Estate and Gift Planning

Chapman and Cutler LLP Trusts and Estates attorneys counsel a variety of successful individuals, business owners, executives, professionals, investors and retirees on all aspects of estate and gift planning. We place great emphasis on formulating estate plans that achieve family and personal objectives, maximize and protect wealth and minimize transfer taxes.

Chapman and Cutler attorneys bring valuable perspectives and experience to the estate and gift planning process.

Our extensive trust counsel experience in advising corporate and individual fiduciaries on myriad trust administration issues and our experience in acting as trustees for certain clients who request that we act in that capacity, are valuable assets in the estate and gift planning process.

We consider estate, gift, generation-skipping transfer and income tax consequences for every estate plan we draft. Anticipating and addressing issues at the discussion and document drafting stages serve our clients well.

Depending upon individual circumstances, we can provide traditional estate planning advice, including the drafting of wills, revocable trusts and powers of attorney for health care and property, or employ more sophisticated estate planning techniques, such as irrevocable insurance trusts (ILITs), generation-skipping trusts, qualified personal residence trusts (QPRTs), sales to trusts having special income, gift and estate tax aspects, charitable remainder and lead trusts, family limited partnerships and limited liability companies and grantor retained annuity trusts (GRATs). We represent client in negotiating and documenting pre-nuptial agreements.

We have assisted many individuals and fiduciaries in obtaining private letter rulings from the Internal Revenue Service on income, estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer tax issues and have represented several individuals and fiduciaries in connection with estate planning for assets located outside the United States and with foreign trust tax issues.

Publications

• Wallenfelsz, Rebecca (co-author): "CRTs in the Wake of Rev. Proc. 2005-24 and Notice 2006-15", Taxation of Exempts, May/June 2006.
• Wallenfelsz, Rebecca (co-author): "Transfers from Abroad," Trusts and Estates, December 2004.
• Wallenfelsz, Rebecca (co-author): "Wills," A Lawyer's Guide to Retirement and Lifetime Planning, 2002.

Presentations

• Lullo, David: "Wills, Trusts and Powers of Attorney", Chicago Bar Association seminar, November 2005.
• Wallenfelsz, Rebecca: "Tax and Estate Planning Issues for US Client Who Own Foreign Property", Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education, May 2011.

Related Practices