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List of Forms by Chapter - Chapter 1 — Introduction to the Use of Retirement Benefits in Estate Planning
- Chapter 2 — Income, Estate, and Other Tax Considerations
- I. [2.1] Introduction
-
II. Income Tax Considerations - [2.2] Overview
- [2.3] General Rule
- [2.4] Nondeductible Contributions
- [2.5] Calculation of Nondeductible Portion
- [2.6] Annuity Starting Date
- [2.7] Periodic Payments (Annuity and Installment Payments)
- [2.8] Nonperiodic Payments
- [2.9] Roth Individual Retirement Accounts and Roth 401(k) Plan Accounts
- [2.10] Qualified Distributions
- [2.11] Contributions, Conversions, and Roth Rollovers
- [2.12] Rollover Treatment
- [2.13] Inherited Individual Retirement Account Treatment After the Pension Protection Act of 2006
- [2.14] Eligible Rollover Distribution
- [2.15] Capital Gains/Ten-Year Income Averaging
- [2.16] Net Unrealized Appreciation on Employer Securities
- [2.17] Annuity Contracts
- [2.18] Life Insurance
- [2.19] Charitable Donation Exclusion
- III. Estate Tax Considerations
- IV. Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax Considerations
- V. Excise Tax Considerations
- VI. [2.27] Conclusion
- Chapter 3 — Required Minimum Distribution Rules: Who, What, When, and Why
- I. [3.1] Introduction
- II. [3.4] Terms and Definitions
- III. Background
- IV. [3.8] Distribution of the Required Minimum Distribution During the Participant’s Lifetime
- V. [3.13] Required Minimum Distribution After the Participant’s Death
- [3.14] Death Prior to the Required Beginning Date
- [3.15] No Required Minimum Distribution for the Year of Death
- [3.16] No Designated Beneficiary
- [3.17] Individual, Non-Spouse Is the Designated Beneficiary
- [3.18] Spouse Is the Designated Beneficiary
- [3.19] Multiple Designated Beneficiaries
- [3.20] Trust Is the Designated Beneficiary
- [3.21] Death After the Required Beginning Date
- [3.22] Payout of the Required Minimum Distribution for the Year of Death
- [3.23] No Designated Beneficiary
- [3.24] Individual, Non-Spouse Is the Designated Beneficiary
- [3.25] Spouse Is the Designated Beneficiary
- [3.26] Multiple Designated Beneficiaries
- [3.27] Trust Is the Designated Beneficiary
- VI. [3.28] Designated Beneficiary
- VII. [3.29] Spousal Rollover, Beneficiary Rollover, and Other “Rollovers”
- VIII. [3.35] Conclusion
- Chapter 4 — Beneficiary Designations for Individual Retirement Accounts and Qualified Plans
- I. [4.1] Introduction
- II. Client’s Goals and Tax Factors
- [4.2] Client’s Goals in Planning for Individual Retirement Accounts
- Tax Factors Affecting Individual Retirement Accounts
- [4.3] Minimum Distribution Rules
- [4.4] Living Client
- [4.5] Year of Client’s Death
- [4.6] After Client’s Death
- [4.7] Designated Beneficiary
- [4.8] Trust as Beneficiary of Individual Retirement Account: The Trust Look-Through Rule
- [4.9] September 30 Date
- [4.10] Multiple Beneficiaries: The Separate Account Rule
- [4.11] Income in Respect of a Decedent
- III. Beneficiary Designations for Individual Retirement Accounts
- [4.12] Beneficiary Designations for Married Client
- [4.13] Relinquishing Control of Individual Retirement Account to Surviving Spouse After Death: Spouse Is Outright Beneficiary of Individual Retirement Account
- [4.14] Retaining Control of Individual Retirement Account After Death: Qualified Terminable Interest Property Trust Is Beneficiary of Individual Retirement Account
- “All Income” Requirement
- [4.15] In general
- [4.16] Revenue Ruling 2006-26
- [4.17] State principal and income acts
- [4.18] Drafting approaches to satisfy all income requirement
- [4.19] Simple approach: Pay all income out of individual retirement account to surviving spouse
- [4.20] More complicated approach: Spouse may withdraw income from individual retirement account
- [4.21] Evaluation of two QTIPing approaches
- [4.22] Naming a Qualified Terminable Interest Property Trust as Beneficiary of an Individual Retirement Account
- [4.23] Income Tax Problem
- [4.24] Conduit Trust
- [4.25] Individual Retirement Account Itself Is a Qualified Terminable Interest Property Trust
- [4.26] Alternative to QTIPing the Individual Retirement Account: Give Individual Retirement Account in Shares to Spouse and Children
- [4.27] Portability and Its Impact on Beneficiary Designations
- [4.28] Funding Bypass Trust with Individual Retirement Account
- [4.29] Disclaimer Approach
- [4.30] Client’s Revocable Trust or Testamentary Trust; Rule of Thumb
- [4.31] Pitfalls of revocable trust as beneficiary of individual retirement account
- [4.32] Postmortem individual retirement account planning
- [4.33] Joint Trust Approach
- [4.34] Noncitizen Spouse
- [4.35] Individual Retirement Account as Community Property
- [4.36] Individual Retirement Account Participant Dies First
- [4.37] Spouse Dies First; Individual Retirement Account Participant Is Still Alive
- [4.38] Designating a Secondary Beneficiary
- [4.39] Beneficiary Designations for Unmarried Client
- [4.40] Charitable Giving with Individual Retirement Accounts
- Outright Gift to Charity at Death
- [4.41] Entire Individual Retirement Account to Charity
- [4.42] Part of Individual Retirement Account to Charity; Percentage or Dollar Amount
- [4.43] Split-Interest Trusts
- [4.44] Regular Trust
- [4.45] Charitable Remainder Trust Under Internal Revenue Code §664
- Use of Beneficiary Designation Forms
- [4.46] Poorly Drafted Commercial Forms
- [4.47] Solution: Custom-Drafted Beneficiary Designation
- [4.48] Tax Apportionment Problems
- IV. [4.49] Beneficiary Designations for Qualified Plans
- V. [4.53] Roth Individual Retirement Accounts
- Chapter 5 — Naming a Trust as a Beneficiary
- Chapter 6 — Charitable Giving with Retirement Plan Assets
- I. Introduction
- II. [6.3] Income in Respect of a Decedent
- III. [6.4] Required Minimum Distribution Rules
- IV. [6.5] Different Types of Charitable Organizations
- V. Lifetime Gifts to Charity
- VI. Basic Testamentary Gifts to Charity
- VII. [6.17] Testamentary Gifts to Charity Through an Estate or Trust
- [6.18] Trusts and Estates with Charitable and Noncharitable Beneficiaries and the Required Minimum Distribution Rules
- [6.19] Prohibiting Certain Uses of Retirement Benefits
- [6.20] Charity Is Remainder Beneficiary
- [6.21] Conduit Trust
- [6.22] Form of Conduit Trust
- [6.23] Trust Income Tax Issues
- [6.24] No Distributable Net Income Deduction for Income Distributed to Charity
- [6.25] The Separate Share Rule
- [6.26] Trust Requires Funding Charitable Gift with Retirement Benefits
- [6.27] Trustee May Choose Funding
- [6.28] Pro Rata Distribution Required
- [6.29] Assignment of Entire Plan
- [6.30] Distribution to Charity in Year Other than Year of Receipt of Proceeds by Trust
- [6.31] Charitable Remainder Trusts
- [6.32] Credit Shelter Charitable Remainder Trusts
- [6.33] Charitable Lead Trusts
- VIII. Postmortem “Planning”
- IX. Miscellaneous
- X. [6.39] Bibliography
- Chapter 7 — Qualified Domestic Relations Orders and Spousal Rights
- I. [7.1] Introduction
- II. Qualified Domestic Relations Orders
- [7.2] Qualified Domestic Relations Orders — The Exception to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 Spendthrift Provisions
- [7.3] Overview of Applicable Law and Guidance
- [7.4] Effective Date of Qualified Domestic Relations Order Rules
- [7.5] Employee Benefit Plans to Which Qualified Domestic Relations Orders Apply
- [7.6] Alternate Payees
- [7.7] Qualified Domestic Relations Order Requirements
- [7.8] Administrative Procedures for Qualification
- [7.9] United States Department of Labor Interim Final Regulations
- [7.10] Subsequent Domestic Relations Orders
- [7.11] Timing of Domestic Relations Orders
- Plan Features To Consider in Drafting Qualified Domestic Relations Orders
- [7.12] Defined-Contribution Plan
- [7.13] Retroactive Assignment Dates in Defined-Contribution Qualified Domestic Relations Orders
- [7.14] Defined-Benefit Plan
- [7.15] Divorce Decree as a Qualified Domestic Relations Order
- [7.16] Pitfalls to Qualification
- [7.17] Qualified Domestic Relations Order After Death of Participant
- [7.18] Contrary Beneficiary Designations
- [7.19] Qualified Domestic Relations Order Modification
- [7.20] Bankruptcy of Participant
- [7.21] Receipt of Benefits
- [7.22] Dividing the Benefit — Shared Payment or Separate Interest
- [7.23] Taxation of Benefits
- III. Qualified Retirement Plan Obligations Regarding Spouses
- [7.24] Qualified Joint and Survivor Annuity
- [7.25] Waiver of Automatic Qualified Joint and Survivor Annuity Distribution Form
- [7.26] Qualified Joint and Survivor Annuity Notice Rules
- Qualified Preretirement Survivor Annuity
- [7.27] Commencement of Annuity Payments
- [7.28] Waiver of Qualified Preretirement Survivor Annuity
- [7.29] Tax Issues for Surviving Spouses
- IV. [7.30] Qualified Domestic Relations Orders Apply to Same-Sex Couples
- V. Sample Forms and Documents
- [7.31] Sample Spousal Consent and Waiver Election
- [7.32] Sample Qualified Domestic Relations Order for Defined-Benefit Plan
- [7.33] Sample Qualified Domestic Relations Order for Defined-Contribution Plan
- [7.34] Qualified Domestic Relations Order Checklist
- [7.35] Sample Letter to Plan Participants Regarding Qualified Domestic Relations Order Procedures
- Chapter 8 — Special Considerations for Employee Stock Ownership Plans
- I. What Is an Employee Stock Ownership Plan?
- II. Transactions with Employee Stock Ownership Plan
- [8.5] Rollover of Sale Proceeds Under §1042 of the Internal Revenue Code
- [8.6] Requirements
- [8.7] Qualified Replacement Property
- [8.8] Disposition of Qualified Replacement Property
- [8.9] Planning with Qualified Replacement Property
- [8.10] Selection of Qualified Replacement Property
- [8.11] Charitable Gifts
- [8.12] Family Limited Partnerships
- [8.13] Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts
- [8.14] Charitable Remainder Trusts
- [8.15] Noncharitable Gifts
- Using an Employee Stock Ownership Plan To Transition Ownership of a Family Business
- [8.16] Transition Within a Family
- [8.17] Transition to Management Control
- [8.18] Limits on Employee Stock Ownership Plan Planning Involving S Corporations
- III. Distributions from Employee Stock Ownership Plan
- IV. Forms
- Chapter 9 — Retirement Plans and Creditor Protection
- Chapter 10 — The Efficacy of Individual Retirement Arrangement Planning and Investments: Allocating Assets Between Taxable and Tax-Deferred Accounts
- I. [10.1] Introduction
- II. [10.2] The Importance of Asset Allocation
- III. [10.3] Diversification
- IV. [10.4] Tax Efficiency of Investments
- V. The Case Study
- VI. Roth Individual Retirement Arrangements
- VII. [10.12] Real-Life Example
- VIII. [10.13] The Need for Rebalancing
- IX. [10.14] Conclusion
- X. [10.15] References
- Chapter 11 — Handling Individual Retirement Accounts and Qualified Plans After the Individual Retirement Account Owner or Participant Is Deceased
- I. [11.1] Introduction
- II. Administering Individual Retirement Accounts and Qualified Plans at Death
- Options of Surviving Spouse as Outright Beneficiary of Decedent’s Individual Retirement Account or Qualified Plan
- [11.2] Spouse Is Beneficiary of Decedent’s Individual Retirement Account
- [11.3] Spouse Rolls over Decedent’s Individual Retirement Account to Spouse’s Own Individual Retirement Account
- [11.4] Spouse Remains as Beneficiary of Decedent’s Individual Retirement Account
- Spouse Is Beneficiary of Decedent’s Interest in Qualified Plan
- [11.5] Lump-Sum Distribution Necessitates Spousal Individual Retirement Account Rollover
- [11.6] Avoiding Ten-Percent Penalty Tax for Withdrawing Property from Spouse’s Individual Retirement Account Before Age 59½
- [11.7] Net Unrealized Appreciation in Employer Securities
- [11.8] Disclaimer of Part of Individual Retirement Account by Spouse To Fund Bypass Trust
- Collecting Assets After Death
- [11.9] Consolidating Multiple Individual Retirement Accounts into Single Individual Retirement Account
- [11.10] Moving Individual Retirement Account to Different Financial Institution After Individual Retirement Account Owner Is Deceased
- [11.11] Individual Retirement Account’s Required Minimum Distribution for Year of Death Was Not Withdrawn
- [11.12] How the Minimum Distribution Rules Work: An Explanation in Plain English
- [11.13] What Is a “Designated Beneficiary” for Purposes of the Minimum Distribution Rules?
- [11.14] The Individual Retirement Account Has More than One Beneficiary
- [11.15] The Beneficiary of the Individual Retirement Account Is a Trust
- How the Minimum Distribution Rules Work, Viewed Chronologically
- [11.16] Client Is Alive and Under Age 70½
- [11.17] Client Dies Before Age 70½
- [11.18] Client Is Alive and over Age 70½
- [11.19] Client Dies After Age 70½
- [11.20] The Beneficiary Dies
- Revocable Trust as Beneficiary of Decedent’s Individual Retirement Account
- Income in Respect of a Decedent
- [11.21] Traditional Individual Retirement Account
- [11.22] Avoiding Recognition of Income in Respect of a Decedent When Forced To Fund Pecuniary Amount Trust with Individual Retirement Account
- [11.23] Revocable Trust Is Undesirable Beneficiary Designation
- [11.24] Postmortem Individual Retirement Account Planning To Obtain Designated Beneficiary
- [11.25] Rollover to Spouse’s Individual Retirement Account When Revocable Trust (and Not Spouse) Is Beneficiary of Decedent’s Individual Retirement Account
- [11.26] Estate Tax Apportionment Against Individual Retirement Account
- [11.27] Multiple Owners Individual Retirement Account After Death of Client
- [11.28] Noncitizen Spouse
- [11.29] Special-Needs Beneficiary
- [11.30] Individual Retirement Account as Community Property
- [11.31] Individual Retirement Account Grantor Dies First
- [11.32] Spouse Dies First; Individual Retirement Account Grantor Is Still Alive
- [11.33] Disproportionate Allocation of Community Property Individual Retirement Account
- [11.34] Qualified Plans
- III. Administering Individual Retirement Accounts After Death
- Individual Retirement Account as Asset of Irrevocable Trust — In General
- [11.35] Educating Individual Retirement Account Custodians That Decedent’s Individual Retirement Account May Be Owned by Series of Trusts, Individuals, and Estates
- [11.36] Trust Accounting for Principal and Income When Individual Retirement Account Is Asset of Trust
- Determining Trust Accounting Income from Individual Retirement Account
- [11.37] Trust instrument
- [11.38] State law
- [11.39] 2000 Uniform Principal and Income Act
- [11.40] Other state statutes, including Illinois
- Trust Accounting Income of Individual Retirement Account Will Be More or Less than Required Minimum Distribution
- [11.41] For calendar year, trust accounting income of individual retirement account is greater than required minimum distribution
- [11.42] For calendar year, trust accounting income of individual retirement account is less than required minimum distribution
- [11.43] Creditor Protection
- Individual Retirement Account as Asset of Irrevocable Trust — Qualified Terminable Interest Property Marital Trust
- [11.44] “All Income” Requirement
- [11.45] Conduit Trust
- IV. [11.46] Appendix
- Chapter 12 — Roth Individual Retirement Arrangements
- I. [12.1] Overview of Roth Individual Retirement Arrangements and Roth Conversions
- II. Creating a Roth Individual Retirement Arrangement — The Basics
- [12.2] When and How To Open a Roth Individual Retirement Arrangement
- [12.3] Eligible Roth Individual Retirement Arrangement Account Owners
- [12.4] Contribution Limits for Individual Retirement Arrangements
- [12.5] Contributions Need Not Be Made by the Income Earner
- [12.6] Excess Contributions
- [12.7] Roth 401(k) or 403(b) Plans
- III. Advantages and Disadvantages of Roth Individual Retirement Arrangements Compared with Traditional Individual Retirement Arrangements
- IV. [12.10] Distributions from a Roth Individual Retirement Arrangement
- V. [12.15] Converting Various Retirement Assets to Roth Individual Retirement Arrangements
- [12.16] Traditional Individual Retirement Arrangement to Roth Individual Retirement Arrangement
- [12.17] Benefits
- Typical Conversion Methods
- [12.18] Rollover
- [12.19] Trustee-to-Trustee Transfer
- [12.20] Same-Trustee Transfer
- [12.21] Types of Funds That May Be Converted
- [12.22] Converted Distributions Are Still Taxable
- [12.23] Determining What Amount To Convert
- Employer Plan to Roth Individual Retirement Arrangement
- [12.24] Types of Eligible Employer Plans
- [12.25] Timing
- [12.26] Subsequent Distributions of Conversion Contributions
- [12.27] Roth Individual Retirement Arrangement to Roth Individual Retirement Arrangement
- VI. [12.28] Taxable Distributions Within Five Years of a Roth Contribution or Conversion
- VII. [12.33] Planning Strategies for the Year of Conversion
- VIII. Recharacterization
- IX. [12.37] Conclusion
- Chapter 13 — Postmortem Planning
- I. [13.1] Introduction
- II. [13.2] Why Postmortem Changes Are Needed
- III. [13.3] First Steps After Participant’s Death
- [13.4] Contact the Plan Administrator
- [13.5] Review the Beneficiary Designation
- [13.6] Assess Disclaimer Possibilities
- [13.7] Distribute Required Minimum Distribution for Year of Death
- [13.8] Sixty-Day Rollovers
- [13.9] General Rule
- [13.10] Exceptions to the Rule
- [13.11] Hardship Waiver
- [13.12] No-Designated Beneficiary Status Postmortem
- [13.13] Waiver Considerations
- IV. [13.14] Critical Postmortem Dates
- V. [13.15] Spousal Options/Spousal Rollover
- VI. [13.16] Disclaimers
- [13.17] Disclaimer Rules
- [13.18] Year-of-Death Required Minimum Distribution and Partial Disclaimers
- [13.19] Using Disclaimers in Postmortem Planning
- [13.20] Multiple Disclaimers
- [13.21] Eliminating a Trust
- [13.22] Using Exemption
- [13.23] Younger Beneficiaries or Beneficiaries That Qualify as Designated Beneficiaries
- [13.24] Disclaimer by Estate
- [13.25] Exercise Care When Exercising Disclaimers
- VII. [13.26] Separate Accounts
- VIII. [13.30] Pay Out Non-Designated Beneficiaries and Older Designated Beneficiary
- IX. [13.31] Renunciation and Elective Share
- X. [13.32] Reformation
- XI. [13.33] Trusts as Plan Beneficiaries
- XII. [13.39] Planning Prior to Death
- Chapter 14 — Nonmarketable Investments in Individual Retirement Accounts
- I. [14.1] In General
- [14.2] Individual Retirement Account May Own Almost Any Type of Asset
- [14.3] Significant Limitations
- [14.4] Consent of Individual Retirement Account Custodian
- [14.5] Prohibited Transactions
- [14.6] Unrelated Business Taxable Income
- [14.7] Does the Investment Make Sense for a Tax-Sheltered Vehicle Such as an Individual Retirement Account?
- [14.8] Valuation
- [14.9] Rollover from Qualified Plan to Individual Retirement Account
- [14.10] Abusive Roth Individual Retirement Account Transactions
- II. [14.11] Real Estate and the Self-Directed Individual Retirement Account
- III. Use of Individual Retirement Accounts in Family Limited Partnerships
- [14.15] In General
- [14.16] Department of Labor Advisory Opinion Letter No. 2000-10A
- [14.17] Strategy in a Nutshell
- [14.18] Comparison of an Individual Retirement Account and an Individual Retirement Account That Has Invested in a Family Limited Partnership
- [14.19] Definition of “Disqualified Person” Under the Internal Revenue Code
- [14.20] Application of Internal Revenue Code Definitions
- [14.21] Unrelated Business Taxable Income
- [14.22] Self-Dealing
- [14.23] Summary Review
- IV. [14.24] Restricted Management Accounts
- [14.25] Description of the Restricted Management Account
- [14.26] Terms of the Investment Management Agreement
- [14.27] Potential Benefits of the Restricted Management Account
- [14.28] Example of Use of the Restricted Management Account in the Individual Retirement Account Context
- [14.29] Risks of the Individual Retirement Account/Restricted Management Account
- [14.30] Revenue Ruling 2008-35
- Svetlana V. Bekman
Svetlana V. Bekman
Svetlana V. Bekman is a senior trust attorney at the Legal Department of The Northern Trust Company in Chicago. Prior to joining The Northern Trust Company, Ms. Bekman was a partner in the Private Clients Group of Schiff Hardin LLP. She speaks and publishes articles and chapters on various aspects of IRAs and other retirement plans. Most recently, she wrote an article entitled IRA Administration for High Net Worth Clients and Their Beneficiaries — Unique Challenges and Best Practices for Financial Institutions for the ACTEC Law Journal, and spoke on “Protecting Inherited IRA Assets From Creditors” at the Annual Estate Planning Short Course for the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education. Ms. Bekman received her law degree from the Northwestern University School of Law and served as a clerk to the Honorable Elaine E. Bucklo (U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois).
- Jessica L. Berger
Jessica L. Berger
Jessica L. Berger is Of Counsel at Harrison & Held, LLP, in Chicago, and focuses her practice on private wealth services. Ms. Berger is an adjunct professor at The John Marshall Law School for the Estate and Tax LLM Program (2015 – present). She also has been selected as a Rising Star in trust and estate litigation by Super Lawyers (2017 – present) and an Emerging Lawyer by Leading Lawyers in trust, will, and estate planning (2015 – present). Ms. Berger received her J.D. from Indiana University Maurer School of Law and her B.A. from the University of Maryland.
- Jane Gorman Ditelberg
Jane Gorman Ditelberg
Jane Gorman Ditelberg is Assistant General Counsel and Senior Vice President at The Northern Trust Company in Chicago. As a member of Northern Trust’s Legal Department, she provides legal counsel to the bank in its role as executor, trustee, and guardian. She is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (Committees on Amicus Briefs (Vice Chair), State Laws, Employee Benefits, and Diversity and Inclusivity). She is a member of the Chicago Bar Association, where she served on the Task Force for the Illinois Trust Code and as Chair of the Estate and Gift Tax Subcommittee, and of the Chicago Estate Planning Council. She is a frequent author and lecturer on a wide range of estate and tax planning topics for groups including ACTEC, IICLE®, the Heckerling Estate Planning Institute, and the University of Notre Dame Estate Planning Conference.
- Robert S. Held
Robert S. Held
Robert S. Held is an attorney at Held Law Offices, in Chicago, and represents corporate and individual fiduciaries in complex estate and trust litigation. Held is a Past Chair of the Insurable Interest Sub-Committee of the Trust Law Committee of the Chicago Bar Association and of the CBA’s Federal Taxation Committee and its Estate and Gift Taxation subcommittee. He received his J.D. from DePaul University, his M.B.A. from Eastern New Mexico University, and his B.A. from the State University of New York at Buffalo.
- Ryan M. Holmes
Ryan M. Holmes
Ryan M. Holmes is a Member at Clark Hill PLC in Chicago, focusing his practice on real estate and tax and estate planning. He represents a number of business owners, entrepreneurs, C-suite executives at public companies, physicians, and individual executors and trustees, including corporate fiduciaries. He administers trusts and estates at any stage, including through controversies both inside and outside of court. Mr. Holmes received his B.A. from Knox College and his J.D. from Northern Illinois University College of Law.
- MacKenzie A. Hyde
MacKenzie A. Hyde
MacKenzie A. Hyde is a Partner at Clark Hill PLC in Chicago, where she focuses her practice on estate and trust litigation. Hyde was named a Notable Woman in the Law by Crain’s Chicago Business in 2022, a Leading Lawyer in Chicago in 2024, and was named among the Best Lawyers in America for Trusts and Estates by Best Lawyers for 2025. She earned her B.A., summa cum laude, from the University of Arizona and her J.D. from Loyola University Chicago School of Law.
- Steven R. Lifson
Steven R. Lifson
Steven R. Lifson is a retired Partner with Seyfarth Shaw LLP, in Chicago, and concentrated his practice on employee benefits and ERISA. Mr. Lifson is a member of the ESOP Association; the National Center for Employee Ownership; and the American, Illinois, and Chicago Bar Associations. Mr. Lifson obtained his undergraduate degree with honors from Boston University. He received his J.D. from the University of Illinois College of Law and his M.S. with honors from the University of Illinois Chicago College of Law.
- Kenneth F. Lorch
Kenneth F. Lorch
Kenneth F. Lorch, a Partner in the firm of Hamilton Thies & Lorch LLP in Chicago, concentrates his practice in business and financial planning and estate administration. Mr. Lorch is on the Professional Advisory Committees of the Lincoln Park Zoo, Jewish Federation of Chicago, and Chicago Community Trust. He has received the Chicago Bar Association’s David C. Hilliard Award for Outstanding Service to the Legal Community, has been selected an Illinois Super Lawyer since its inception, and has been selected an Illinois Leading Lawyer since 2001. Mr. Lorch is a member of the Chicago Bar Association, the Chicago Estate Planning Council, and the Chicago Council on Planned Giving and is admitted in Illinois as a certified public account. He received his B.S.B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis and his J.D. from The John Marshall Law School.
- Rita E. Luce
Rita E. Luce
Rita E. Luce is a Partner at Harrison & Held, LLP, in Chicago, concentrating her practice in estate planning and estate and trust administration. She is rated AV Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell and is included in the Bar Register of Preeminent Women Lawyers, and she has given numerous speeches and presentations to bar association groups, continuing legal education programs, law schools, financial planners, brokers, and social clubs. Ms. Luce received her B.S. from Michigan State University and her J.D. cum laude from Chicago-Kent College of Law.
- Jay P. Tarshis
Jay P. Tarshis
Jay P. Tarshis is a Partner at Arnstein & Lehr LLP in Chicago, where he concentrates his practice on estate planning and administration, taxation, and general corporate law. Mr. Tarshis has been selected a Leading Lawyer and frequently speaks on tax, estate planning, asset protection, family wealth planning, and related issues. He is admitted to the bars of the State of Illinois, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, and the U.S. Tax Court. Mr. Tarshis received his B.S. from Northwestern University and his J.D., cum laude, from the University of Illinois College of Law.
- Ryan A. Walsh
Ryan A. Walsh
Ryan A. Walsh is a Partner at Hamilton Thies & Lorch LLP, in Chicago, where he concentrates his practice on estate planning and trust and estate administration. Mr. Walsh is a member of the Chicago Estate Planning Council, the American Bar Association (Section of Taxation, Section of Real Property, Trust and Estate Law, Estate and Gift Tax Committee Vice-Chair), the Illinois State Bar Association (Federal Taxation Section Council and Trusts and Estates Section), the Chicago Bar Association (Trust Law Executive Committee), and the American Cancer Society Planned Giving Sub-Committee. He was named an Illinois Super Lawyer Rising Star in 2012, 2013, and 2014. He received his B.S. from the University of Notre Dame and his J.D. magna cum laude from Loyola University Chicago School of Law, where he was a staff editor of the Loyola University Chicago Consumer Law Review.
- Steven B. Weinstein
Steven B. Weinstein
Steven B. Weinstein founded the independent investment advisory firm Altair Advisers LLC in Chicago in 2002 after nearly two decades with Arthur Andersen. He is a member of the CFA Society Chicago, the Chicago Estate Planning Council, and the Economic Club of Chicago. He has been named one of Barron’s top 100 independent financial advisers, a Worth magazine top wealth adviser, and one of Chicago Magazine’s top 10 financial advisers. He received his B.A. with distinction, Phi Beta Kappa, from Stanford University and his J.D. cum laude and M.B.A. with distinction from Northwestern University.
- Mary-Ann Wilson
Mary-Ann Wilson
Mary-Ann Wilson is a Partner at Harrison & Held, LLP, in Chicago, where she concentrates her practice in estate planning and estate and trust administration. She is a member of the Chicago Estate Planning Council and has been recognized as a Leading Lawyer in estate planning (2006 – 2015). She presented Buy-Sell Agreements and Sales Strategies for Succession Plans and Other Estate Planning Techniques Uniquely Applicable to Small Businesses at IICLE®’s BUSINESS SUCCESSION PLANNING FOR THE FAMILY BUSINESS course (2010 and 2011). Ms. Wilson received her B.A. from Brown University and her J.D. from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, where she was a member of the Law Review and the Order of Coif.
Estate Planning for Retirement Benefits (ARCHIVED 2015 EDITION)
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