Probate & Trust Law Section Conference Manual ... - Minnesota CLE

d. A final accounting is required before a court will discharge a testamentary
trustee and relieve the trustee from further liability when the trustee
resigns, is removed or the trust terminates.
8. §701.19 – Trustee powers.
a. Joint trustees must act by majority vote.
b. A trustee cannot make distributions to himself or herself, subject to certain
exceptions. §701.19(10).
9. §701.20 – Uniform principal and income act
10. Chapter 881 – trust investment rules – prudent investor act.
C. Wisconsin adopts the Marital Property Act – Chapter 766.
1. Effective January 1, 1986, Wisconsin became the first (and only) state to
adopt the Marital Property Act.
2. The Act converted Wisconsin from a common law property state to a
community property state.
3. Under the Act, each spouse has an undivided 50% interest in each and every
item of property.
4. Wisconsin practitioners have found marital property to be a very flexible
estate planning law.
a. Community property offers a double step-up in basis – each item of
property receives a full step-up in basis upon the death of each spouse.
b. It is easy to reclassify ownership of property through a marital property
agreement – no requirement to retitle each and every item of property.
c. You can avoid probate by including a will substitute provision
(Washington Will) in the marital property agreement under §766.58(3)(f).
d. Joint trusts between husband and wife have become the standard.
e. Division of each and every asset upon the death of the first spouse is
usually not necessary. §766.31(3)(b) permits marital property assets to be
divided on aggregate value.
5. Typical set of estate planning documents in Wisconsin for a married couple.
4