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9 Things to Mention When Writing Instructions to a Trustee for Children By Melinda Gustafson Gervasi September 22, 2021 With a flourish you date the document and scrawl your signature on the line hovering above your name typed in Times New Roman font.  You drop the pen, sit back, let out a breath and say "we'll, I'm glad that is done".  In that moment you have created (or updated) your will.  Your children, age 13 and 11, now have legally appointed guardians if you and your spouse were to die.  The document also creates a trust fund to hold assets for the kids if they are orphaned before the youngest is age 30 (an age you set).  You are ready to cross "draft a will" off of your to-do list and get back to living life! It's true. The will is dated and signed (hopefully in accordance with the witnessing requirements of your home state), but is it really ready-to-go? If both you and your spouse were hit by the proverbial bus on your way home, would the trust...

Lost 401Ks and Pension Accounts - In Estate Planning Everything Needs a Home By Melinda Gustafson Gervasi July 13, 2021 Pop culture routinely tells us that the human mind is meant to be creative, solving problems, and dreaming up new ideas.  The brain, they claim, is not meant to hold a laundry list of to-do items or an inventory of our assets.  Attempts to go against the grain inevitably leave us standing in the produce aisle of a grocery store scratching our heads about what items we need to buy in order to fix dinner.  The same pit-fall captures quite a few of us when it comes to our retirement dollars.  According to CNBC from 2004 to 2013 more than 16 million 401K and pension accounts, with a balance of $5,000 or less, were left with a former employer.  In total, $8.5 billion was lost and not usable by retirees.  As a result, there is a current legislative proposal aimed to help connect individuals with lost accounts through a national “lost and found” ...

Estate Planning - Does Your Filing System Make Sense By Melinda Gustafson Gervasi June 14, 2021 What makes sense to you today does not mean it will make sense to others or even to yourself a few years down the road.  This is problematic for your important documents, including your estate plan.  A half-dozen years or so ago I answered my phone to hear a client having a mini-panic attack.  We had worked together a year or two prior, and now the client simply could not find the estate plan we had created. "I looked EVERYWHERE!  It's not under A for Attorney.  It's not under E for Estate Plan.  And it's not under W for Will!  I guess I am going to need you to redraft everything for me......"  With a sigh the client scheduled a meeting for the following week.  Fifteen minutes later the client called back, this time with joy.  "I found it! It was under D for Death!!!!" Here are a few take-aways from that client call: Not being able to find you...

Estate Planning in the Age of Misinformation By Melinda Gustafson Gervasi June 7, 2021 As the academic year comes to a close, I reflect on the many concepts my children studied during a year of virtual learning.  Math has gone from numbers the symbols used in geometry and algebra and social studies as moved beyond memorized State Capitals to more in-depth critical analysis skills.  Primarily the validity of source information.   As my daughter finishes her elementary school years I read along as she studied the last novel of her 5th grade education -- The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin.  Published by Puffin Modern Classics in 1978 the book plunges the reader into a mystery surrounding the will of an eccentric millionaire who lived in town.  Sixteen named heirs compete with each other to determine who killed the testator, Sam Westin, with the winner set to claim the $200 million estate.  Well I wasn't 5 pages into the book and rolling my lawyer eyes at th...

When to Update an Estate Plan By Melinda Gustafson Gervasi June 1, 2021 Image by M. Gustafson Gervasi 2021 June has arrived.  Gone are the drab brownish lawns and tree branches.  Lush green foliage is juxtaposed by the light blue skies.  When you live in Madison, Wisconsin, with is harsh winters and drastically different seasons, you tend to stop and appreciate when the verdant landscape arrives on your doorstep.  June also ushers in three common life events that illustrate times when it may be appropriate to update your estate planning documents: Graduations -- has a younger person in your life reached a more mature life stage to allow them to serve as your health care agent, personal representative, etc; Weddings -- has someone nominated in your estate plan had a name change?  If it has been "awhile" since you updated your documents, this name change may be the extra nudge towards updating your documents; and Retirements -- have you moved out of state?  I...

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...

Tips for Managing Your Beneficiary Forms By Melinda Gustafson Gervasi April 12, 2021 Image by M. Gustafson Gervasi, 2021, Dandelions! Signs of Spring 2021 are popping up all around us.  Before warmer weather pulls you outdoors and offers an abundance of activities, there is one Spring Cleaning Task I urge you to consider.  Making sure your beneficiary forms are in order.  I few weeks back I contacted my Brokerage with a question about its management fees.  The call was short, efficient, and eye opening.  The call started with my questions about how management fees are calculated and ended with the representative telling me that one of my IRA's did not have a beneficiary form listed.  "Seriously?" was my response.  I knew with certainty that I had completed those beneficiary forms, taking great care to name my spouse as primary and our children's trust as the contingent.  "No Ms. Gustafson Gervasi, I am sorry.  We have no record of a beneficia...