For many Wisconsin families, keeping the home, cottage, or any other real estate in the family is vital, preserving ownership across generations.  Many also desire to spare their loved ones the need to go through probate, which often adds time and costs to administering an estate.  Probate is the public, court-supervised process used to pay a deceased individual’s debts, and distribute any remaining assets to the individual’s heirs.  Without a proper plan, whether these goals will be reached is a gamble.  Depending on your circumstances, a Transfer on Death (TOD) Deed might be a simple, cost-efficient tool to accomplish these goals.

Just like you can do for life insurance policies, and bank, brokerage, and retirement accounts, you can use a TOD Deed to designate one or more beneficiaries to automatically take title to your real estate at your death.  It bypasses probate, keeps expenses low, and requires no ongoing upkeep.  Put plainly, a TOD Deed is a faster and cheaper route that keeps your real estate out of court and spares your loved ones lengthy delays.

How does it work? You keep full ownership during your lifetime, meaning you can sell or refinance at any time.  The beneficiary receives the property automatically at your death.  You must sign the deed, have it notarized, and record it while alive.

Are TOD Deeds right for everyone?  Unfortunately, TOD Deeds aren’t right for every situation.  If you name more than one beneficiary (such as your children), your beneficiaries will all take equal co-ownership of the entire property conveyed.  In order for your beneficiaries to sell the property, unanimous approval is required.  If not all beneficiaries agree, disputes can (and often do) quickly develop.

And what happens if a named beneficiary predeceases you?  Unless you specify otherwise, in most cases a predeceased beneficiary’s ownership interest will pass to their issue by right of representation (i.e. split into equal shares with one share for each living child and each deceased child with living children), further diluting ownership and complicating decision-making.

TOD Deeds also aren’t great if the beneficiary is a minor.  Their ability to take manage and sell the property is diminished and typically requires their legal guardian’s approval.

If any of these situations apply to you, you should consider an estate plan that addresses these more complicated issues, such as a trustor will-based estate plan.  Under either of these estate plans, you have greater flexibility to vary the default survivorship rules, can designate one individual with authority to either sell or distribute the property to your intended beneficiaries, provided that assets distributed to minors or individuals under a certain age will be held in trust for the individual’s benefit, and nominate legal guardians for your minor children.

When to use a TOD Deed? There are certain situations where TOD Deeds work well.  If probate avoidance can be accomplished using TOD Deeds, such as if most of your net worth is comprised of your primary residence, and you have just one intended adult beneficiary, TOD Deeds are the fastest and most cost-effective tool there is.  TOD Deeds are also revocable, meaning you are free to revoke them at any time, and if you sell the property before your death, the TOD Deed automatically becomes void.

Many people support the idea of organ donation — but common misconceptions often get in the way.

Some believe they’re too old or too unhealthy to make a difference. Others worry their medical care might be compromised if they’re listed as a donor, that their family could be left with the costs, or that you can’t have an open casket funeral if you donate your organs. In reality, none of these myths hold up. You’re never too old to be a donor – with consent, doctors assess the condition of your organs, not your age. People with chronic conditions, including diabetes and cancer, have successfully donated organs. Families are never charged for the gift of organ or tissue donation. And, you or your designated agents have control over which organs are ultimately donated – and how they are used.

These decisions are deeply personal — and they’re worth thinking through as part of broader conversations about healthcare wishes and estate planning. Including your organ donation preferences in your advance directives ensures your intentions are clear and honored.
Knowledge leads to better planning — and potentially, to saving lives.

#LinLawLLC #OrganDonation #MythsVsFacts #DonateLife

Understanding your finances can feel overwhelming. But taking a moment to learn the different types of debt, and the forms they take, can make a big difference. Having a solid understanding lays the foundation for a stronger, more thoughtful estate plan. Don’t let unpaid expenses catch your loved ones off guard. Create clarity, protect your legacy, and make sure nothing is left behind!

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a helpful resource for everyday tasks, but it cannot substitute for proper legal representation. Whether you are
launching a business, have been operating for years, or are preparing to retire, an attorney is essential to achieving your goals.

An attorney provides comprehensive protection and support, offering tailored advice to guide your business decisions toward long-term success. They spot blind spots AI can’t see:

• Succession Planning: Attorneys understand family dynamics and how personal relationships can affect professional goals. AI, by contrast,
  offers a one-size-fits-all approach and cannot balance emotional or personal reasoning.
• Entity Structuring: Attorneys create, maintain, restructure, and update entities, such as, drafting operating agreements, recording deeds, transferring ownership, handling trademarks, and managing asset sales or mergers. AI lacks the legal judgment to interpret overlapping statutes and has no fiduciary accountability or notary
• Asset Protection: Attorneys know state-specific asset-protection. They guide clients through rules like the Corporate Transparency Act and BOI filings and advise on tax-efficient strategies. AI may misapply these rules, potentially leading to costly missteps, or even allegations of fraud.

Avoid trouble and don’t risk your legacy. Attorneys are critical to business success:

• They personalize succession plans by navigating family dynamics and deploying tools like buy-sell agreements, trust management, and gradual ownership transfers; nuances AI cannot weigh.
• They ensure your business and estate are legally sound, executing all technical steps and administrative requirements. Attorneys bear legal
  responsibility for your documents; AI software does not.
• They offer reliable advice on how changing laws, such as, federalestate-tax exemptions or marital-property statutes, could affect your
  plans and how to adapt for future success.

AI is great for quick answers to simple questions, but your business is worth more. Your life’s work deserves the detail and accountability only a qualified attorney can provide. An attorney delivers situation-specific guidance and proudly carries the responsibility of protecting your estate so it stands strong for generations; something AI simply cannot do.

Did you ever wonder what the difference is between a Sole Proprietorship and a Limited Liability Company (LLC)?  Whether you want to start a side hustle or grow your small business, determining which structure you need is the best first step.  The two most common forms of business are a Sole Proprietorship and an LLC.  Both allow you to function as a working business, but they differ when it comes down to credibility, liabilities, and taxes.

A Sole Proprietorship is the simplest form of business where the owner and the business are legally the same.  This means the owner will directly receive all of the profits as personal income.  However, this carries a lot of liability to the owner’s personal assets.  Going further, an LLC is a step up in formality and credibility from a Sole Proprietorship.  In this structure, the owner and the business are legally separate, which provides protection over the owner’s personal assets while also offering tax flexibility and greater options for growing businesses with multiple owners.

Review your business direction and goals.  Are you wanting to test a new idea?  Have you been wanting to expand in the community?  Do you want to hire more employees?  The foundation your business starts on is crucial to its later success, and that can be grown from choosing the right type of business model.

Let the right business structure carry you forward!

#BusinessStructure #LLCvSoleProp #WisconsinBusiness #AssetProtection #StartSmart #LinLawLLC #SmallBusinessTips #LegalPlanning #Entrepreneurship

Want to keep your family cabin under control and in the family? Unfortunately, transferring it to the next generation may not be enough to protect the property or maintain peace among relatives. A Family Cabin LLC creates a structure for multigenerational ownership. By holding ownership in an LLC, families have considerable flexibility to establish rules that work for their unique situation. Having clear rules in place ensures that all members are respected and disputes are minimized. A Family Cabin LLC also adds an extra layer of liability protection, shielding other family assets in the event that accidents or injuries occur on the LLC’s premises.

Why it matters:

Passing a cabin to multiple heirs makes them co-owners with equal rights. Without a formal plan, that can lead to conflict, unclear responsibilities, or even a forced sale due to divorce, death, or disagreement. 

How an LLC helps:

Including a Family Cabin LLC in your estate plan puts a written Operating Agreement in place outlining use, maintenance, expenses, and how shares are transferred. It also provides legal and tax benefits, including liability protection and simplified inheritance.

Every family is unique. A customized Family Cabin LLC helps preserve your “up-north” getaway and the memories that come with it for generations to follow.

Do you know the difference between a revocable and irrevocable trust? Both allow you to avoid probate; however, they serve different purposes when it comes to privacy, protection, and control.

A revocable trust, also called  “living” trust, offers greater flexibility, letting you edit at any time and still have control over your assets. However, having control does not mean it provides asset protection or any tax benefits.

On the other hand, an irrevocable trust is much stricter. Once you transfer your assets into it, they are now locked in the trust. Even if you lose some asset control, you gain greater asset protection from creditors and may receive tax advantages.

Before you choose, sit down and discuss your estate planning goals. What is most important to you: control during your lifetime or security in long-term protection?

An estate plan doesn’t only deal with allocating and distributing your wealth after you die. In an estate plan, you can:

1. Designate legal guardians for your minor children (and adult children under guardianship), upon your (and your spouse’s) death(s), to ensure your children are cared for by the loved one of your choosing. This can be done either in a will-based or a trust-based estate plan.

2. If you have personal belongings of special significance, whether family heirlooms or any other items of sentimental value, you can utilize a memorandum disposing of tangible personal property (in conjunction with a will or trust) to pass those items to specific loved ones, even if they are not your heirs.

3. Under powers of attorney for finances, health care, living wills, and authorizations for final disposition, you can empower loved ones to make financial, medical, and funeral/burial decisions on your behalf, and you can specify guidelines and/or your specific desires in certain situations.

4. You can protect your heirs by establishing separate asset protection trusts for their benefit, which can protect their inheritance from creditors and, if necessary, themselves (including if your heir has substance abuse, gambling, or other personal issues). This can be accomplished either using a will-based of trust-based estate plan.

5. You can protect yourself from increasingly more common financial scams targeting elderly individuals, by granting a trusted loved one the ability to supervise and assist with managing your financial affairs in a power of attorney for finances. Granting supervisory authority to a loved one is not bulletproof, but it does lessen the chance that a financial scam persists unchecked.

Your legacy is more than just your wealth, it is how your loved ones remember you and the impact you have on their lives. Use an estate plan to protect your legacy.