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Estate Planning

The practice provides estate planning for those with modest means as well as those with significant nine figure wealth. Young couples who are starting out and have minor children need to have planning done so that guardians are named in their wills should something unfortunate happen to the parents. Virtually everyone needs power of attorney for health care and for property. It is estimated that only 20% of all persons have any type of estate plan.

Estate Tax Planning and Gifting

Clients with significant wealth of more than $11,180,000 for Federal Estate Tax purposes (or couples with assets in excess of $22,360,000) and individuals with estates in excess of $4,000,000 for Illinois inheritance tax purposes can do significant planning to reduce estate taxes. Among other tools to accomplish such goals are charitable planning, which involves an analysis of whether to use donor advised funds or a charitable foundation. Other tools available to reduce Federal and state inheritance taxes include but are not limited to:

Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts
Qualified Personal Residence Trusts
Charitable Lead Trusts
Charitable Remainder Trusts
Sale to Defective Trusts
Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts

Situations are present in which illiquid assets, such as commercial real estate or closely held business interests, may be gifted in part on a discounted basis for lack of control and marketability.

Special Needs Planning

Special needs issues are more and more prevalent in our culture. The practice is active in preparing and integrating the complete estate plan of families that have a need to create special needs trusts to enable family members who might qualify for government benefits to create a special need trust.