Creating an Estate Plan That Protects Your Legacy and Empowers You!

Everyone has an estate. The things you own are part of your estate. Your possessions such as: your car, home, other real estate, checking and savings accounts, investments, life insurance, furniture, and personal possessions. No matter how large or small your estate, you should protect your legacy.

In the event of death or incapacity, you should want to control how your estate is given to people or organizations. To ensure your wishes are carried out, you need to provide instructions stating whom you want to receive something of yours, what you want them to receive, and when they are to receive it.

This process is known as estate planning. However, good estate planning is about so much more than naming whom you want to receive the things you own after you die. It should also:

• Minimize taxes, court costs, and unnecessary legal fees.
• Provide for loved ones who may be careless with money or who may need future protection from creditors or divorce.
• Include instructions for passing values (religion, education, etc.) in addition to your valuables.
• Provide for family members who have special needs without disrupting government aid.
• Name a guardian for minor children.
• Provide for the transfer of your business at your retirement, disability, or death.
• Include instructions for your care should you come disabled before you die.
• Include life insurance to provide for your family after your death, disability income insurance to replace your income if you cannot work due to illness or injury, or long-term care insurance to help pay for your care in case of an extended illness or injury.
• Be reviewed and updated when there are major life events.

Estate Planning Documents

• Testamentary Will
• Durable power of attorney
• Beneficiary designations
• Letter of intent
• Healthcare power of attorney
• Guardianship designations
• Power of Attorney – Health    
• Power of Attorney – Finance
• Living Trust – Individual
• Living Trust – Joint

Contact our office today and let us help you with your Estate Plan. For more information or to schedule a confidential consultation with Attorney Reynolds, call 708-981-3344 or contact our office online.

Cook County Treasurer has released the 2^nd Installment tax bills. You can locate your bill here. Cook County Property Tax Portal (cookcountypropertyinfo.com) 

The property tax bill for some homeowners have increased. You may be eligible for tax savings with tax exemptions.  

Property tax exemptions are savings that provide a lower homeowner’s property tax bill. The most common is the Homeowner Exemption. This exemption on average saves homeowners $973 dollars each year.

Property tax exemptions are provided for owners with the following situations:

• Homeowner Exemption
• Senior Citizen Exemption 
• Senior Freeze Exemption
• Longtime Homeowner Exemption 
• Home Improvement Exemption 
• Returning Veterans’ Exemption 
• Disabled Veterans’ Exemption 
• Disabled Persons’ Exemption

If your property taxes have increased contact our office to learn about different tax exemptions. For more information or to schedule a confidential consultation with Attorney Reynolds, call 708-981-3344 or contact our office online.

Your elderly mother recently passed away at a Chicago nursing home, and their will was not what you expected. Although you received a nominal amount of money, everything she promised to you (even recently) has been granted to your sister, who has been visiting your mother a lot in the last year. You’ve never gotten along with your sister, and you suspect that she influenced your mom to change her will. Is there anything you can do?

Reasons for Contesting a Will in Illinois

In Illinois, you must have the legal right to contest a will. To contest a will, you need to have what is called “standing,” and by law, only interested parties have standing. Generally, “interested parties” are those who are named as beneficiaries under a will, those who would have inherited from the deceased if they had died intestate, or those who may have a claim to the deceased’s assets, such as creditors. 

In addition to standing, you must have grounds for contesting the will. The primary grounds for mounting a will challenge in Illinois are highlighted below.

Lack of Testamentary Capacity

Anyone over the age of 18 has the legal capacity to make a will in this state. To contest capacity, the testator must have lacked it at the time of the will’s drafting. 

Illinois courts consider several factors when determining the testator’s capacity, such as whether the testator knew they were making a will, the extent and nature of their property, and whether the distribution of their property corresponds with their expressed intentions.

Undue Influence

Undue influence occurs when someone is able to maintain control over the testator in order to change their will. Under Illinois law, undue influence occurs when someone takes away a testator’s free will through their actions, which causes them to execute a will with provisions the testator would not have otherwise included. Examples include a caretaker threatening to harm or abandon an elderly person if the latter’s will is not changed in their favor.