Faculty
Carol J. Wessels
Carol J. Wessels is an owner of Wessels & Liebau LLC in Mequon, Wisconsin and a 1988 graduate of the Wisconsin Law School. She practices elder and special needs law, as well as estate planning, probate, trust administration, and consults with personal injury and other civil attorneys who have clients on public benefits. Carol is a Fellow of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, which is the highest honor a member can receive.
The most critical career-shaping experience for Carol was as a caregiver for her parents when they moved in with her unexpectedly in 2007. Her father Russell’s cancer had progressed without treatment while he was caring for her mother, Velma, who had Alzheimer’s. Russell died in 2008 and Velma died in 2015. Velma was a cancer survivor but could not survive Alzheimer’s. Russell never had Alzheimer’s, but it caused his death as much as the cancer. That’s why outside of her practice, Ms. Wessels spends her time as a warrior in the fight to end Alzheimer’s through her work on the Board of Directors of the Alzheimer’s Association of Wisconsin, where she currently serves on the Public Policy Committee and acts as an Ambassador to Senator Tammy Baldwin.
Carol has recently founded Summer’s Home, Inc., a nonprofit dedicated to providing temporary foster care for dogs whose senior owner has a medical event requiring hospitalization. You can follow her blog or visit her website.