There are two types of health care directives in Wisconsin; Power of Attorney for Health Care and Living Will. If you cannot make your own health care decisions, Mr. Kriger recommends that you have an agent appointed under a health care power of attorney who can make your health care decisions in order to make...
If you do not have a properly drawn power of attorney and you become unable to make your own decisions no one, not even your spouse, has the legal authority to act on your behalf; to pay your bills, make investment decisions, file tax returns, to deal with social security, Medicare or Medicaid. That means...
People who are disabled and qualify for certain government benefits such as SSI and Medicaid are allowed very limited available assets if they are to remain qualified for their benefits. You can use a trust to provide for a disabled person and avoid having the trust assets disqualify the beneficiary from such benefits. Mr. Kriger...
“All to the surviving spouse, and if no surviving spouse then all to the children in equal shares.” But most people want their assets to stay in their blood line. What if the surviving spouse remarries? What if the child inherits and the child dies and your daughter or son in law remarries? Mr. Kriger...
If the principal owner of a family business dies, who is the boss? Do all the children work in the business, likely not, so how does the business owner treat all the children equally and leave the business to the one or two that work there? Mr. Kriger has advised many families about ownership and...
A client wanted to keep the summer cottage in the family, so the children and grandchildren could continue to enjoy it in the future. How do you make sure the expenses like real estate tax, utilities, maintenance and repairs are shared fairly? How do you make sure the use of the cottage is shared fairly...
A client created a living trust leaving all of his assets to his son. After the client’s death the son’s wife sued for divorce. The wife knew about the husband’s inheritance and went after half, claiming it to be marital property. The claim was rejected by the court because Mr. Kriger included spouse proof provisions...
Client created a living trust leaving his assets in equal shares to his 3 children. When the client died one child was in a bankruptcy, the bankruptcy judge wanted to see the trust and the court decided that the creditors of the bankrupt child could not get at the child’s inheritance because, Mr. Kriger included...
A married couple named each other as beneficiary on life insurance, at the husband’s death, the wife inherited his policy, when the wife died, since the husband was deceased there was no living beneficiary on her policy so the insurance company told the children that probate was necessary to get the money—problem solved because Mr. Kriger...
