What Exactly Is An Estate Plan?

What Exactly Is An Estate Plan?

By Melinda Gustafson Gervasi

February 28, 2025 

Crown - Copenhagen, Denmark, Image by M. Gustafson Gervasi

“So, what exactly is an estate plan, and do I need one?” asked the client seated across from me earlier this week.  “Um, my life is really pretty simple…do you think I need something like that?” they added.

My response was a simple “Yes”. To me an estate plan means preparing for illness, death, and taxes. It may not look like the estate plan used by the rich and famous, but it will address preparing for illness and death”

Here are common types of documents that make up an estate plan:

• Power of Attorney for Finances is a document that allows another person to handle financial tasks and decisions, such as banking, taxes, real estate, legal actions, and professional assistance if you are alive but too sick to act.
• Power of Attorney for Health Care – is a document that gives someone else the power to make health care decisions for you if you are unable to do so yourself.  For example, consenting to surgery, coordinating in home health care, or securing long-term care. 
• Advance Directive (also known as a Living Will) is a document that allows you to express your wishes about feeding tubes and other life sustaining procedures if you are in a persistent vegetative state or are terminally ill and the physicians do not think you will recover. 
• Authorization of Final Disposition is a government form that allows you to designate a person to make burial and funeral arrangements as well as express your intention for cremation or green burial.  In Wisconsin, when you die your powers of attorney end and our statutes assume your next of kin will make burial decisions.  This may not mirror your wishes, especially if you are in a committed relationship but not legally married.  
• Beneficiary designations are labels you place on assets that direct the assets distribution at your death.  You can create these for life insurance, retirement accounts, pensions and annuities with a death benefit, financial investments (brokerage, HSA, money market, etc), standard bank accounts such as checking, savings, and CDs, as well as real estate in some states (in Wisconsin it is called a Transfer on Death Deed).  
• A will is a legal document that facilitates probate (a will does not avoid probate).  A will tells the court who will be in charge of administering your estate (called an Executor in many states; in Wisconsin the role is called Personal Representative); nominates guardians for any of your minor children; and distributes property that did not have a co-owner or named beneficiary.  
• Living Revocable Trust is an instrument that you create during your lifetime to hold your assets, and then upon your death the instrument states where the assets held in trust shall be distributed.  This designation means they pass outside of the probate process.  They are very useful in states with high probate fees.  

The expression Estate Plan may come off as highfalutin; do not let it deter you from the important work of creating a plan for illness and death.  Without legal documents in place, a sudden illness or death can cause chaos on top of grieving.  Make the time to make a plan, then put it into a legal binding format that conforms to the laws of your state of residence.

Thank you for reading. As a reminder, a blog is not legal advice.  It is meant to spark thought and reflection.  Please seek legal advice from a licensed attorney in your state of residence.  Make sure to receive future posts; enter your email in the upper right corner to receive notifications when new material is posted.  Thanks again for reading, be well!

What I’ve Been Reading: Let’s Talk About Aging Parents: a real-life guide to solving problems with 27 essential conversations by Laura Tamblyn Watts

What I’ve Been Reading: Let’s Talk About Aging Parents: a real-life guide to solving problems with 27 essential conversations by Laura Tamblyn Watts

February 18, 2025

By Melinda Gustafson Gervasi

“Ahhhh, Mom….why are you reading a book about aging parents?” asked my observant 14 year old.  With her head tilted just so she added “....um you know we don’t have grandparents, right, you “k”?”  Rather than be frustrated with my teenager for pointing out the obvious and conveying with her eyes a concern about my possible dementia, I classified the moment as one in which my child’s maturity is starting to deepen.  The simple “k” being her way of saying “mom, are you doing okay?”  Smiling, I reminded her that I often read books for work to find ones my clients might enjoy.  Well aware that we have no “aging parents” on either branch of our family tree, I still picked up a copy of Let’s Talk About Aging Parents: a real-life guide to solving problems with 27 essential conversations by Laura Tamblyn Watts at our local library.

Book, tea, and more books.

True to its title, the book presents 27 chapters, each addressing a discrete topic covering a wide and realistic range of issues.  From how safe a home is to legal documents to addressing drinking problems of the elderly, the book is easy to read and offers a variety of conversation starters.  Most of us either have an elderly loved one in our family circle or may be ourselves the aging person others care about; either way, most readers can read this book and finish with a few useful tools and things to think about.

What stood out to me the most was the book's approach to the reality of life.  How to approach thorny conversations that reflect modern life is the biggest asset of this book.  For me (who lost both of her parents at a relatively young age due to alcoholism) I appreciate how the book addresses the issue of elderly drinking.  A reality of life in many homes, but one not portrayed on Thursday night sit-coms.  

If I had to point to a weakness in the book, which any solid book review should do, I would say it was the section on estate planning documents.  The reader is left feeling like they could and or should guide their parents through the process of setting up powers of attorney, a will, and or trust.  From where I sit as an estate planning and probate attorney, I find this problematic. An ideal situation for me is to hear directly from a client who wants to create or update an estate plan; I do not want the child to contact me saying “my parent needs to do work with you.”  The appearance of undue influence is so easily created by an overly helpful child trying to get paperwork in order.  Keep that in mind as you work to assist your parent, but not cross the line into taking over.

All in all, I think most readers will enjoy this book.  My favorite take away are here 3 rules: keep moving, but never rush; ask for help if needed; and stay hydrated.  This is the perfect example of her easy to embrace suggestions for navigating life with an older loved one.  

My 14 year old.....before the more mature side kicked in.

Thanks for reading!  Never miss a post; follow this blog by entering your email in the box located in the upper right hand corner of this page.  Remember, a blog is not legal advice.  It is meant to spark thought and reflection.  Please consult with an attorney in your home state for advice specific to your situation.  

Embrace A Low-Tech Foundation For Your Estate Plan

Embrace  A Low-Tech Foundation For Your Estate Plan

By Melinda Gustafson Gervasi

February 7, 2025

Geroges -- everyone paid attention!

“Rome is a lasagna,” said Georges, our tour guide for Palatine Hill, the Forum, and The Colosseum, “we have built layer upon layer.” Spry and a fountain of information on Roman history, Georges filled my brain not only with basic facts about Rome, but he planted a seed in my mind to reinforce the importance of a quality foundation in my verbal and written work as an estate planning and probate attorney.  

Roman Holiday

For just about twenty years I have spent my working days counseling on the ins and outs of estate planning and probate.  As a result of my work in this often gloomy area of life, I know that tomorrow is never guaranteed.  Rather than wait until my retirement years to travel, I work travel in whenever our schedules and budgets allow.  That is why this past December, Santa pulled out the passports and delivered my family a Roman Experience as a holiday gift.  

As we toured the modern capital city, its lengthy history was constantly visible. The sun soaked structures upon which Rome was built reinforced the power of a solid foundation. Foundation – the word means the underlying structure or backbone of a building or enterprise.  It provides essential support, allowing for stability and longevity.  For those interested in building a solid and sound estate plan, start with your fundamentals.  Specifically, review what foundation do you have in place for your estate plan.  Can it be built on overtime?

Roman Foundations, the Lasagna Style of Building

In addition to my wanderlust, I am also a luddite.  My interest in travel fits well with my spouse’s travel habits, but my resistance to technology leaves him baffled.  In his defense, he is an electrical engineer who spends his working days designing the green printed circuit boards in medical devices (and other electronics).  He loves the digital world, while I am a bit more skeptical.  That is why our estate plan is built off of a 3-ring binder rather than a digital application.  

My resistance to digital estate planning approaches is how quickly they become obsolete.  If I were to attempt to access files from my undergraduate days at UW-Madison I would hit a brick wall.  Back in the early 1990s everything was stored on floppy disks.  I cannot just open those up. Yet, I can easily flip through writings from my middle school and high school years because they were on paper and stored in a trapper-keeper.  And, not only can I just flip that trapper keeper open, so can my kids.  Ease of access is my primary draw to using a tangible system upon which to create an estate plan.  

Examples of low-tech, easy to access, and affordable foundations for your estate plan include:

• three-ring binder; 
• drawer in a filing cabinet; 
• portable plastic storage box; and 
• small home safe

Thank you for reading.  Please remember that a blog is not legal advice; it is intended to spark thought and reflection.  It is always best to seek legal advice from an attorney licensed in your state to address your own unique situation.  If you found this post helpful, consider sharing it on your favorite social media platform.  And never miss a post; become a “follower” of this blog by entering your email in the prompt above (upper right).  Again, thanks for reading and be well.