Trust & Estate Planning

Looking ahead to protect your estate and care for your loved ones

Bank of Wisconsin’s team of seasoned trust professionals and attorneys can guide you to a plan that respects your individual level of risk tolerance while protecting your assets and minimizing your tax liability.

Once your trust or estate plan is in place, we administer it to meet your desired goals and wishes using our breadth of experience and knowledge in trust management and the law. To get started, contact a member of our team today.

Your Wealth Management Team

Grantor Trusts

A trust where the grantor (creator of the trust) or other owner retains the power to control or direct the trust’s income or assets. These trusts can be amended or revoked during the individual’s lifetime.

Testamentary Trusts

A trust created by a will that begins upon the death of the person making the will when property is transferred from the decedent’s estate. The trustee has the responsibility for the management of the assets received during the term of the trust.

Irrevocable Trusts

A non-grantor trust is one that the IRS treats as a separate taxing entity from the grantor. These trusts cannot be modified or terminated without the permission of the beneficiary of the trust.

Agency

An agent is a person or institution given authority by an individual to act in his/her place on financial matters. Title of assets in the Agency does not pass to the trustee but remains in the name of the owner of the property.

Guardianships

The position of being legally responsible for the care of someone who is unable to manage their own affairs. In the case of the trust department at Bank of Wisconsin we can be named Guardian of the Finances. (We do not take on the role of Guardian of the Person.)

Conservatorships

Institution (or person) designated to take over and protect the interests of an incompetent person. When someone is mentally or physically unable to take care of their own basic needs (e.g., food, clothing, shelter), then a conservatorship may be appropriate.

Estates

Estates are assets and liabilities left by a person at death. Bank of Wisconsin can be named as the Personal Representative for an Estate. A Personal Representative carries out the wishes and property distribution of a deceased person.

Estate Planning

Short Course

Individual Retirement Accounts

IRAs are government-sponsored, tax-deferred personal retirement plan. Bank of Wisconsin provides both self-directed and managed IRA accounts.

Qualified Retirement Accounts

A qualified retirement account is one that is described in section 401(a) of the tax code, the most common being pensions and profit-sharing plans.