Best Lawyers in Wisconsin, United States for Trusts and Estates
Practice Area Overview
Estate planning is more than just drafting documents; it’s about ensuring your future wishes are honored while simplifying financial and legal complexities for your loved ones. Whether you’re looking to create a will, establish a trust or avoid probate, working with the right legal counsel is critical to achieving your goals. While it may seem like the best estate planning websites are all you need, they are not qualified to offer legal advice and draw up documents. Experienced Wisconsin estate planning attorneys in Milwaukee, Madison, Waukesha and beyond can structure a plan tailored to meet your individual needs and conform with state law.
What Does Estate Planning in Wisconsin Include?
A comprehensive estate plan should leverage a range of tools and strategies to ensure your assets are managed and distributed according to your wishes. Depending on your specific circumstances, an estate planning attorney in Wisconsin can help implement any of the following:
Wills and Revocable Living Trusts
- Your Last Will and Testament dictates how your assets will be distributed after death, names guardians for any minor children and can even outline funeral arrangements. In the absence of a will, Wisconsin's intestacy laws take over and may not align with your wishes.
- Revocable living trusts allow you to retain control of your assets as the grantor and initial trustee. However, you also name a successor trustee to assume this responsibility if you become incapacitated or die. A wills and trusts attorney in Wisconsin can also assist if you ever decide to amend or revoke your trust.
Durable Powers of Attorney and Advance Directives
These documents ensure that if you become incapacitated, trusted individuals can make financial and healthcare decisions on your behalf. Advance healthcare directives also specify your medical preferences, such as your wishes for end-of-life care.
Charitable Trusts and Tax-Planning Strategies
Charitable trusts offer significant tax advantages while supporting causes close to your heart. A great estate planning attorney in Wisconsin will also know how to implement tax-planning strategies to minimize taxes and preserve wealth for your beneficiaries.
Guardianship and Long-Term Care Planning
These are critical tools for protecting vulnerable family members or preparing for your own future healthcare needs. Planning ahead can help ensure eligibility for programs like Medicaid while preserving your assets for future generations.
Probate Avoidance Strategies and Asset Protection
Trusts, joint ownership and beneficiary designations are popular tools for avoiding probate in Wisconsin, as they create a streamlined and private process for transferring assets.
Understanding Wills and Trusts in Wisconsin
Whether you’re forming a revocable trust to retain control over your assets or an irrevocable trust for tax planning, effective estate planning requires a deep understanding of the specific state rules for trusts in Wisconsin:
- Written Form: Trusts must be in writing to be legally valid.
- Trustee Duties: A trustee is legally obligated to manage the trust in good faith and in the best interest of beneficiaries.
- Asset Funding: A trust is only effective if it’s funded. This means transferring ownership of real estate titles and financial accounts to the trust.
In addition to being in writing, Wisconsin law requires you to sign your Last Will and Testament. It must also be witnessed by two individuals who are not beneficiaries. To avoid the need for the witness to testify during probate, a notarized self-proving affidavit can also be attached to your will. The will itself does not need to be notarized; however, a notary’s seal and signature can make the probate process easier for your heirs.
The question of whether a trust is better than a will in Wisconsin depends on your specific needs. You might even find it beneficial to incorporate both into your estate plan. For example, a will can serve as a “pour-over” document to transfer any remaining assets into a trust. An experienced wills and trusts attorney in Wisconsin can help you craft a plan that balances the benefits of both tools tailored to your family’s needs.
Why Work with a Wisconsin Estate Planning Attorney?
While some online tools can be useful for basic tasks, even the best estate planning websites can't provide the legal expertise needed to address complex situations and ensure a legally sound and effective estate plan. Wisconsin law can be difficult to navigate and any mistake could lead to unintended consequences for you and your family. Consulting with an experienced Wisconsin estate planning attorney allows you to avoid these pitfalls while offering many benefits you’re unlikely to realize on your own:
- Legal Compliance: Lawyers are well-versed in state laws related to marital property, probate and inheritance taxes, which can significantly impact your detailed estate planning and require precise adherence.
- Future-Proof Planning: Both your needs and state law will likely change over time. Estate planning attorneys in Wisconsin will stay on top of evolving rules and can modify your plan as circumstances change.
- Minimizing Estate Taxes: Wisconsin estate planning attorneys know how to minimize estate tax liability at both the state and federal levels through strategic planning and the use of available exemptions.
- Peace of Mind: Partnering with an attorney ensures your estate plan is legally sound and executed exactly as you envision.
- Handling Complex Situations: Attorneys can help navigate complicated scenarios such as managing assets during a disability, planning for long-term care or addressing special needs for family members.
- Personalized Guidance: Your lawyer will assess your unique financial and familial situation and tailor an estate plan for your circumstances. The best estate planning websites won’t come close to that level of customization.
Find a Great Estate Planning Attorney in Wisconsin
Choosing the right lawyer is one of the most important steps in protecting your legacy — but it doesn't have to be complicated. As the oldest peer-review publication in the legal profession, Best Lawyers makes it easy to connect with highly qualified Wisconsin estate planning attorneys whose skill sets align with both your needs and your goals.
Unlike other legal directories, attorneys ranked by Best Lawyers aren’t chosen randomly or through paid listings; they’re evaluated through extensive confidential surveys completed by thousands of their professional peers. Only those who earn consistently positive votes qualify for inclusion. Once ranked, they must maintain those votes to remain on each annual list. Because of this rigorous process, recognition in Best Lawyers is widely regarded as a prestigious achievement by both clients and legal professionals, a mark of trust and excellence that distinguishes attorneys who excel in their field.
Best Lawyers provides access to a diverse population of trust and estate planning lawyers in Wisconsin, including many who specialize in estate litigation, trust administration and legacy planning. By leveraging our directory to connect with a lawyer whose expertise aligns with your needs, you'll be well-equipped to make informed decisions at every stage of your estate planning journey.
Take The First Step to Securing Your Legacy
When you’re preparing for the future, even the best estate planning websites can’t account for your unique circumstances or the complex nuances of Wisconsin law.
Explore Best Lawyers to connect with top-rated trusts and estates lawyers in Wisconsin, each recognized for their legal skills and respected by their peers—so you can move forward with confidence. Start your search today.
Family Law Legal Guide 2025
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Attorney Johanna J. Allex is a partner in Stafford Rosenbaum LLP 's Madison office where she helps families and individuals plan for and manage life’s expected and unexpected transitions. Johanna’s law practice covers all aspects of estate planning and estate administration, marital property law, business succession planning, and tax-exempt organization planning and operations. Johanna is a Certified Public Accountant and serves on the Firm’s Board of Directors. Johanna&rsqu...
Jamie Barwin is a Shareholder in the Trusts & Estates Section at von Briesen & Roper, s.c. She focuses her practice on estate planning, probate and estate administration, business and corporate planning, special needs planning and tax. Jamie is also a licensed CPA in both Wisconsin and Michigan with six years of experience at Big 4 Accounting. Jamie delivers comprehensive estate planning services to families and businesses. Jamie helps her clients customize and understand their person...
Terri Boxer is the Co-Chair of the Trusts and Estates Section. She practices in the areas of marital property, estate planning, and probate and trust administration. She advises clients on business succession planning and tax planning to minimize estate, gift and generation-skipping taxes. She provides services in the drafting of estate plans and other documents including wills, trusts, marital property agreements, premarital agreements and powers of attorney.
For over forty-five years, Dennis has advised business owners in all areas of contract and corporate law. He focuses primarily on assisting his clients with business succession planning, estate planning, contract and corporate law—with an emphasis on mergers and acquisitions, and shareholder/partner disputes. One of the founding members of the firm in 1973, Dennis has assisted hundreds of business owners and their companies in structuring successful business succession plans. These comp...
Megan Jerabek is a Shareholder, the Co-Chair of the Trusts and Estates Section, Chair of the Sports Law Section and a member of the firm’s Business, Tax and Real Estate Sections. Her practice focuses on estate planning, trust and estate administration, business succession planning, real estate leasing and business transactions. She also represents current and former professional athletes on a variety of matters, including real estate, business formation and transactions, and estate plan...
Marcus Loden is a Shareholder in the Business Practice Group. His statewide practice involves a wide variety of matters concerning business succession planning, trusts and estates, transactional and real estate work. Marc holds a masters of law degree in taxation from the foremost graduate tax program in the country. He is uniquely qualified to assist individuals and business owners with their operations and wealth transfer tax planning. He has: Drafted numerous estate plans for individuals a...
Randy Nelson is a Shareholder focusing his practice on estate planning, advising family businesses, tax planning, trust administration and probate. He is a Certified Public Accountant and was an Adjunct Professor at Marquette University Law School where he taught estate planning for over 30 years. He is a frequent speaker at continuing education courses for lawyers and CPAs on the subjects of estate planning and tax planning. He is the author of the chapter “Estate Planning for Owners o...
George Peek is a Shareholder in the Trusts & Estates Section at von Briesen & Roper, s.c. George assists clients in a broad range of estate planning and administration services, including estate and trust administration, preparation of estate planning documents and representations in guardianships/conservatorships; and he is also a frequent presenter in these areas. In addition, he has litigated several complex estate planning issues including inheritance disputes. Beyond his estate p...
Caitlyn B. Sikorski is a shareholder in Reinhart’s Trusts and Estates Practice where she focuses on trustee compliance and litigation, including breach of trust, breach of fiduciary duty, undue influence, and significant construction and reformation matters. She represents individual and corporate fiduciaries, beneficiaries, and other parties involved in will, trust and intra-family related disputes and matters. Caitlyn is also experienced in prenuptial and marital property agreements, ...
Joseph E. Tierney, III has more than forty years of experience focused primarily on tax and corporate law for businesses, owner families and individuals. He has particular experience in the design and administration of plans for very large estates, including some whose accumulated assets have totaled in the eight- and nine-figures. He has also been lead counsel in the purchase and sale of numerous businesses and has extensive experience in entity selection and structuring. Because tax consequ...
Peter Walsh is an attorney with twenty years of experience in estate and asset protection planning and inheritance litigation. Peter assists clients with preserving family wealth through estate and asset protection planning. For example, he utilizes various estate planning techniques to minimize taxes and administrative expenses upon the death or incapacity of a family member. Such planning may include a revocable trust to avoid the cost of court involvement upon the death or incapacity of th...
Avery Mayne is a member of the Trusts and Estates Section at von Briesen & Roper, s.c. She works with clients on funding for long-term care, special needs trust planning, and adult guardianships and protective action litigation. A focal point of her practice is elder law and special needs law. She is certified as an Elder Law Attorney (CELA) by the National Elder Law Foundation. She helps families and individuals with asset protection planning and appeals, determining eligibility for long...
Kelly leads O’Neil Cannon’s Trust, Estates and Succession Planning Group. She assists clients with estate planning, succession planning, probate administration, trust administration, and inheritance litigation. She is licensed to practice law in both Wisconsin and Florida. Kelly enjoys working with families and believes in educating her clients on how their estate plan will work while they are alive, what happens in an emergency, and what happens upon the loss of a loved one. She ...
Morgan Turner is a member of the Trusts and Estates Section at von Briesen & Roper, s.c. She concentrates her practice in the areas of estate planning, which includes, wills, trusts, special needs trusts, powers of attorney, and probate and trust administration. Morgan serves on the Trust Committee for Life Navigators, an organization that works with individuals with disabilities and their families. She is a member of the State Bar of Wisconsin.
Our Methodology
Recognition by Best Lawyers is based entirely on peer review. Our methodology is designed to capture, as accurately as possible, the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice area.
The Process
Best Lawyers employs a sophisticated, conscientious, rational, and transparent survey process designed to elicit meaningful and substantive evaluations of the quality of legal services. Our belief has always been that the quality of a peer review survey is directly related to the quality of the voters.