Sarah E. Fortune

When it comes to estate planning, many people seek strategies to avoid probate—a court-supervised process of distributing assets after death.…

Meeting with an estate planning attorney for the first time can feel overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. Being…

Estate planning may sound like something reserved for the wealthy or elderly, but the truth is, everyone can benefit from…

When a spouse dies, the surviving spouse or personal representative must decide whether to file a federal estate tax return,…

Trusts and wills are both estate planning tools used to manage and distribute assets upon an individual’s death, but they…

Transferring property at death is a crucial aspect of estate planning, ensuring that assets are distributed according to an individual’s…

Dealing with the aftermath of someone’s death can be a challenging and emotional time. People are often anxious to resolve…

What is an Advance Healthcare Directive? Advance Healthcare Directives (also known as a health care power of attorney or living…

Many types of property and investments pass outside of probate and allow you to designate who will receive them after your death. It is important that these designations are kept up to date and are consistent with the rest of your estate plan. 

The estate and gift tax exemption is set to be cut in half in 2026. Proper planning may be necessary to make sure you are taking full advantage of the current exemption and aren’t negatively affected when it decreases. 

If you have been appointed the trustee of a trust, it is a strong vote of confidence in your judgment and trustworthiness. It is also a major responsibility. A trust is a legal arrangement through which one person (or an…

You may be afraid of losing your home if you have to enter a nursing home and apply for Medicaid. While this fear is well-founded, transferring the home to your children is usually not the best way to protect it.

Following the death of a family member, you may find yourself needing to sort through many possessions accumulated over the deceased’s lifetime. An estate sale is one way to distribute, quickly and efficiently, those items that you do not want or need.

As the recent death of Anne Heche shows us, not having a will can place a significant burden on your children and cause undesirable complications.

Long-term care involves not only a loss of personal autonomy; it also comes at a tremendous financial price. Proper planning can help your family prepare for the financial toll and protect assets for future generations. 

Even if you’ve created an estate plan, are you sure you included everything you need to? There are certain provisions that people often forget to put in in a will or estate plan that can have a big impact later on.

Planning your own funeral arrangements can assist your loved ones in an emotionally challenging time, while also protecting them from incurring extraneous costs.

There are some documents that you will want to hang on to forever and some that you should keep for a few years.

When one member of a couple moves to a nursing home, we expect that spouse will be the first to die, but this isn’t always the case. What happens if a Medicaid recipient’s spouse dies first?

You may have heard of the terms “springing” and “non-springing” power of attorney and wonder what they mean.

Caring for an ailing family member is difficult work, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be unpaid work. There are programs available that allow Medicaid recipients to hire family members as caregivers.

Sarah Fortune, Garett Pankratz and Mason Schultz have been selected to the 2021 Wisconsin Rising Stars list.  Each year, no…

Hale Skemp is proud to be a sponsor of the 2021 Walk to End Alzheimer’s in La Crosse. On September…

Sarah Fortune and Garett Pankratz have been selected to the 2020 Wisconsin Rising Stars list.  Each year, no more than…

Introduction to wills, trusts, and other estate planning tools. Hale Skemp, in collaboration with Schumacher-Kish Funeral Homes, presents Advance Planning.…

Many people have a will that directs who is supposed to get their property when they die, but very few people are familiar with the process. Contrary to popular belief, the person you name in your will to administer your estate (called a personal representative) cannot automatically access your accounts or start distributing property. He or she must first start a probate.