No one wants to think about what happens after they pass away. However, planning ahead is a wonderful gift you can leave your family. When a person passes away, their assets often must go through a court-supervised legal process called probate.
Many people believe a standard Will protects their family from this process. A Will is a document that states how your assets are distributed when you die and who administers your estate. The court must still validate the Will, appoint a personal representative, and oversee the distribution of property.
The probate process is public and can be expensive. In Wisconsin, a typical probate takes anywhere from nine months to over a year to complete. During this time, your family may incur fees and legal costs. Fortunately, you can take steps today to keep your estate from going through probate.
The Wisconsin Probate Threshold
Wisconsin law offers a simplified option for smaller estates. If a deceased person’s total probate assets are valued at $50,000 or less, the family can completely bypass the probate process.
Instead, beneficiaries can use a simplified process called a Transfer by Affidavit. This is a simple legal form that allows heirs to claim bank accounts, vehicles, or small amounts of property without probate.
However, if you haven’t planned properly, your estate will likely exceed the $50,000 limit. To protect your family from a lengthy process, you can structure your larger assets using the four strategies detailed below.
Four Ways to Pass Assets Outside of Probate
You do not need to be wealthy to utilize probate-avoidance strategies. You simply need to change how your property is owned or how your accounts are titled.
- Establish a Revocable Living Trust
A revocable living trust is one of the most powerful estate planning tools available. When you create a trust, you retitle your major assets—like your home, investments, and business interests—to your trust.
- How it works: You remain the trustee during your lifetime, maintaining total control over your property. You can buy, sell, or modify assets just as you always have.
- Why it avoids probate: You name a “successor trustee” to take over when you pass away. Because the assets are titled to the trust, not you personally, the property passes to your beneficiaries without probate.
- Utilize Transfer on Death (TOD) Deeds for Real Estate
For most families, a home is one of their largest financial assets. Wisconsin law allows homeowners to record a special document called a Transfer on Death (TOD) Deed with their local county register of deeds.
- How it works: You name a specific beneficiary or beneficiaries on the deed. During your lifetime, you continue to own, live in, and maintain complete control over the property. The deed is revocable at any time prior to death.
- Why it avoids probate: When you pass away, ownership of the home transfers to your named beneficiary or beneficiaries. The beneficiary files a termination form with the county register of deeds to transfer the property.
- Add Beneficiary Designations to Bank Accounts, Retirement Accounts and Investment Accounts
Your checking, savings, investment accounts and retirement accounts can also completely bypass probate. You can request a Payable on Death (POD) or Transfer on Death (TOD) form directly from your financial institution.
- How it works: You name a beneficiary to inherit the funds remaining in the account upon your death.
- Why it avoids probate: During your life, the beneficiary has no right to your money. Upon your passing, the beneficiary can simply present a death certificate and their identification to claim the funds.
- Maximize Joint Asset Ownership
If you are married, or if you own property jointly with a business partner, the way your title is written matters. Property held as Joint Tenants with Right of Survivorship or as Marital Property with Rights of Survivorship naturally avoids probate.
- How it works: When two people own an asset together with survivorship rights, they both own the entirety of the asset.
- Why it avoids probate: When one owner passes away, the surviving owner becomes the sole owner of the asset. No probate is required until the second owner passes away.
Take Action Now
The most critical factor to remember is that probate avoidance must happen while you are alive and mentally competent. Once a person passes away or loses cognitive function, their asset structures are locked in place, and the family must follow whatever default path the law dictates.
Take time to review your financial accounts, deeds, retirement accounts and life insurance policies. Ensuring your beneficiary designations are accurate and up to date is a simple step that helps your loved ones during an already difficult emotional time.