NOTE: There currently is no Federal or state estate tax or generation skipping tax. The gift tax is still in effect. Whether or not the estate and generation skipping taxes will be reinstated this year is not known. Many people expect that they will be reinstated, but what will happen is not known. What the rates and exemptions will be if the taxes are reinstated is also not known.

To learn further about planning your Chicago, IL estate contact Chicago estate planning lawyer Donald Thompson.

Although things of this nature are never pleasant to think about and seemingly plan on, but there possibility is a reality and they should be taken care of when properly planning an estate in Chicago, IL. Contact Chicago Estate Planning and Wills lawyer to plan your estate.

If you die without a will survived by a spouse and children, the spouse gets one-half and the children get the rest. There are no exceptions.

Guardianships are expensive and time consuming and if money or property is involved court approval is needed for everything.

All your property must be collected and sold unless all the beneficiaries agree to keep it. The family business or farm must be sold.

There is no provision for professional management of your estate.

There will be probate of your estate if it exceeds $100,000. This is court determination of who is entitled to your property and supervision of its collection and distribution.

Taxes may be a lot higher.

Contact Chicago Estate Planning Lawyer to see how you can plan your estate and will.

Donald M. Thompson is licensed to practice law by the Supreme Court of Illinois, U. S. District Court in Chicago, U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, and the U.S. Tax Court. He is a member of the Federal Trial Bar. He is a 1966 graduate of the University of Chicago Law School where he was in the top quarter of his class and received the Mandel Legal Aid Award. He was assistant professor of law at I.I.T.-Chicago-Kent College of Law from 1966 to 1970 teaching tax and property subjects.

He is a member of the Chicago and Illinois State bar associations. He serves on the Chicago Bar Association’s tax, trust, probate, securities law and corporation law committees and is past chairman of the corporation law and legal education committees.

He is a member of the Chicago Bar Association’s estate planning, probate, corporation and tax referral panels. He is an Arbitrator for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and the Circuit Court of Cook County.