Our Illinois trust attorneys want to help you achieve peace-of-mind. We help you use trusts, wills, and other assets to build a solid estate plan.
Please contact our friendly
Illinois Trust Attorneys
at our nearest location to schedule a free consultation:
See below for our other locations. If our office locations are not convenient for you, we are happy to speak with you by phone.
Kevin O'Flaherty oversees all legal matters and is actively involved in making sure every client's case, big or small, is handled with excellence and attention to detail. He is available to contact through phone and email and his rates are available upon request.
Our team at O'Flaherty Law has written the following articles to help you understand how trusts should be used in your estate plan to:
In this Learn About Law podcast & videoblog, Illinois trust attorney Kevin O'Flaherty discusses how to use trusts in your estate plan.
In this article, our Illinois trust attorneys explain how trusts can be used to avoid costly probate cases.
Probate is a court case that is generally necessary in Illinois whenever an individual passes owning any real estate outside of a trust or more than $100,000.00 of non-real estate assets outside of a trust. Probate cases last approximately a year, and tend to cost 5% to 10% of the value of the estate in attorney fees and court costs. While the probate case is ongoing, your loved ones will not have access to the assets that you wish them to inherit. Our Illinois trust attorneys can assist you in creating a trust and transferring your major assets into the trust, so that when you pass, your loved ones can administer your estate immediately and without the need to hire an attorney.
Illinois will and trust attorney Kevin O'Flaherty explains in this video how to use trusts to prevent probate when you pass.
In this article, our Illinois trust attorneys explain how to effectively use trusts to avoid or minimize Illinois estate tax and federal estate tax.
First, we discuss how you can use AB Trusts to essentially double the amount of your Illinois estate tax exemption if you are married. We also show how to use irrevocable life insurance trusts to remove the death benefit of your life insurance policies from the value of your estate for estate tax purposes. Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts, Grantor Retained Interest Trusts, and Grantor Retained Unitrusts are also worth considering, as they allow your assets to accumulate in value within the trusts without the accumulated value being part of your estate.
Illinois will and trust attorney Kevin O'Flaherty explains in this video how to use trusts to prevent probate when you pass.
In this article, our Illinois will and trust attorneys explain the differences between wills and trusts. Trusts and WIlls both allow you to appoint an executor to manage your estate when you pass and to arrange for the distribution of your assets according to your wishes. However, trusts have the added benefits of allowing your estate to bypass the probate process. Families with minor children will often have both a will and a trust, because a will allows you to appoint guardians for minor children and a trust will allow you to place a trustee in charge of those assets until your children reach an age at which you feel they will be responsible enough to manage the assets for themselves.
