning is not a single document—it is a coordinated set of legal instruments that work together to protect your assets, your healthcare wishes, and the people who depend on you. Each instrument serves a distinct purpose, and gaps in coverage can produce results as damaging as having no plan at all.

A will governs how the assets it controls are distributed after death. It names a personal representative (Wisconsin’s term for executor) to administer the estate, designates a guardian for minor children, and can create testamentary trusts for beneficiaries who shouldn’t receive large sums outright—such as young children or individuals with special needs.

A will does not reach everything. Assets that pass by joint ownership, beneficiary designation, payable-on-death or transfer-on-death arrangements, or through a trust generally pass outside the will and outside probate, regardless of what the will says. Assets the will does control generally pass through probate—a court-supervised process that is public, takes time, and costs money. For many families, a trust or a coordinated set of nonprobate designations provides a better path.

Wills vs. Revocable Living Trusts in Wisconsin

The key distinction between a will and a revocable living trust is probate. Assets governed by a will are administered through the Milwaukee County Register in Probate (901 N. 9th Street, Room 207) or the equivalent office in the county where the decedent resided. Wisconsin offers both informal and formal administration, and uncontested informal estates are often handled largely through filings rather than contested hearings. Smaller estates may qualify for summary settlement, summary assignment, or transfer by affidavit. Probate proceedings are generally public and can take six months to a year or more.

A revocable living trust avoids probate for the assets actually transferred into it. That qualifier matters: property never retitled to the trust, later-acquired assets, and accounts without effective beneficiary designations can still require probate, which is why a pour-over will usually remains part of the plan. Assets properly held in the trust pass to beneficiaries according to the trust’s terms, privately and without court involvement, and the trust can be modified or revoked during the grantor’s lifetime.

An irrevocable trust generally cannot be revoked unilaterally by the settlor, though modification or termination may still be possible under the trust’s own terms or under Wisconsin’s Trust Code, Wis. Stat. Ch. 701. Irrevocable trusts can offer asset protection advantages and are a common tool in Medicaid planning, but how much protection they provide depends on who created the trust, who can receive distributions, and what control the settlor retained.

Financial Power of Attorney (Chapter 244)

Under Wis. Stat. Ch. 244, a durable power of attorney for finances allows a designated agent to manage your financial affairs—bank accounts, real estate, investments, taxes, and business operations. Under § 244.05, the document is executed when the principal signs it, or when another adult signs the principal’s name at the principal’s express direction and in the principal’s physical presence. Acknowledgment before a notarial officer creates a presumption that the signature is genuine. Wisconsin also recognizes a remote execution procedure witnessed by two witnesses over two-way audiovisual technology under attorney supervision. Notarization is standard practice because banks, title companies, and other institutions often expect it, and recording may be necessary if the agent will sign real estate documents.

Durability means the agent’s authority survives the principal’s incapacity rather than ending at it. It does not by itself mean the authority begins only at incapacity. Depending on how the document is written, the authority may be effective immediately on signing or may spring into effect on a specified event, and the instrument should say which. Authority also ends on revocation, death, and other events, and powers over gifting, beneficiary changes, and self-dealing generally require express language.

Healthcare Power of Attorney and Living Will (Chapter 155)

Wisconsin’s Power of Attorney for Health Care under Wis. Stat. Ch. 155 designates an agent to make medical decisions if you cannot make them yourself. Under § 155.05(2), and unless the instrument says otherwise, it takes effect on a finding of incapacity by two physicians, or by one physician and one licensed advanced practice clinician, who personally examine the principal and sign a statement specifying incapacity. Old age, eccentricity, or physical disability alone is not enough, and neither person making the finding may be a relative of the principal or someone with a claim on the principal’s estate.

A health care agent’s authority is broad but not unlimited. Wisconsin’s statutory form treats certain decisions separately, including admission to a nursing home or community-based residential facility and the withholding or withdrawal of feeding tubes, and those authorities generally depend on how the principal completed the document. Naming an agent does not automatically confer every long-term care placement decision.

A Living Will (Declaration to Physicians) is a separate, narrower document. It addresses end-of-life wishes specifically—whether to continue life-sustaining treatment in a terminal condition or persistent vegetative state. Both documents have their own execution and witnessing requirements under Wisconsin law.

What Happens If You Die Without a Will in Wisconsin?

If you die without a will in Wisconsin, state law—not your wishes—determines who inherits the property that passes through your estate. Wis. Stat. Ch. 852 sets out intestate succession. The surviving spouse’s share depends on the family structure: where all of the decedent’s children are also children of the surviving spouse, the spouse generally takes the entire net estate, but where the decedent has children who are not the surviving spouse’s, those children take a share. Wisconsin’s marital property system also affects what is in the estate in the first place. Where there is no surviving spouse or descendant, the estate passes to parents, then to siblings and their descendants, under the statutory order.

The consequences can be severe:

• Unmarried partners: Receive nothing under Wisconsin intestacy law, regardless of how long the relationship lasted.
• Stepchildren: Generally excluded from inheritance unless legally adopted.
• Blended families: The surviving spouse may receive less than expected because children from a prior relationship are entitled to a share under the statutory hierarchy.

Minor children face a different risk. Without a guardian nominated in your will, the probate court appoints one—potentially someone you would not have chosen. And without a plan, your estate is more likely to go through a full administration, adding time, cost, and public exposure to an already difficult situation.

The solution is straightforward: a properly drafted estate plan from an experienced Wisconsin attorney. The cost of creating a plan is a fraction of what it costs to sort out the consequences of not having one.

Wisconsin also offers a transfer-on-death designation for real property under Wis. Stat. § 705.15, which allows real estate to pass directly to a named beneficiary without going through probate. The designation must be recorded with the county Register of Deeds where the property is located during the owner’s lifetime. This is one of several probate avoidance tools GRGB uses as part of a broader estate planning strategy, and it needs to be coordinated with the rest of the plan so the designations and the will do not work against each other.

Nursing Home Planning and Protecting Your Assets from Medicaid

Long-term nursing home care in Wisconsin costs well over six figures a year for many families, and current figures are published annually by industry cost-of-care surveys. Without advance planning, a family’s assets can be depleted in a matter of years. Nursing home planning—sometimes called Medicaid planning or elder law planning—addresses this risk by structuring assets and legal instruments to preserve wealth while maintaining eligibility for public benefits.

Wisconsin Medicaid will pay for long-term care, but applicants must meet strict asset and income thresholds, and those thresholds change annually. The five-year look-back rule is central to the analysis: Wisconsin Medicaid reviews asset transfers made in the 60 months before an application. Gifts, transfers to family members, or transfers into certain trusts during that window can trigger a divestment penalty and a period of ineligibility.

The Wisconsin DHS Estate Recovery Program adds another layer. Under federal and state law, the Department of Health Services may recover certain long-term care costs paid by Medicaid from the estates of recipients who were 55 or older when the services were provided. Trust and title planning can affect this exposure, but the planning generally has to be done well before a nursing home admission becomes necessary.

Strategies GRGB considers in nursing home planning include:

• Irrevocable trusts: Depending on how the trust is structured, assets transferred into an irrevocable trust may fall outside the Medicaid countable estate once the transfer is beyond the five-year look-back window. Whether that result holds turns on the trust terms, particularly whether the grantor retained any right to income or principal, so trust drafting matters as much as timing.
• Spousal protection rules: The community spouse resource allowance permits the non-institutionalized spouse to retain a portion of the couple’s combined countable assets, within limits set annually.
• Asset conversion: Converting countable assets into non-countable ones—such as a primary residence, prepaid burial arrangements, or certain annuities—may preserve wealth while maintaining eligibility. The rules governing which assets are exempt and how annuities must be structured are technical and change over time.

Early planning matters. The five-year look-back means the work should begin well before a crisis arises. Medicaid eligibility rules and figures are revised regularly, so a plan built years ago should be reviewed against current requirements.

And should any Medicaid planning decision ever be disputed or challenged, GRGB’s trial lawyers are prepared to defend it.

Guardianships — Planning for Those Who Cannot Plan for Themselves

Guardianship planning protects both minor children and adults who may lose the ability to make decisions for themselves. In the estate planning context, guardianship serves two roles: designating who will care for your children if something happens to you, and reducing the likelihood of a court-appointed guardianship if a family member becomes incapacitated.

Naming a Guardian for Your Children in Your Will

A Wisconsin will, executed under Wis. Stat. Ch. 853, can nominate a guardian for minor children. The nomination is a strong statement of a parent’s preference, and the appointing court gives it weight, though the court retains authority over the appointment and applies the child’s best interests. This is one of the most important decisions parents make in an estate plan. If no guardian is nominated and both parents die, the court will appoint one, and the court’s choice may not be who you would have selected.

Parents can also designate a separate trustee to manage any inherited funds if the named guardian is not the best person to handle financial matters. This separation of roles—one person raising the children, another managing the money—is a common and practical arrangement.

Adult Guardianship — When Someone Becomes Incapacitated Without a Plan

Wis. Stat. Ch. 54 governs adult guardianships and conservatorships. If a family member becomes incapacitated without powers of attorney in place, a formal court guardianship petition may be necessary. That process is expensive, time-consuming, public, and emotionally difficult.

A properly executed health care power of attorney under Chapter 155, paired with a financial power of attorney under Chapter 244, can reduce or eliminate the need for a court guardianship in many situations. A health care power of attorney alone addresses medical decisions but not finances, which is why the two documents work together. Signed while the person still has capacity, they can spare a family months of proceedings. If a guardianship is contested or opposed by other family members, GRGB’s litigation experience is directly relevant—the same firm that helped create the estate plan can step into a courtroom and defend the decisions made within it.

When Should You Update Your Estate Plan?

An estate plan is not a one-time task. Life changes, laws change, and the plan that made sense five years ago may not reflect your current situation. Reviewing your estate plan every three to five years—and immediately after certain trigger events—is essential to keeping it effective.

Events that call for immediate review include:

• Marriage or divorce: Any change in marital status can alter how assets pass and who has authority under your existing documents.
• Birth or adoption of a child: New beneficiaries need to be named in your will, trust, and guardian designations.
• Death of a named beneficiary or personal representative: If the person you named is no longer available, the plan has a gap that default rules will fill.
• Significant change in assets: An inheritance, the sale of a business, or a major real estate transaction can change the tax and distribution strategy.
• Moving to or from Wisconsin: States differ in execution requirements, marital property treatment, and tax rules.
• Changes in federal or state tax law: Estate and gift tax thresholds change periodically and can affect your plan’s effectiveness.

If aging parents are entering long-term care discussions, that alone may call for restructuring the plan.

Digital assets are an increasingly important consideration. Wisconsin has adopted the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act at Wis. Stat. Ch. 711, which means your estate plan can and should address cryptocurrency, online accounts, and other digital property.

GRGB reviews existing estate plans and identifies gaps, outdated provisions, or title and beneficiary mismatches that could frustrate the plan’s intent. The firm’s estate planning attorneys have guided Wisconsin families for decades, with experience spanning end-of-life succession planning, business succession coordination, and the intersection of estate planning with real estate and tax considerations.

Frequently Asked Questions About Estate Planning

Is estate planning only for wealthy people?

No. Anyone with minor children, an unmarried partner, real estate, retirement accounts, or specific healthcare wishes needs an estate plan. Without one, Wisconsin’s intestacy and guardianship laws make those decisions for you, and the results may not match your intentions.

What is the difference between a will and a trust in Wisconsin — which is right for me?

Assets controlled by a will generally pass through probate, a public, court-supervised process. A revocable living trust avoids probate for the assets actually transferred into it, keeps distribution private, and can be faster. Trusts involve higher upfront costs and require follow-through on funding to deliver the benefit. GRGB helps clients choose the right instrument based on their specific situation.

Does a financial power of attorney in Wisconsin need witnesses?

Under § 244.05, a financial power of attorney is executed by the principal’s signature, or by another adult signing the principal’s name at the principal’s express direction and in the principal’s physical presence. Acknowledgment before a notary creates a presumption that the signature is genuine, which is why notarization is standard practice even though the statute frames it as a presumption rather than a validity requirement. The two-witness requirement people often have in mind comes from the health care power of attorney rules in Chapter 155, which is a separate document with separate requirements.

Can I write my own will in Wisconsin without an attorney?

Wisconsin does allow wills prepared without an attorney, but the risks are significant. Errors in language, improper execution, or missing provisions can render a will partially or entirely ineffective. If a do-it-yourself will is challenged after your death, GRGB’s probate litigation attorneys handle those disputes—but prevention costs far less than litigation.

How does a power of attorney for health care differ from a living will?

A health care power of attorney under Chapter 155 appoints an agent to make medical decisions if you become incapacitated, subject to any limits in the document. A living will is narrower—it addresses only end-of-life treatment decisions in terminal conditions or persistent vegetative states. Most estate plans include both, along with a separate financial power of attorney under Chapter 244.

What happens to my estate plan if I move to or from Wisconsin?

Documents executed in other states are often honored under Wisconsin law, but differences in witnessing requirements, terminology, marital property treatment, and statutory frameworks can create problems. A review by a Wisconsin estate planning attorney after any interstate move is worth the time.

If my estate plan is challenged after I die, what happens?

Will contests, trust disputes, and inheritance litigation are handled in probate court. GRGB’s trial lawyers handle these disputes directly, and because the firm both drafts estate plans and litigates challenges to them, there is no handoff between the attorney who wrote the plan and the attorney who defends it.

Schedule your estate planning consultation today. Call 414-271-1440 to speak with the GRGB team about protecting your family, your assets, and your wishes.