Estate planning and probate
Marit Halvorsen, Viroqua office
Wills, trusts and powers of attorney, written so your family is not left guessing. We also guide families through probate after a death, and help farm families plan who takes over the land.
Wills, land, family and small business law in Viroqua and La Crosse.
We are two attorneys with offices on Main Street in Viroqua and downtown in La Crosse. Tell us what is going on, and one of us calls you back within one business day.
- First meeting free. 30 minutes, in person or by video.
- Flat fees for wills, trusts, deeds and LLCs.
- Tuesday evenings in La Crosse, by appointment.
What we handle
Four kinds of work, done often enough to do them well. If you need something else, call and we will tell you who can help.
Real estate
Marit Halvorsen for farmland and Vernon County; Owen Reed for homes in La Crosse County
Buying or selling a home or land, land contracts between neighbors and relatives, and the title, boundary and easement questions that come with rural property.
Family law
Owen Reed, La Crosse office
Divorce, legal separation, custody and placement, child support, and changes to existing orders. We settle what can be settled and are ready for court when it can't be.
Small business
Owen Reed, La Crosse office (farm businesses with Marit Halvorsen)
Setting up an LLC properly, leases and contracts you can actually read, buying or selling a business, and agreements between partners signed before anything goes wrong.
How working with us goes
The same four steps for a simple will or a contested divorce. You know the price before step four.
Tell us what is going on
Call the office or send a consultation request. We check for conflicts first, meaning we make sure we don't already represent anyone on the other side. Then an attorney calls you back within one business day.
Meet for 30 minutes, no charge
In Viroqua, in La Crosse, or by video. Bring the papers you have. You leave knowing your options and what each one would cost.
Get a written plan and price
If you hire us, you get a letter that says what we will do, what we won't, and the fee: flat fees for wills, trusts and most real estate work, a written estimate for family law.
Sign, file and finish
We draft, you review it in plain English, and we handle the signing, the recording and the court filings. When it is done you get copies and a one-page summary of where everything is.
Will or trust? Answer seven questions.
Our two-minute questionnaire gives you a plain-language answer for Wisconsin, with the reasons behind it. It is not legal advice, but it is a good place to start before a first meeting.
Two attorneys, two offices
You work with the attorney who handles your kind of case, start to finish. No hand-offs to someone you have never met.
Marit Halvorsen
Partner, Viroqua office
Estate planning, probate, farm succession, rural real estate.
Marit grew up on a dairy farm between Westby and Viroqua and came home to practice after law school.
Owen Reed
Partner, La Crosse office
Family law, small business, residential real estate.
Owen kept the books at his family's hardware store in La Crosse for six years before law school, so he reads a business's numbers before its contracts.
Plain-language guides
Short answers to the questions people call us with. General Wisconsin information, not legal advice.
- What happens to a farm when there is no will
Wisconsin's inheritance law decides who gets the land, not the family's idea of who should. How that plays out on a working farm, and what to do about it now.
- Will or trust: what is the difference?
Both say who gets what. A will works through probate court; a funded trust usually avoids it. When each one makes sense.
- Divorce in Wisconsin: what the timeline looks like
Residency rules, the 120-day waiting period, temporary orders, and what usually happens between filing and the final hearing.
- Buying or selling land on a land contract
Common between neighbors and relatives in rural Wisconsin. What the buyer and seller each get, and why the contract should be written and recorded properly.
Tell us what is going on.
An attorney calls you back within one business day. The first 30 minutes are free.
Viroqua
126 South Main StreetViroqua, WI 54665
Monday to Friday, 8:30 to 4:30
La Crosse
315 Pearl Street, Suite 2La Crosse, WI 54601
Monday to Friday, 8:00 to 5:00
Tuesday evenings, to 7:00, by appointment