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Estate Planning: develop a comprehensive list of your assets By Melinda Gustafson Gervasi May 24, 2021 Frenzied frustration, that is how I describe the adolescent emotions evoked when I played Whack-A-Mole at the Dane County Fair or random arcade.  Armed with a black mallet, the goal was to whack moles randomly popping up out of the half-dozen or so holes.  You would hit one another another would taunt you from the corner of your eye.  It was frenzied.  It was frustrating.  Yet, I loved that game and the challenges it presented.  Today as an estate planning and probate attorney that feeling emerges in each and every probate I assist with. Frenzied because someone has just died and the surviving family and/or friends want to move quickly to "take care" of things.  Sometimes a large family is all together for a funeral or memorial service, combining that event with cleaning out the deceased's home.  Grief, memories, surprise, and confusion hover o...

Pop quiz:  What year (estimated) will the dead outnumber the living on Facebook? A)   2070 B)   2056 C)   2031 D)   2103 Click on this link to find the answer .  If the link is broken, the answer will be at the bottom of this post.  The year itself is not the point, but rather the concept of all the digital data / refuse that will linger in cyber space long after our earthly years have come to an end.  Many Americans already feel smothered by piles of paper, cheap plastic toys kids bring home from birthday parties, and closets full of clothing from bygone eras.  Pile on top of that our digital clutter, and add the weight of the amount of energy required to keep the servers running that store it all, and you may be inclined to throw your arms up in the air in despair. Clutter and chaos engulf M. Gustafson Gervasi's home. 2019 To purge or not to purge, that is the question.  What kind of digital footprint...

The practice of law involves many roles: advising clients, researching statutes, following changes in federal law, drafting documents, and on particularly fun days -- being a guest on Wisconsin Public Radio!   This past October I was invited to be a guest on Central Time for a discussion of Swedish Death Cleaning, billed as the next biggest fad to hit the US.  Swedish Death Cleaning is a Scandinavian concept designed to encourage people to review their possessions, doing away with the unneeded and making a plan for the beloved.  The book   The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Free Yourself and Your Family from a Lifetime of Clutter by Margareta Magnusson hits American book stores January 2, 2018.  My copy is already preorderd, and a more specific review will be appear in my newsletter and here on Navigator in January 2018.  Based on what I've read thus far, I have two things to add.  First, don't wait until you 80s to tackle the c...

Wills, powers of attorneys, trusts -- they all exist in a paper form.  Yet, our world is moving in leaps and bounds into the digital arena.  Over this past weekend my husband and I were talking about not purchasing any media in hard form.  Instead, we'll buy movies, music, possibly even books, in digital format.  No more worries about scratched CDs or where to store all that "stuff".  Most households are following this trend, and it raises a challenge for estate planning.  Keeping track of your digital assets. Image credit: www.sxc.hu - free image The simple approach I tell my clients is to create an inventory of where you hold assets.  Don't worry about the value or even the passwords.  If something happens AND you have powers of attorney or a will in place, your loved ones will be able to access the assets.  The KEY is knowing where to go.  It will save countless hours and resources. Here is a list of some of the places you ma...

This article from the UK caught my attention; it claims that Brittons are leaving passwords in their wills . What I find shocking is that the article does not address the implications of putting passwords into a will. Here in the US a will, once filed, becomes a public record. Anyone can go the courthouse and review it. Maybe they are not public in the UK. But I'd still be hesitant to put a password into a document that will be filed and read by countless people. When I work with clients I recommend that they put all passwords on a single sheet of paper, kept safe at home in a fire proof box. That way it is accessible if needed. Passwords for the following are important to log: banking accounts; retirement accounts; credit cards; on-line bills; social media; and digital media stored on the cloud. When drafting a will, one should give thought to their digital assets. This would include: web domains; intellectual property; images and video; music; and software. The rights to ...