Wisconsin Wills for Heroes offers estate planning to first responders

WiscNews

Oct. 2--Beaver Dam first responders received help with planning their futures Tuesday.

Alliant Energy hosted a clinic at its operations center with Wisconsin Wills for Heroes to provide help with creating wills, living wills and power of attorney documents for police officers, firefighters and EMS workers plus their spouses.

The Wills for Heroes program is sponsored by the State Bar of Wisconsin. Clients filled out a questionnaire, watched a video and were then paired with a lawyer.

"These are people who put their lives on the line everyday, so for us to take a day out of the week to provide this for free is our pleasure," said Michelle Yun, senior attorney for Alliant.

Kristine Snow, an attorney in Waupun, said she and the other attorneys were helping clients talk through those core questions about where things should go, who should take responsibility in case something happens and so on.

"Who do you know who can handle that responsibility?" said Allient senior attorney Marney Hoefer, noting that taking over is not a privilege and may not automatically be best to go to a child or a sibling.

Sherry Clay, of the Wills for Heroes Madison office, said the clinic offers simple planning services so first responders have something solid in place, and that there aren't too many pro bono options around. For more advanced services, clients would need to move up and see a trust and estate attorney.

Yun said this is the third year Alliant has hosted the program, previously going to Portage and Janesville, to help bring the free service to more rural areas, so clients wouldn't have to travel to Madison or Milwaukee.

The national Wills for Heroes program began shortly after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, and started in Wisconsin in 2009.

"It's hard because most people don't want to write a will because then they think, 'Oh that means I'm going to die,' but it's really the best thing you can do as far as life planning and what you can do for your family," Yun said.

Follow Chris Higgins on Twitter @chris_higgins_ or contact him at 920-356-6751 and [email protected].

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