Health Care Powers of Attorney
General Estate Planning Advice
A last will and testament a set of instructions written by a testator explaining how to manage the testator's estate after death. Last wills often begin by nominating an executor. Called the Personal Representative (PR) in Wisconsin, this is the person placed in charge of managing the deceased person's affairs. Last wills also specific who is to receive the estate's assets and the timing of these distributions. Other provisions can include how expenses of the estate are to be paid, waivers of liability for the PR, definitions, and various other administrative provisions.
Last wills are efficacious instruments, but they do not maintain your estate's privacy after death. In fact, last wills are designed for probate (the public, court-supervised process of wrapping up an estate's affairs). Probate can take years to complete and often costs many thousands of dollars. On the other hand, a court's supervision assists in transparency and a seamless settlement process.
STARTING AT $190 for individuals, $285 for married couples*
Like last wills, revocable living trusts provide a roadmap for the disposition of property according to the planner's wishes. Yet revocable trusts are considerably more complex. They are comprehensive planning tools, providing not only for beneficiary distributions but also the transition of authority from one trustee to the next during and after a trustmaker's incapacity. Because trustees often manage a wide variety of property that can be of considerable market value, revocable trusts often describe trustees' investment and property management authority in (sometimes cumbersome) detail. Finally, revocable trusts are, as their name suggests, revocable (and amendable) during the trustmaker's life. The reasons for specifying the trusts are both theoretical and practical: trusts are often and traditionally irrevocable, but revocable trusts are useful to standard planning precisely due to the flexibility they offer.
STARTING AT $570*
As the name suggests, powers of attorney for health care concern how your care is handled in the event you are unable to make your own decisions. Decisions addressed include where you will be treated, what treatments you will receive (and not receive), and who will make these decisions on your behalf. Medical treatments are very personal decisions, so it's best not to leave your decisions to strangers, nor to loved ones who may be grieving and unsure of your true wishes.
STARTING AT $98 for individuals, $147 for married couples*
Powers of attorney for finances are the legal way of entrusting to other persons the care and management of your property. Those you appoint to this position can act along with you or in your stead to buy, sell, rent, and otherwise administrate your real estate, financial accounts, business interests, and personal property. You need not be incapacitated for these powers to take effect. Many people want help with these tasks long before they are too fail to do it for themselves. At the same time, incapacity can strike at any time, so have a financial power of attorney in place is always a good practice.
STARTING AT $98 for individuals, $147 for married couples*
An advance directive, also know as a declaration to physicians or living will supplements a health care power of attorney. This document is a statement of your health care intent made directly to physicians and is activated when there is no other person available to make critical health care decisions on your behalf. These cover some of the most important and pressing decisions that may need to be made for you when you become incapacitated, include the administration or withholding of life-saving care.
Advance directives do not effectively replace health care powers of attorney, and for at least two reasons. First, as statements directed at attending physicians, they do not appoint any agent to make your health related decisions. Most people prefer that their decision-making be in the hands of friends or loved ones, not left to well-meaning but unaware and professionally obligated hospital employees. Second, advance directives rarely discuss your wishes for extended medical treatment, such as how to be cared for in a nursing home or long-term care facility or how to arrange for the payment of these services. A well-crafted, comprehensive estate plan therefore ought to include both a health care power of attorney and an advance directive.
STARTING AT $98 for individuals, $147 for married couples*
*All prices subject to change. Detailed price list available upon request.
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