In this article, our Champaign will attorneys reveal the process of creating a will that identifies the creator's wishes when they pass. A will is a legal document that sets forth the wishes of its creator (known as a “testator”) in the event of death. The purpose of a will is to be recognized by a probate court as the governing document for the management of the testator’s estate. Your will should provide for how you would like your assets distributed when you pass away.  Be sure to account for contingencies, such as what happens if one of your named beneficiaries predeceases you.Your will should name an executor who will be responsible for collecting your assets and distributing them to creditors and beneficiaries according to the terms of your will. If you have minor children, be sure to name a guardian or a married couple to jointly serve as guardians should you be unable to care for your children due to disability or death. 

In this article, our Champaign trust lawyers share how to modify a Chicago trust. A trust is a fiduciary arrangement that allows a third party, or trustee, to hold assets on behalf of a beneficiary or beneficiaries. Trusts can be arranged in many ways to specify exactly how and when the assets need to pass to the beneficiaries. Because trusts usually avoid probate, your beneficiaries may gain access to those assets more quickly than they might to assets that are transferred using a will. A trust reformation is the modification of an irrevocable trust to address unanticipated changes that have occurred since its establishment or to clarify the language of the trust instrument for the benefit of trustees and beneficiaries. While it is possible to reform a trust for various reasons, trustees and beneficiaries do not have the power to change an irrevocable trust simply because they want to. There are several reasons why one would consider a trust reformation. In order to modify an irrevocable trust, one would typically initiate a court procedure to request approval of the change or modification. There are three kinds of trust reformation: Modify by consent, modification with court approval, and decanting to modify irrevocable trusts.

In this article, our Champaign trust attorneys delve into the ways that trusts can be utilized to minimize or eliminate Illinois and federal estate taxes. In addition to the taxes that you pay during your lifetime, both the federal and the Illinois state governments require your estate to pay a tax before passing to your heirs.  The good news is that both the federal and state estate taxes are subject to exemptions.  If the value of your estate is less than the applicable exemption the estate tax in question will not apply.  Only amounts over and above the applicable exemption are taxable. Luckily, we have several relatively inexpensive tools that we can use to legally avoid much or all of the estate tax that would otherwise be imposed on your estate. These tools would be: AB trusts, irrevocable life insurance trust, GRITs, GRATs, GRUTS, gifting strategies, and generation skipping trusts.