FamilyEstate Trusts and Estates

<body bgcolor="#000000" text="#FDFED3" link="#70BDFC" vlink="#FF91C8" alink="#FFCCE6"> <h2 align="center"><img src="Graphics/Familyestate28pt.jpg" alt WIDTH="271" HEIGHT="35"></h2> <h2 align="center"><img src="images/Black's%20beach.jpg" alt width="119" height="97"></h2> <h2 align="center">Trusts, Estates, Probate<br> for Illinois residents</h2> <div align="center"><center><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="56%"> <tr> <td width="100%">       Featuring online specification-form checklists for Wills, Living Trusts, Powers of Attorney and Asset Inventories, along with concisely written summaries in key trust and estate planning areas, FamilyEstate.com is an estate publication of FamilyEstate Illinois.<p align="center"><font face="Default" size="4"><a href="default.htm">Skip the <em>Introduction</em>: go to the main entrance</a></font></p> <p>        The materials in this site provide information about particular areas of disability, trust, and estate planning such as family dynasty, charitable giving, retirement benefits, business succession, valuation reduction, elder law and medicaid, and probate estate administration.<br>         If your needs are more generalized our estate checklists and summaries can help you sort out your estate and probate options, and prepare you for our attorney consultations.<br>         FamilyEstate addresses the conservation and distribution of lifetime and probate estates, disability planning, minimizing transfer taxes, and minimizing probate expenses.<br>         Transfer tax issues may arise if your surviving spouse, or any of your beneficiaries, will have the right to possess more than $1,500,000 of property at death, less prior taxable gifts.<br>         Property is sheltered from transfer taxes through gifts, trusts, insurance contracts, and business organizational forms. The <em>Tax Exemption</em> and<em> Valuation Freezing and Discounting</em> pages discuss these tax saving vehicles.<br>         Probate expense sheltering is accomplished in two ways. First, through Wills, Living Trusts, Powers of Attorney, Guardianship declarations and other advanced directives that anticipate future contingencies - thereby avoiding extended probate hearings in attempt to approximate your wishes in lieu of explicit declarations.<br>         Second, through property forms that bypass probate altogether, such as contractual beneficiary designations (e.g., trusts, insurance, payment on death accounts) and jointly held property with right of survivorship.<br>         If you may need to leave property in trust the FamilyEstate <em>Will and Living Trust </em>page eases the decision making process by detailing typical scenarios in which it may be appropriate to do so.<br>         Often overlooked is the use of trusts to protect beneficiaries from a) fund misuse and mismanagement, b) trade and judgment creditors, and c) beneficiary transfer tax exposure. These property conservation tools can be found in <em>Property Distribution and Asset Protection.</em><br>         We hope the information in this site can help you achieve comprehensive, timely and well conceived probate and estate planning solutions. We provide speakers and lecturers on estate, tax and business entity topics for events in the Chicago area.<br>         For more information . . . </td> </tr> </table> </center></div><p align="center"><font face="default" color="#FFFFFF">Select from the following FamilyEstate entry points:</font><font face="Arial"><font color="#FFFFFF"><br> <a href="default.htm">Main Entrance</a><br> <a href="toc.htm">Index</a><br> <a href="main/willRevised.htm">Will and Living Trusts</a><br> <a href="main/poa-revised.htm">Powers of Attorney</a><br> <a href="main/probate.htm">Illinois Probate</a><br> <a href="main/property.html">Property Distribution, Asset Protection and Disability Planning</a><br> <a href="main/exemption.html">Transfer Tax Exemption</a><br> <a href="main/freezing.html">Valuation Freezing and Discounting</a></font></p> </font><font face="Arial" size="1" color="#FFFFFF"><p align="center">Text/art Š1998   FamilyEstate Illinois  202 S. State St. 1500 Chicago Illinois 60604<br> <img src="Graphics/bar.jpg" width="665" height="11"></font><font face="Arial"></p> </font> </body>