Wisconsin's Weekend Morning News
Sunday Sip: Krause Estate Planning
following is a paid presentation advice and opinions expressed during the Sunday sip or solely that of the hosts or guests and not WTMJ radio or good karma brands Milwaukee LLC. Welcome into the Sunday sip on WTMJ Greg Mazzik here with my friend Dan Kraus from Kraus Estate Planning and Elder Law Center boy big words estate planning wills big things to think about really at any point in your adult life will explore exactly what it is and what Kraus Estate Planning can do for you. Dan thanks for joining us. It's great to be here Greg I really appreciate it. Well first of all I wanted to thank you for your service. It's really an honor it's uh it was an honor to be able to serve the country I'm a retired army jag officer now and now you're into estate planning. Just to be clear it's not a new career for me I've been doing this for 25 years it's uh something that I actually grew while I was in the army reserves and between the times when I would get called up for certain things in the army I was growing my practice. The practice of helping people protect what they've earned and what they've built estate planning wills you know when I think about those words it can sound intimidating it can sound big it can sound confusing tax laws are always changing how do you across estate planning help walk people through the process of crafting an estate plan or will. It is a little intimidating a lot of people find it intimidating to talk about death but essentially estate planning is facing that at least for a short period of time and making a plan so what happens if I die or what happens if I become incapacitated and I'm not able to manage my own stuff what's going to happen can I control that who's going to be in charge. Everybody's got a different stage of life some people are empty nesters some people have young kids some people aspire to have a family when is it right to reach out to cross estate planning. Generally people who are retired are entering retirement or have already retired and perhaps they need nursing care or their family someone in their family needs nursing care they should give us a call because normally they won't get the type of answers that they want to hear from let's say a long-term care facility or the county agency that helps elders to find placement or places where they can live and be more comfortable. We also help people in all walks of life anybody who's at least 18 years of age may want and many should have an estate plan someone going off to college doesn't realize that if something happens to them god forbid they get into car accident or have an illness and now their parents are no longer able to make those health care decisions that they could make before their parents are not able to control their financial situations as they could before when they were 17 anybody can do a state planning as long as they're 18 or older who do we most help we most help the seniors really the people that are worried about losing everything towards the end of life. Well you're talking about a lot of people Dan who likely have a home and they've got 401ks and investment account sings along that line but then all of a sudden they need the assistance of of a nursing home or some sort of facility that takes them out of their home. What do you do? How do you protect all that you've built? Sometimes Greg people can get long-term care within their home even using Medicaid but oftentimes in the most expensive way is that they get carries out of the home like you say. How can we help them? A plan is really about deciding which option do you feel is the best for you. Helping people to access Medicaid in order to reduce the amount that the family needs to spend can help the elder person leave something behind it can help the elder person and sometimes this is even more important to have security for themselves during their lifetime because imagine the case where an elder person enters a nursing facility and they spend all of their assets and by the time that they pass away they've got nothing left and the worst part is that person is essentially out there on their own with nothing during the time that they are on Medicaid so they've spent everything now they are 100 dependent on the government for their daily care. Getting massages every week to help them feel better they won't be able to get those things because they don't have any money set aside. We can help people to set aside this money not have to go into a facility knowing that if they're there long enough they're going to be broke. We can help people to save those assets under control of the family and you give people peace of mind right during a what could be a very challenging time right you give them that peace of mind and assurance that the government's not going to take everything away from you. We can work together to carve out a plan to give you what you want in your later stages. Absolutely peace of mind is key there's a piece that comes with having a plan and just knowing that I have set something up my children now are aware of what my plans are and at that point a lot of people just have a sigh of relief. They may not have a crisis they may not need nursing care right away but they know that if they do need it in the future they've thought about it it's not going to be as big of a dragon breathing down their neck because they've already dealt with it they've already bought their armor they've already put themselves in a plan that can help them. Protecting your family's legacy Kraus Estate Planning has been doing it since 1999 25 years experience planning estates and wills. Dan Kraus will do it for you. Office is open in Brookfield Madison and a little south of Madison in Oregon. If you want to learn more about the firm visit estateplanningpeople.com if you have specific Medicaid questions you can also visit savemomsassets.com. Dan Kraus of Kraus Estate Planning and Elder Laws Center. Great information Dan I really appreciate your time it's very important stuff. Yeah thanks Greg I really appreciate your time.