Private Client, Trusts and Estates

October is Estate Planning Awareness Month. This annual reminder offers the opportunity to review your estate planning and ensure it is up-to-date and accomplishes your goals. Funding your Revocable Trust Your estate planning is prepared. You signed it. Mission accomplished? Almost…. There is a very important step, called “trust funding” that often gets missed after executing a trust. If you…

As we find ourselves well into the latter half of the year, the thoughts of winter travel, holidays and the bustling activities of the upcoming months begin to occupy the minds of many. It is also an opportune moment to reflect on your estate plan and decide if any aspects require careful attention before the year's end, including contemplating annual…

Why Estate Planning Awareness Week? In 2008, Congress designated the third week of October (October 17-23, 2022) as National Estate Planning Awareness Week as a reminder to the public of the importance of estate planning. Having a proper estate plan is important to ensure that you and your loved ones are taken care of. When done well, estate planning aims…

The 2021 pandemic environment is showing trends toward evasive debtors trying to protect their wealth by moving assets fluidly around the world as creditors evaluate the value of assets and the ability to recover claims and debts.

The first step in implementing your estate planning is to prepare lists of personal and financial information.  These should include lists of assets, estate planning documents, personal information, important people and personal directives.  Once gathered and organized, keep the information up-to-date and stored in a safe place...

Trustees may have difficulties determining whether to make distributions when the grantor’s intentions are unclear.

For private foundations interested in a "return on investment" on the distribution of their foundation's charitable dollars (that is, a return beyond the satisfaction of doing good), Program Related Investments ("PRI's") are generally the tool of choice. A PRI can be counted as part of the foundation's required 5% annual distribution provided that the investment accomplishes one or more the foundation's charitable purposes, is not made to achieve a significant investment return, and is not used for lobbying or political campaigns...

Jennifer F. Kuzminski joins MomLifeTV for a webinar focused on navigating life's transitions. She provides insights on family law, estate planning and legacy to help you take control of life's changes.

Northmoor Education Foundation awarded $90,000 of college scholarships to 15 outstanding Northmoor employees. The Northmoor Education Foundation (NEF) was founded in 2018 to assist Northmoor Country Club employees, caddies and their children who plan to continue their education in college or vocational school programs. Scholarships are offered each year for full-time or part-time study at accredited institutions of the student’s…

Congratulations to Jeralyn H. Baran, Keith H. Berk, Aaron L.Hammer, Jeffrey H. Hechtman, James L. Jerue and Jeffrey A. Zaluda for being named 2023 Leading Lawyers! Only lawyers who are most often recommended by their peers and later approved by the Leading Lawyers Advisory Board are selected.

Have questions about charitable giving? Join HMB’s Jeffrey A. Zaluda and Scott Vender of Morgan Stanley for the Friends of ELNET’s upcoming seminar, “Creating Intelligent Philanthropic Legacies in any Economic Climate” on November 16th.

Alyssa Karpinski is presenting at the National Business Institute’s upcoming course, “Illinois Probate Process: In 7 Simple Steps” on December 30th. She will address creditor claims, discuss resolving disputes and explore how to navigate probate litigation.

HMB is pleased to welcome Jennifer Kuzminski and Alyssa Karpinski to its Private Client, Trusts and Estates group.

4/22/21 6 credit hours for CLE, CPE and CFP offered. The Northern Trust Institute’s inaugural Wealth Planning Symposium will examine key themes transforming wealth planning from leading industry thought leaders. This two-day virtual conference will provide unique perspectives and actionable insights on how to embrace this moment and advise clients with a more collaborative, data-driven and purposeful approach. "ESG: No…

Illinois-based CaptionAccess is a deaf-owned and managed company providing communication access services to the government, corporate and education sectors. CaptionAccess is strongly positioned in the education sector, providing a broad and complementary expansion of Ai-Media’s enterprise customer base in the region.

Client calls are coming in droves regarding the need to engage in estate planning if Joe Biden wins the White House and the Democrats have a majority in the Senate.  And for good reason. There is every reason to think that the currently high estate tax exemptions will be substantially reduced as part of a tax overhaul relatively early in…

Each year, the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs honors an individual with the Rabbi Robert J. Marx Social Justice Award, recognizing their commitment to JCUA’s mission of fighting racism and poverty in partnership with Chicago’s diverse communities. This year on July 20, the award will be presented to Jeff Zaluda for his lifelong dedication to pursuing social justice and a…

John R. Wiktor filed claims on behalf of a non-profit Congregation to enforce two oral pledges made by one of its prominent and beloved members, who died suddenly before fulfilling his pledges. The Congregation filed claims in the probate proceedings in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois asserting that its member made a $1 million dollar oral pledge towards…

5/28/20 11:00AM - 12:00PM CT Please join John Wiktor, with President and CEO of JourneyCare, Kimberly Hobson and Greg Hummel of BCLP, LLP, for a virtual town hall to discuss legal issues and changes in the time of COVID-19. This is your opportunity to learn from industry leaders about estate planning tools and changes, tax law updates, and new employee/employer mandates…

While the world continues to adjust to the COVID-19 pandemic, the current interest rate environment creates excellent opportunities for advanced estate, income and creditor protection planning.  The following are eight tips/opportunities that should currently be considered in the current market environment: 1. Review Your Plan Before getting into advanced estate plan strategies, for clients with existing estate plans, now is…

As we hunker down during COVID-19, here are seven tips to make sure your estate plan is in good health: 1. Make Sure Your Basics Are Covered At a minimum, every adult should have a Will, Power of Attorney for Health Care, Power of Attorney for Property and HIPAA Designation. Parents of minor children should be certain their Wills include…

Chicago, IL December 12, 2019 HMB Legal Counsel, a preeminent provider of legal services in Business and Finance, State and Local Tax, Trusts and Estates, Bankruptcy, Reorganization and Creditors' Rights, Real Estate and Litigation announced that three associate attorneys were elevated to partner. David W. Machemer David is a member of the firm's State and Local Tax (SALT) Group.  He…

New Beneficiary Notice Requirements For Trusts that Become Irrevocable After December 31, 2019 Effective January 1, 2020, the Illinois Trust Code (“ITC”) will replace the Illinois Trust and Trustees Act as the law governing Illinois trusts. With the adoption of the ITC, Illinois becomes the 34th state to adopt a form of the Uniform Trust Code. Most of the new…

10/31/19 Chicago, IL Ken Goldstein, Jim Plucinsky and Joe Tamburello present an in-depth discussion of the tax considerations for small businesses.  Attendees will learn detailed information regarding tax compliance requirements based upon the choice of entity as well as tax planning and savings strategies for single-member LLCs, multi-member LLCs, partnerships, S corporations and C Corporations. The CBF Justice Entrepreneurs Project…

09/18/19 Chicago, IL While Americans remain the most generous and philanthropic people in the world, the landscape for giving is changing at an accelerated rate. Jeff Zaluda discusses how Millennial and generational subgroups have dramatically impacted the manner in which philanthropy is carried out. He will examine some of the reasons behind the changing landscape and ways in which donors…

On 8/15/19, John Wiktor, Chair of HMB's Private Client, Trusts & Estates Group and pictured above in the blue shirt, joined the groundbreaking ceremony for Bethesda Cornerstone Village, in Victoria, Minnesota. The community, one of the first of its kind in the United States, will provide an inclusive environment for active seniors and independent adults with disabilities. John is a Board…

Asian Art Council, Art Institute of Chicago, May 4, 2017 Mr. Horwood is a partner in the Trusts and Estates Group of Horwood Marcus & Berk Chartered and advises collectors regarding key issues such as authentication; provenance; collection management; tax matters; disposition and charitable, museum, and family gifting. Mr. Mottier is a collector who, over the course of three decades,…

Two key takeaways from this presentation: The disclosure of information can be as useful of a risk management tool as any. A client who understands how a corporate fiduciary will interact with all parties will have a more positive experience.…

In our previous two articles we walked you through the reasons to hire an investment banker for the sale of your middle market business (i.e. transaction valued between $25 million and $250 million) as well as typical terms for how the relationship will work. Now your attention turns to fees. Our experience is that terms vary among investment banking firms…

In the first of our three part series we walked you through the process of deciding whether to hire an investment banker for your middle market business (i.e. transaction valued between $25 million and $250 million). So now that you have decided to sell your business, we will discuss customary investment banking terms in this article and will wrap up…

So why do business owners want to hate investment bankers? Too often, it is based on cocktail party chatter. Have you ever heard, "the investment bankers added no value to the process? I already knew the buyer. We were competitors for years." Or, "the investment bankers wrote a nice book, but at the end of the day my lawyer and…