Each year, the number of cases in the estate and trust litigation area grows. As the population ages, the number of contested guardianships rises. And a growing portion of the caseload in practices handling these cases comes from representing charitable organizations involved in trust and estate disputes. This handbook is an up-to-date reference guide for practitioners in these areas, written not by dabblers or academics, but by those who know where the courthouse is and practice in these areas every day. It includes a new chapter on the Illinois Trust Code. This handbook also covers will contests; oral contracts to make wills, joint wills, and mutual wills; trust contests; accounts in estates and trusts; contested claims against decedents’ estates, trusts, and other nonprobate assets; construing and modifying wills and revocable trusts; representing fiduciaries in trust and estate litigation; admission of wills to probate; heirship, adoption, and paternity; statutory rights of a surviving spouse; citations to discover/recover assets; overview of the probate process; guardianship litigation; charitable litigation; apportionment and statutory rights of recovery; tax aspects of fiduciary litigation; family settlement agreements; attorneys’ fees: an assessment of the current standards for fee awards. The authors provide practical advice as well as explain the law and help fill the gap between theory and practice. They also provide numerous forms for use in your own practice.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
General Editors — John T. Brooks and Jena L. Levin, Foley & Lardner LLP, Chicago
Chapter 1 — Illinois Trust Code
Jane Gorman Ditelberg, The Northern Trust Company, and Rebecca Wallenfelsz, Chapman and Cutler LLP, Chicago
Chapter 2 — Will Contests
Elizabeth A. McKillip and Daniel T. Paluga, Levin Schreder & Carey, Ltd.,Chicago
Chapter 3 — Oral Contracts To Make Wills; Joint and Mutual Wills
James R. Carey and Robin Drey Maher, Levin Schreder & Carey, Ltd., Chicago
Chapter 4 — Trust Contests
John T. Brooks and Jena L. Levin, Foley & Lardner LLP, Chicago
Chapter 5 — Accounts in Estates and Trusts
James W. Hitzeman and Ryan T. Court, Loeb & Loeb LLP, Chicago
Chapter 6 — Contested Claims Against Decedents’ Estates, Trusts, and Other Nonprobate Assets
Richard A. Campbell and Gina E. Oderda, Mayer Brown LLP, and Mary C. Downie, The Northern Trust Company, Chicago
Chapter 7 — Construing and Modifying Wills and Irrevocable Trusts
Daivd E. Lieberman, Elizabeth A. McKillip, and Kiran Uppal, Levin Schreder & Carey, Ltd.,Chicago
Chapter 8 — Representing Fiduciaries in Trust and Estate Litigation
James W. Hitzeman and Cameron N. Custard, Loeb & Loeb LLP, Chicago
Chapter 9 — Admission of Wills to Probate
John T. Brooks and Jena L. Levin, Foley & Lardner LLP, Chicago
Chapter 10 — Heirship, Adoption, and Paternity
John T. Brooks and Jena L. Levin, Foley & Lardner LLP, Chicago, and Heather Ross and Nora Zuckerman, Ross and Zuckerman, LLP, Northbrook
Chapter 11 — Statutory Rights of a Surviving Spouse
Jeanette Suarez Hunter and Agnieszka Kawecki, McDermott Will & Emery LLP, Chicago
Chapter 12 — Citations To Discover/Recover Assets
James R. Pranger, Peter J. Latz & Associates LLC, Oak Park
Chapter 13 — Overview of the Probate Process
Michael R. Conway, Jr., JPMorgan Chase Bank NA, Chicago
Chapter 14 — Guardianship Litigation
Kerry R. Peck, Peck Ritchey, LLC, and Ray J. Koenig III, Clark Hill PLC, Chicago
Chapter 15 — Charitable Litigation
John T. Brooks and James R. Hellige, Foley & Lardner LLP, and Floyd D. Perkins, Nixon Peabody LLP, Chicago
Chapter 16 — Apportionment and Statutory Rights of Recovery
Fredrick B. Weber, The Northern Trust Company, Chicago
Chapter 17 — Tax Aspects of Fiduciary Litigation
David C. Blickenstaff, Schiff Hardin LLP, Joseph N. Blumberg, The Northern Trust Company, and Julie J. Olenn, Jenner & Block LLP, Chicago
Chapter 18 — Family Settlement Agreements
James W. Hitzeman and Terri K. Baron, Loeb & Loeb LLP, Chicago
Chapter 19 — Attorneys’ Fees: An Assessment of the Current Standards for Fee Awards
Emily J. Kuo and Louis S. Harrison, Harrison & Held, LLP, Chicago
