Estate planning in Chicago
Thoughtful, personal counsel for protecting your choices, caring for the people you love, and making the future easier to navigate.
You do not need a complete asset list—or every answer—to begin.
If someone would need authority to manage an account, make a healthcare decision, care for a child, handle a home, administer property, or address a business interest, there is something worth planning.
An estate-planning conversation may be appropriate if:
You do not need to decide which documents you need before the first conversation. That is part of the legal work.
START WITH THE DECISIONS
A general understanding of what you want is not the same as a legal plan.
The work begins by identifying the people, property, responsibilities, and contingencies that the documents need to address.
Choose the people who may handle financial, property, or healthcare decisions if you cannot act or communicate for yourself.
Consider who should serve first, who could serve as a successor, and whether each person is suited to the responsibility involved.
Identify the people or organizations you want to provide for and consider how different assets are owned or transferred.
Some property may pass through a will. Other assets may pass through a trust, beneficiary designation, joint ownership, or another legal arrangement.
Name the people who may be responsible for carrying out instructions, managing trust property, addressing expenses, or administering an estate.
The right person for one role may not be the right person for another.
Parents can document whom they would want considered as guardian and coordinate how property left for a child should be managed.
A court makes the final guardianship appointment under Illinois law based on the child’s best interests.
Business owners may need to coordinate personal estate documents with operating agreements, shareholder agreements, transfer restrictions, insurance, and succession arrangements.
An estate plan should not point in a different direction from the documents governing the company.
Successor decision-makers, alternate beneficiaries, changing circumstances, and unexpected events should be considered before the plan is finalized.
A useful plan accounts for more than one possible future.
THE DOCUMENTS FOLLOW THE DECISIONS
Carolina recommends an approach only after understanding your relationships, responsibilities, property, existing arrangements, and goals.
The plan may include some or all of the following.
A will can direct the disposition of property subject to probate, nominate a personal representative, and record a parent’s preference for the guardian of a minor child.
A will does not control every asset. Property governed by a trust, beneficiary designation, joint ownership, or another arrangement must be considered separately.
A revocable trust can create a structure for managing and distributing assets during life, incapacity, and after death.
When appropriate and properly implemented, assets titled in the trust may pass outside probate. Creating the trust is only part of the work; ownership and beneficiary arrangements must also be coordinated with it.
A property power of attorney can authorize a chosen agent to handle specified financial and property matters during your lifetime.
The document defines the authority being granted and when it may be exercised.
A healthcare power of attorney can name an agent to make authorized healthcare and personal-care decisions when you cannot make or communicate those decisions yourself.
The choice of agent should reflect both trust and the person’s ability to carry out the role.
Advance-directive planning can record wishes about defined medical circumstances and provide guidance for healthcare decision-making.
Carolina explains what each document addresses and how the documents work together under Illinois law.
Planning may include guardian nominations, fiduciary choices, and instructions governing how property intended for a child should be held and administered.
The goal is not merely to name people, but to coordinate responsibility for care with responsibility for property.
Estate-planning documents may need to be coordinated with company ownership, governing agreements, transfer restrictions, and succession arrangements.
Some matters may also require collaboration with tax, insurance, financial, business, or out-of-state professionals.
ESTATE PLANNING FOR BUSINESS OWNERS
A business interest creates two connected questions:
What happens if you cannot act?
What happens to your ownership when you die?
Those answers may be governed by more than one document.
Determine who may address financial and business matters if you become temporarily or permanently unable to act.
Consider whether an ownership interest should be retained, transferred, purchased, or managed—and who may have the legal and practical ability to do so.
Review whether personal estate documents, beneficiary arrangements, company agreements, and succession plans point in the same direction.
Business succession can involve legal, tax, insurance, valuation, and financial considerations beyond the estate-planning documents themselves.
Carolina identifies the issues within the scope of the engagement and coordinates with other advisers when appropriate.
HOW THE PLAN COMES TOGETHER
Begin with the people, property, existing documents, beneficiary designations, responsibilities, and business interests involved.
Complete information is helpful, but it is not required for the first conversation.
Identify the people who may act, the property or responsibilities each document should address, and the contingencies the plan should anticipate.
Carolina explains the roles, available options, and legal consequences of each choice.
Select the documents and related ownership or beneficiary changes that fit your circumstances.
Not every recommendation belongs in every plan.
Read the proposed documents in full.
Confirm names, roles, powers, instructions, and distribution terms. Ask questions and revise the plan before anything is signed.
Execute the documents with the formalities Illinois law requires.
Identify follow-up work such as trust funding, ownership changes, beneficiary updates, document delivery, or coordination with other advisers.
A marriage, divorce, birth, death, move, change in decision-maker, significant new asset, or change in business ownership may justify a review.
Unless ongoing review is separately arranged, clients are responsible for contacting the firm when circumstances change.
ESTATE PLANNING CONVERSATION STARTER
A place to start thinking, not a test. Check off the areas you have begun to consider. Your progress is saved in this browser only.
Areas to begin considering
0 of 11 topics reviewed
Your selections remain in this browser unless you choose to place a summary into the consultation form.
No asset values, account numbers, names, documents, or financial details should be entered into this checklist.
Your browser is blocking storage, so selections will not be kept after you leave this page.
The attorney
CGG Law is led by Carolina Garza-Gongora. Clients work with the attorney whose name is on the firm, bringing accountability, accessibility, and a clear point of view to every matter. Family conversations stay with one trusted person, from the first meeting to the final signature.
Puede conversar con Carolina sobre su planificación patrimonial en español.
HAS SOMETHING CHANGED?
A review may be worth considering after:
0 of 10 topics reviewed
One or more of these changes may justify a review. This tool does not evaluate existing documents or provide legal advice.
Your selections remain in this browser unless you choose to place a summary into the consultation form.
Your browser is blocking storage, so selections will not be kept after you leave this page.
ESTATE PLANNING QUESTIONS
Estate planning addresses more than asset value.
It can name financial and healthcare decision-makers, document medical wishes, nominate guardians for minor children, coordinate business interests, and direct how property subject to the plan should be handled.
That depends on your property, family, goals, ownership arrangements, and how you want the plan to operate.
A trust may be useful in some plans, but it is not automatically necessary or appropriate for everyone.
No.
A will generally directs the disposition of property subject to probate. Other arrangements—such as a properly implemented trust, beneficiary designation, or certain forms of joint ownership—may allow some assets to pass outside probate.
No.
A revocable trust generally affects assets properly transferred to it or otherwise coordinated with it. A trust that is never funded may not accomplish the intended result.
The answer depends on the role.
A strong financial agent may not be the right healthcare agent. A capable trustee may not be the right guardian. Carolina explains the duties involved so you can evaluate each person against the actual responsibility.
A parent can formally nominate a preferred guardian for a minor child.
The court retains authority to make the final appointment under Illinois law and considers the child’s best interests.
A review may be appropriate after a major family, property, health, residence, beneficiary, or business change—or when the documents no longer reflect your wishes.
Nothing is required to begin.
If readily available, bring existing estate documents, a general description of property and business interests, current beneficiary arrangements, and the names of people you are considering for important roles.
Do not send sensitive financial information through the website form.
Yes.
Carolina works directly with estate-planning clients in English and Spanish. Indicate your preferred language when requesting a consultation.
No.
Representation begins only after any required conflict review and the execution of a written engagement agreement.
DON’T LEAVE THE IMPORTANT PARTS IMPLIED.
You may be creating a first plan, revising documents that no longer fit, preparing for a major change, or coordinating personal planning with business ownership.
You do not need to arrive with a finished plan.
Bring the information you have and the questions you want answered. Carolina will help identify what the plan should address and what should happen next.
REQUEST AN ESTATE PLANNING CONSULTATIONCall (312) 858-7139
Email info@cgglegacylaw.com
Planning conversations are available in English and Spanish.
Begin with a few general, non-confidential details.
Puede solicitar su consulta en inglés o español.
