I spend a lot of time working on legislation that affects trusts and estates. We aspire to help draft laws in Wisconsin that are uniform and progressive so that Wisconsin trust and estate law is competitive with other states. Prairie Trust is unique in our involvement with trust legislation.

For the past 7 years I have been working with the Wisconsin Bankers Association and State Bar of Wisconsin to draft a Trust Code trailer bill. A draft bill was completed in December 2021, but died in 2022 for lack of a legislative sponsor. The bill has been resurrected during the current legislative session and there is a tentative agreement with Wisconsin senator Eric Wimberger (Wisconsin’s representative to the Uniform Law Commission) to introduce the bill after the Wisconsin budget bill is enacted (expected by July.) When enacted, the trailer bill will substantially change the concept of representation of trust beneficiaries, provide a detailed claims procedure when the settlor of a revocable trust dies, adopt the Uniform Powers of Appointment Act, and make other helpful changes to Wisconsin law. In addition to the draft legislation, we are also working to try to incorporate adoption of the Uniform Trust Decanting Act into the pending legislation. 

Our hope is to introduce the draft legislation no later than this fall with adoption by the end of this year or early 2024. The draft legislation is expected to be effective immediately after enactment. Once adopted, we intend to do our best to communicate the new laws to our trust and estate partners. 

I do not expect that this will be the final legislation that I help draft. Wisconsin should also adopt a law that allows domestic asset protection trusts, consider adoption of the Uniform Directed Trust Act and the Uniform Fiduciary Income and Principal Act, and enact laws to provide more guidance on trust and estate legislation. These are future projects to be considered once the existing draft legislation is enacted.

If anyone has any suggestions for improvements to Wisconsin’s trust and estate laws, please contact me. Otherwise, we appreciate your recommendations of our services and would be happy to discuss any opportunity that might help you and your clients. If you have an opportunity to discuss, please contact our Director of Fiduciary Sales, Terry Doyle, at (262) 953-2435 or tdoyle@prairietrust.com, or if you have an opportunity in the Madison to Rockford area, contact our Madison Market Director, Jasper Vaccaro at (608) 535-3041 or jvaccaro@prairietrust.com.