Estate Planning & Probate
Contacts:
- Stephen A. Rehfeldt
- 630.384.3132
- John M. Mulherin
- 630.384.3133
MRV’s estate planning services include the preparation and drafting of wills (both simple and complex), revocable and irrevocable trusts, living wills, health care powers of attorney, and durable powers of attorney for property. Each will, trust and power of attorney is drafted to suit the specific needs and goals of the individual client involved.
MRV’s estate planning attorneys are well versed in the federal estate tax laws, state inheritance tax laws, and state and federal income tax laws applicable to trusts and estates. Many of the wills and trusts that we draft are designed to minimize or eliminate these taxes. Other wills and trusts are designed to provide financial management services for minor children, disabled adults, or other beneficiaries whom our clients believe to be temporarily or permanently incapable of managing their own financial assets.
For those of our clients who wish to leave part or all of their estates to mentally or physically disabled beneficiaries, we often draft trusts known as “special needs” trusts. A special needs trust is designed to provide financial assistance to a disabled beneficiary without jeopardizing that beneficiary’s eligibility for benefits under various “need-based” governmental assistance programs, such as Medicaid and/or Social Security.
In addition to estate planning services, MRV also provides a broad range of estate administration services, including the probate of wills, the administration of trusts, and the preparation and filing of federal estate tax returns, state inheritance tax returns, and state and federal income tax returns for both estates and trusts. The estates administered by MRV range in size from the relatively simple and modest, containing only an asset or two, to the very large and complex, with assets ranging in value up to $20 million.
In addition to administering the probate estates of decedents, MRV also administers the probate estates of minors and disabled adults.
Representative Cases
Prepared an estate plan using a combination of wills and revocable living trusts for a husband and wife with combined assets valued at approximately $4 million, resulting in a $900,000 reduction in the amount of federal estate taxes which would have been payable in the estate of the surviving spouse absent the plan.
Acted as trustee of a $15 million irrevocable trust created by a client for the benefit of the client’s children and grandchildren.
Prepared a revocable living trust for an elderly unmarried client without children. The trust gave her entire $3.5 million estate to charity, free of all estate and income taxes.
Prepared a special needs trust for an elderly couple with an adult, mentally disabled child. The trust set aside a share of the couples’ estate for the benefit of the child, while preserving the child’s right to receive Social Security disability payments.
Prepared and filed in court the necessary paper work to have a single mother appointed as the guardian of the estate for her adult autistic child, and assisted the mother in preparing and filing with the court the annual reports required of her as such guardian.