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4 Quick Tasks To Keep Your Estate Plan In Great Shape By Melinda Gustafson Gervasi December 27, 2024 Image by M. Gustafson Gervasi, 2024 Departing buses, Panama There is a “National Day For ……” everything, including “ Still Need To Do Day ”, which is celebrated on December 29th.  A day that is set aside to make a final push to complete items on their To-Do List of the current year.  While 2024 may be fading fast, there is still time for those eager to create or update an estate plan.  In fact, you may be off of work this week, creating more more free time than usual.  Here are 4 quick tasks you can work on before 2025 arrives: Print off your holiday mailing card list and put a hard copy with your estate planning documents.  I do this every year.  When my earthly time comes to an end I want my loved ones to send a note to those I felt close enough to receive a holiday card.  Having a printed list of names and addresses is low-tech and easy has heck to a...

Nonprofit Offers: Caution! If It Is Free, You May Be The Product By Melinda Gustafson Gervasi December 10, 2024 Too Good To Be True? As the calendar year comes to a close your inbox and USPS mailbox are likely filling up with solicitations from nonprofit organizations you value and support.  In recent years I have noticed a trend in the nonprofit world, one that gives me pause and raises my eyebrows.  Nonprofits are giving out free, online will programs. The “free will” offers may be tempting, but proceed with caution.  One nonprofit sent me a message that said “in under 20 minutes and just a few keystrokes, you could have a will”.  Sometimes the easy route is not the best route.  To quote President John F. Kennedy: We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we ...

Afterlife: Nurture a Good Cause with Your "Stuff" By Melinda Gustafson Gervasi November 22, 2024 Earlier this month I read a short novel that explored the issues of sudden loss, grief, and human connection.  Afterlife by Julia Alvarez focuses on the newly retired Antonia who suddenly finds herself a widow.  A former English teacher, Antonia routinely pulls quotes and phrases from literature to apply to the situation at hand – and through the course of his novel she faces plenty of challenges.  In the year following her husband’s accidental death she is confronted with a sister in crisis as well as a young undocumented immigrant living on a neighboring Vermont farm who is about to give birth. Personally, while reading a specific passage in Afterlife I too had a quote jump to mind:  “What we have done for ourselves alone, dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains, and is immortal”. - Albert Pike This quote by Albert Pike leaped to my mind when A...

Middle Class Philanthropy: How anyone can leave a legacy By Melinda Gustafson Gervasi November 8, 2024  "Predating democracy, capitalism, organized religion, and as old as humanity itself, philanthropy exists because things often go wrong, and things can always be better". I wrote these words back in 2013 in a small book titled Middle Class Philanthropist: How anyone can leave a legacy .  Eleven years later I find myself pulled back to those sentences.  When life takes a wrong turn, we can lean into our own power and push to improve our world.   Image by M. Gustafson Gervasi, 2024 At dinner this week my 16 year old son suggested our family add more charity runs to our family calendar.  “Mom, you know that run we are doing in March (2025) to support local refugees ... .are there more like that that we can do?”  My son knows that he can pour his cross country running ability and energy into a local organization to fuel a cause that he views as vitally i...

Don't Forget to Plan for Your Pets: An Estate Planning & Probate Attorney Takes Cats to the Vet By Melinda Gustafson Gervasi October 28, 2024 Artemis Plays Hide-and-Seek in the Wall Cabinet - image by M. Gustafson Gervasi Normally my household responsibilities are clustered on nights and weekends, leaving my weekdays available for clients.  Today was not one of those days.  A previously scheduled annual vet visit for two of our four cats was crowded out of my weekend calendar due to my high schoolers’ cross country commitments.  Fall is a busy time in our home.  So, on a Monday morning I threw on casual clothes (that would soon be covered in cat fur), fished out the cat carriers, and wrangled the twins in record time.  Cages secured, we piled into my car and headed south on Highway 14 to our vet clinic .  Both cats received clean bills of health and I had a nice chat with our veterinarian, someone I have known since we were in high school together....

Decluttering! The Overlooked Aspect of an Estate Plan By Melinda Gustafson Gervasi October 22, 2024 Cross Country Meet, Image by M. Gustafson Gervasi 2024 Confession, I am a competitive person.  Challenge me to something (within reason) and chances are I will bite.  Connect the challenge to decluttering my home, and you are guaranteed I’ll jump at the opportunity.  That was the situation late this past summer.  A dear friend posted a Facebook challenge for the Minimalist Game , and she tagged me.  Having played this game a few years ago, there was no hesitation.  I accepted the challenge; game on!  We were going to spend September purging items from our homes.   The game starts out easy, on the first day of the month you purge one item from your home.  On the second day you re-home two items.  On the third day of the month, you remove three items. And it goes on throughout the month.  While it may start out easy, the game gets ...

A Lesson From The Bard On Estate Planning October 14, 2024 By Melinda Gustafson Gervasi Red taillights sprawled in front of us as we headed east along Wisconsin’s Highway 14.  It was after 10pm on a Sunday evening, and we were one of the many couples who had made the annual journey out to American Players Theater in Spring Green, Wisconsin .  As the road entered into the more populated suburbs it widened into two lanes and my breathing eased just a bit, as it always does when I leave a highway known for its deadly accidents.  High speeds, deer running about at night, and an undivided highway make for a tense drive.  Especially having just watched King Lear ; a play where nearly every character dies in the end. It was a night out for my husband and I.  Our teenagers were at home, focused on their homework with a simple pasta dinner.  Yet, sitting there under a night sky dotted with stars, my mind could not quite relax into the moment.  Instead it dashe...

Want a Stellar Estate Plan?  Have These 4 Conversations!  September 23, 2024 By Melinda Gustafson Gervasi Image by M. Gustafson Gervasi, 2024 September is National Preparedness Month , which aims to remind the general public about the importance of being ready for disaster and emergencies.  In 2024 there is a specific theme, conversation.  The title “ Start the Conversation ”, is a campaign that nudges the public past its resistance about addressing potential risks and dangers. It encourages the public to have regular talks with loved ones about how to handle emergencies. While the focus of National Preparedness Month is on natural disasters, such as floods and hurricanes, the motivation fits well in my focus area – estate planning and probate. Estate planning is the act of creating documents that state who should act if you are alive but too sick to make decisions about our health care as well as finances, as well as, who will handle your final affairs.  Moreov...

What's More Important Than an Estate Plan?  The Act of Planning! By Melinda Gustafson Gervasi September 16, 2024 OMG! Austin, in AUGUST! Are you both nuts???? My teenage son scoffed. It will be hotter than Hades, this is crazy! Yelped my soon-to-be high school daughter.  And so began our family discussion of driving from Madison, Wisconsin to Austin, Texas. In August! It was early summer, and my husband and I had decided to chip away at our goal of taking our children to all 50 states. By Fall they would both be in high school.  The window for family vacations was narrowing. So I cooked up a route that would take us to 5 Presidential Libraries as well as towns with friends and family.   My son, the elder of the two kids, realized this was not negotiable. We were going.  He is my realist and commented to his sister “well, they’ve made up their minds, we might as well look up good places to eat along the way!”  And so it began; a 2500 mile road trip. ...

Lesson From Fisk, Season 2: Work Out Your Wishes Before Meeting the Attorney September 9, 2024 By Melinda Gustafson Gervasi Season Two of the Australian comedy show Fisk ends with an all too frequent storyline -- the married couple that erupts into an argument as the attorney asks delicate questions about what happens when you die. In this episode Helen is working with a couple where there is a significant age difference, a baby from the union, and adult children from his prior relationship. As Helen asks questions the wife grows increasingly upset, objecting to the very notion that she might die.  It is clear she is at the meeting to prepare for her older husband to die. She goes beyond rattled by the mortality question into an entirely new level of upset, turning to social media and gottcha TV to turn her anger towards her attorney and away from the reality that death does not discriminate in favor of the young.  My take-away from this episode is the importance for couples...

Lesson From Fisk, Season 2: Get The Name Correct September 2, 2024 By Melinda Gustafson Gervasi Episode 5 in Season Two of the Australian comedy Fisk takes the viewer on a tour of the probate landscape when a will mentions a nonprofit that no longer exists.  The show opens with Helen attempting to find the Australian Cat Welfare League.  Through a conference call with an American nonprofit of a similar name, she learns that in the 1970s the American nonprofit forced an Australian nonprofit with the same name to change its name.  However, a recently deceased client who did a will in early 1972 named the Australian nonprofit prior to the name change.  Now Helen has to sort out where to direct the $10 million dollar bequest.  Quirky adventures follow, but in the end (spoiler alert) she is able to deliver a huge check to support Australian cats in need.  Maybe it is my fondness for cats (we have four of them in our family home) or my interest in everyday peopl...

Lessons from Fisk, Season 2, Don't Be a Dumpster Diver August 26, 2024 By Melinda Gustafson Gervasi Most families have them -- unique and quirky belongings that mean the world to us, but to others they are nothing more than rubbish.  Episode Four, Season 2 of Fisk has Helen overseeing the purge of a home as part of probate.  Out with the old before the property is sold and the new moves in.  Unknown to Helen and the crew she hires is the beloved Polish recipe book.  It's added to the trash, but only when the granddaughter comes into the office does Helen realize she mistakenly tossed something the value viewed as priceless.  Into the dumpster dives Helen, emerging with success and a need for a shower. Avoid being a dumpster diver.  Work with family and friends to make sure the personal items that mean a great deal to us are called out with instructions on where the items should go at death.  Everything from photographs to hobbyist tools to rare collect...

Lessons From Fisk, Season 2: Letter of Wishes, the Supporting Documents of Estate Planning By Melinda Gustafson Gervasi August 16, 2024 Episode 3 of Fisk, Season 2, has Helen working with two estranged brothers.  Once upon a time the two had played in a band together, but life took them separate ways.  Their unhappy mother addressed the break up via her will, in a manner that left one brother feeling left out.  Helen discovers that "Mum" had left a Letter of Wishes in the attorney file, which explains the reasoning behind the unequal distribution. And it provides for a remedy.  The take-away from this episode is the role of supporting documents in an estate plan. Generally and estate plan includes your powers of attorney as well as a will and or trust.  When I work with clients I routinely provide them with sample letters.  There is one to the Personal Representative (called an Executor in most other states).  Another for the Trustee or the children's ...

Lessons from Fisk, Season 2 - Drafting a Will Can Be Boring By Melinda Gustafson Gervasi August 9. 2024 Episode 2 of Season Two of Fisk contains possibly one of my favorite characters - the Millennial who wants to be the first to do a video will, branding it "Willennial".  Upon hearing Attorney Helen Tudor Fisk explain that an Australian will must be in writing, the young women scoffs and says "that's boring", then proceeds to pack-up and leave.  Karma intervenes and the Millennial receives a blunt reminder that life is short, plan while you can.  She rolls up her sleeves and completes a boring will with Helen. Estate planning can be boring.  It is tedious in nature and revolves around arcane language.  Yet, none of us are not going to die.  Eventually, one day your earthly time will come to an end.  Plan while you can.  Accidents and sudden illnesses happen leaving you either incapacitated and unable to create documents, or you die without any p...

Lessons From Fisk, Season 2 - The Power to Destroy By Melinda Gustafson Gervasi August 2, 2024 I'm back with another six-part series on lessons learned from the Australian Comedy, Fisk .  The show, set in Melbourne, focuses on Attorney Helen Tudor Fisk, who is an associate with a small law office that focuses on estate planning and probate.  I find the show to be a wonderful source of laughter in my otherwise intense and slightly stressful life as an attorney. Season Two, Episode One focuses on a women who's mother has recently died.  A tenant in the back flat has placed a claim on the women's estate, stating she had intended to include him in the will.  I will not ruin the resolution for you, but I will say the show ends with an excellent example of a power enumerated in the wills I draft; #13 - the Personal Representative has the authority to demolish or erect structures.  Clients often express puzzlement for this power, but it does happen. For example, many y...

Procrastination Leads to Chaos: Tips for Creating an Estate Plan By Melinda Gustafson Gervasi July 22, 2024 According to the 2024 Caring.com Wills Survey , 64 % of Americans state having a will is important, yet only 32% have one.  The study also reports that of those surveyed, 43% of respondents would wait until receiving a major medical diagnosis or having a serious health event to create an estate plan. After nearly 20 years of practicing estate planning and probate, I can say with confidence that waiting until you are really, really sick to create a plan is setting yourself up for a very difficult task -- likely increasing your chance of never actually completing a plan.  For example, any of the following may make it difficult if not impossible to create a plan for what happens at death: Your schedule is overtaken by medical appointments, tests and procedures leaving little time to dive into estate planning; Medications given for your treatment impair your ability to think...

Book Review: Our Last Best Act: Planning for the End of Our Lives to Protect the People and Places We Love by Mallory McDuff by Melinda Gustafson Gervasi July 12, 2024 Based on the recommendation of a longtime friend, I recently read Mallory McDuff's 2021 book, Our Last Best Act: Planning for the End of Our Lives to Protect the People and Places We Love .  Unlike many other green burial style books I have read, this one is more memoir than resource guide.  McDuff, an environmental educator at Warren Wilson College outside of Ashville, North Carolina spends a year exploring cost-effective and environmentally friendly burial options.  She states that many of her friends assume that flame cremation is greener than a conventional burial.  While that may be true, she sought alternatives that use smaller amounts of fossil fuels and include the family in after-death care.  Chapters explore options such as burials using shrouds and pine boxes to water-based cremation (k...

Independence, the Young Adult and Estate Planning by Melinda Gustafson Gervasi July 5, 2024 Goose Family (2 parents, 2 kids) on Lake Superior. Image Credit, Charles J. Gervasi, July 2024 Independence, it's on my mind this week as we celebrate America's freedom from the English crown.  It's also on my mind having spent a few days exploring Minnesota with my family.  It is a lovely area to spend long summer days; and the Twin Cities a viable college option for one if not both of my high school aged children.  The transition to adulthood is coming on fast, I can feel it.  With high school graduation and the magic age of 18, my children will have so many more freedoms.  And as a parent, I will loose the control that has been a part of the parenting process. At the age of majority, which is normally 18, a child becomes an adult.  Decisions related to health care and finances become theirs and theirs alone.  In my home state of Wisconsin that means, as a par...

Insurance and Your Estate Plan by Melinda Gustafson Gervasi June 28, 2024 Image by M. Gustafson Gervasi, 2024 -- Focus on the Details Happy National Insurance Day to all who celebrate!  Yes, today, June 28th, is a day set aside to encourage us to review of insurance policies.  It's a thing, look it up!  Let's use this day take a broad view of insurance in your life.  Common types of insurance include: Life (whole life or term policy) Disability Long-term Care Health (including dental and vision) Automobile Homeowners or Renters Pet Health Care Whether you are in a car accident and are too sick to manage your financial world or your Earthly time has come to an end, someone is going to pick up the financial paperwork of your life and begin sorting it out.  Make that task easier by creating an up-to-date account of your insurance policies.  It can be as simple as handwritten notes on a piece of paper; the value is in organizing your thoughts and policies. Lis...

Wisconsin's Authorization for Final Disposition Form By Melinda Gustafson Geravsi June 20, 2024 The author with her father, approximately 1976. It was 11pm on a Friday night when the hospital called with the news that my father. who had been in palliative care for the past week, had left this Earth.  It happened just after my mother and I left his room for the evening.  Not in the best of health herself, my mother needed to rest at her home.  If he had control over his last breath, I believe my father waited until my mother was out of the room, a final effort to shield her from pain. While we knew what was going to happen, until it actually did the shock and grief hovered above, descending first with the phone call, then deeper when we walked into his room for a final time to say a good-bye.  I will never forget my mother's gasp as she entered his room.  Lifeless, she knew and felt his absence.   As we walked out of the hospital room door, the staff at...

Word of the Month: Intestate By Melinda Gustafson Gervasi June 14, 2024 At first glance you may have thought this month's word to define was interstate.  We all have road trips on our minds as we dive into the heart of summer.  However, the word this month is intestate , meaning to die without leaving a valid will.  Over the years I have commented frequently on the fact that the laws governing estate planning and probate are state specific.  Each state legislature writes its own laws.  While there are common aspects to this area of law, you will find variation as you cross state lines. Here in my home state of Wisconsin there is a statutory plan for what happens to a person's assets if they die without a valid will.  We call them the Intestacy Statutes and they can be found in Wis. Statutes, Chapter 852 Chapter 852 , where assets pass according to your next of kin. If you are a visual learner, check out this chart those shows next of kin relationships ...