Levin & Schreder is one of the largest law firms devoted exclusively to estate and income tax planning in the Chicago area.

Estate Planning

At Levin & Schreder, we believe that estate planning is about providing solutions best suited to each client's needs. We view estate planning as a process - started early and carried out over an extended period of time. There is more to estate planning than just preparing wills and trusts - the goal is to use the appropriate tools to achieve each client's specific needs and wishes. In so doing, we guide our clients through long-range planning, applying our firm's vast legal experience.

Most of our clients are concerned about how to effectively and legally reduce exposure to gift or estate taxes, or inheritance taxes. We provide advice on estate planning techniques which can be used not only upon death but during lifetime to enable wealth to pass to a client's intended beneficiaries in the most tax efficient manner. These transactions can include the creation of generation-skipping trusts and partnerships, corporations or other entities which can be used to shift the growth in the value of assets out of a client's estate. In developing the plan which is best suited for a client's financial as well as family situation, we look closely at the type of assets involved - whether business interest, retirement assets, real estate or marketable securities.

There is also more to wealth management and estate planning than tax considerations. At least as important are the questions of how to best provide for one's family, both during lifetime and at death, and who should control the assets after a client's death. Making such decisions is difficult regardless of the age or capacity of a person's children. We are able to provide perspectives from our varied experiences and offer alternatives based on a client's description of his or her concerns and feelings about money.

Finally, we counsel clients about creating estate plans that can provide appropriate asset protection, both for the client during lifetime and for the client's family after the client's death.