Estate & Tax Planning
In guiding clients through the estate planning process, HHB brings deep experience and practical tools to help visualize the potential "what ifs" that may not have been considered. We listen carefully to concerns and goals before recommending next steps and tailoring the tools we have developed to each client’s needs.
Articles on Estate Planning
As estate planning attorneys, we have developed a unique, user-friendly process called The Family Vision Experience. We help you create and implement a vision to enrich and empower your family and to build a legacy for future generations.
- The Family Vision Snapshot/Timeline
- Protecting a Child (or Grandchild) in the Event of Divorce
- Perspective on Estate Taxes for Wisconsin Residents
Wills & Trusts
Many clients can handle their estate planning needs in economical fashion with a will. Wills, sometimes called pour-over wills, are also used in conjunction with revocable trusts.
Increasingly we use revocable living trusts as the main engine of estate planning, and we always use them in the case of larger estates. We are experienced with their creation and funding, and we work closely with the client’s other advisors to ensure effective coordination.
Other Estate Planning Tools
We never create a will or trust for a client without also considering other tools which we routinely use to help the clients maximize their control over their unique situation.
- Durable powers of attorney
- Health care powers of attorney
- Marital Property Agreements
- Disposition of Remains
Advanced Tax and Other Planning
- Multi-Trust Provisions
- Total Return Trusts
- Family Limited Partnerships
- Life Insurance Trusts
- Generation-Skipping Trusts
- Lifetime Gifts
Advanced Charitable Planning
- Charitable Remainder Trusts
- Designating the Right Asset to Pass to Charity at Your Death
- Family Foundations and Creating Funds within a Community Foundation
Estate Business Succession
- Management Succession
- Ownership Succession
Probate & Other Post Death Administration
Transfer of property at death, even under a will, does not necessarily require a full probate. Often other, more summary court procedures allow us to help the client minimize the time and cost. In other cases, where clients have used revocable living trusts and followed our instructions, there is no probate, but what is still to be done, for example closing out the trust and filing final tax returns, is handled as post-death administration or trust administration.
The Family Vision Experience
As estate planning attorneys, HHB has developed a unique, user-friendly process called The Family Vision Experience. The process helps clients create and implement a vision to enrich and empower their family and to build a legacy for future generations. Related topics include:
- Thinking About Doing Estate Planning
- The Family Vision Snapshot Timeline
- The Inheritance Hypothesis
- Perspective on Estate Taxes for Wisconsin Residents
- Protecting a Child or Grandchild in the Event of Divorce
- Charitable Remainder Trusts (CRUTs)
- Total Return Trusts
- Why Some Clients Are Using LOOSE Trusts
- Why I Prefer WisPACT for Special Needs Trusts