Will.com / Living trust / Wisconsin

WI · Revocable Living Trust

Make your Wisconsin living trust.

Skip probate, keep your estate private, and stay in control while you're alive. Legally valid in Wisconsin. Free to create, or add secure online document storage with the $29/year subscription.

Wisconsin living trust requirements

Witnesses requiredNone required
NotarizationRecommended for real estate
Property rulesCommunity property state

Special notes for Wisconsin

  • Wisconsin's Marital Property Act means spousal property classification rules affect trust planning (Wis. Stat. §§766.58, 766.588)
  • Spouses may use a marital property agreement to classify assets before transferring them into a trust

How it works

  1. 1

    Answer a few questions

    About your assets, trustees, and beneficiaries.

  2. 2

    Download your trust

    A complete, personalized revocable living trust, formatted for Wisconsin.

  3. 3

    Sign and fund

    Sign the trust. Fund it by transferring assets into its name (notarization strongly recommended if real estate is involved).

Signing a Wisconsin living trust

No formal execution requirements beyond settlor signature; notarization strongly recommended when funding real property

Community property in Wisconsin

Wisconsin is a community-property state under Wis. Stat. §766.31 et seq. (Marital Property Act). Assets you and your spouse acquire during the marriage are presumed to be community property, owned 50/50, regardless of whose name is on the title. Adds an Article VI: Marital Property Provisions covering classification of marital property under Wisconsin's Marital Property Act, the surviving spouse's one-half interest, federal IRC §1014(b)(6) basis, and an explanatory subsection on Chapter 766's marital-property-agreement mechanics.

When you fund a revocable trust with community property, both spouses should sign as settlors so the character of the property doesn't change.

Funding Wisconsin real estate into the trust

To transfer Wisconsin real estate into your trust, you sign a new deed conveying the property from yourself to yourself as trustee, then record the deed with the Register of Deeds of the county where any deeded Trust property lies (Wis. Stat. §59.43) for the county where the property is located. The trust does not control real estate unless the deed transfer is recorded.

Two tiers, both private

Free: nothing leaves your browser. No account, no storage. Clear your answers whenever.

Subscription ($29/year): zero-knowledge encrypted storage. We store the ciphertext; only you hold the key. Edit and update as life changes.

Ready to create your trust?

Whatever you decide today, your family won’t have to guess. Start free, or save it to your account for $29 a year.

Also for Wisconsin