Chicago Estate Planning Lawyer

Trusted estate planning lawyers serving clients across Chicago and the surrounding area.

If you own property in Chicago, have children, run a business, or have accumulated any meaningful amount of savings, you need an estate plan, and what you need is probably more involved than just a will. A complete estate plan is a coordinated set of legal documents that determines who receives your assets when you die, who manages your finances and healthcare if you become incapacitated, and how your family avoids the cost and delay of probate where possible. Without one, the state of Illinois makes all of those decisions for you based on statutory defaults that almost never reflect what a person would have chosen for themselves.

Kravets Law Group builds estate plans for individuals and families throughout Chicago and the surrounding Illinois communities. Our Chicago, IL estate planning lawyer creates wills, revocable trusts, powers of attorney, healthcare directives, and beneficiary designation plans that work together as a single coordinated system. Daniel Kravets has practiced since 2016, founded the firm in 2020, and personally handles every estate planning engagement. We charge flat rates for estate plans and offer a free consultation where we assess your situation and tell you which documents you actually need.

Estate Planning Lawyer Chicago, IL

What makes an estate plan different from just having a will?

A will controls the distribution of assets that pass through probate, but many of the most valuable things people own never go through probate at all. Retirement accounts, life insurance policies, jointly held property, and assets in a trust all transfer outside the will based on their own rules. An estate planning attorney coordinates all of those transfer mechanisms into a single plan so nothing falls through the cracks, and so the people you care about receive what you intended rather than what the default rules produce.

Daniel Kravets has built estate plans for Chicago clients with assets ranging from $300,000 to above $30 million, and the issues that come up at each level are different enough that the planning has to be tailored specifically. He works with blended families navigating inheritance questions that involve stepchildren and former spouses, multi-property owners who need plans that account for real estate in multiple states, and business owners whose estate plans must integrate with their company’s succession strategy.

Types of Estate Planning Cases We Handle in Chicago

We build estate plans that range from fundamental documents for young families to comprehensive plans for clients with significant assets and complex family situations.

• Wills. We draft wills that name beneficiaries, appoint executors, designate guardians for minor children, and include specific bequests of personal property, and we make sure each will complies with the signing and witnessing requirements under the Illinois Probate Act so it cannot be challenged on procedural grounds.
• Revocable trusts. We create revocable trusts that hold assets during your lifetime and transfer them to your beneficiaries at death without going through probate, giving your family privacy and saving them the time and expense of a court-supervised administration process.
• Special needs trusts. We design special needs trusts for families who have a child or dependent with a disability, structured so the trust provides supplemental support without disqualifying the beneficiary from government benefits like Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income.
• Financial powers of attorney. We draft durable financial powers of attorney that authorize a trusted person to manage your bank accounts, pay your bills, handle your investments, and make financial decisions on your behalf if you become incapacitated.
• Healthcare directives. We prepare healthcare powers of attorney and advance directives that document your medical treatment preferences and designate someone to make healthcare decisions for you when you cannot make them yourself.
• Trust funding. We handle the trust funding process, which involves retitling assets into the trust after it is created, because a trust that owns nothing on paper provides no benefit regardless of how well it was drafted.
• Beneficiary designation reviews. We review and coordinate beneficiary designations on retirement accounts, life insurance policies, and payable-on-death accounts, because these designations override what the will says and an outdated one can send a significant asset to the wrong person.
• Estate plans for business owners. We build estate plans that integrate with business succession plans for Chicago business owners whose personal estate and company are financially intertwined.

Chicago Estate Planning Infographic

Why Choose Kravets Law Group for Estate Planning in Chicago, IL?

Planning That Accounts for What Actually Goes Wrong

Daniel Kravets earned his J.D. from Drexel University Thomas R. Kline School of Law and is admitted in Illinois, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. He is a member of the Chicago Bar Association and the Decalogue Society, active in BNI and the Lincoln Park Chamber of Commerce, and involved in the Russian-speaking Jewish Division of the Jewish United Fund. He is the author of a forthcoming estate planning book and regularly speaks at community and professional events across the Chicago area.

What sets his estate planning apart is that he also handles probate, trust administration, and litigation, so he has seen firsthand what happens when plans are poorly drafted or incomplete. He has administered estates where outdated beneficiary designations sent retirement accounts to an ex-spouse, where unfunded trusts failed to avoid probate as intended, and where families ended up in contested wills proceedings that could have been prevented with clearer drafting. That experience shapes how he builds every estate plan, because he knows where the failure points are and designs around them.

Flat-Rate Pricing With No Hidden Costs

We charge a flat fee for estate plans, and we tell you what the price will be before we start. A standalone will is one price, a will with powers of attorney and healthcare directives is another, and a comprehensive plan with a revocable trust and all companion documents is priced as a package. We also offer a free initial consultation where we evaluate your situation and recommend only the documents you genuinely need. Chicago families who are unsure whether they need a trust can explore the benefits of trusts during that same meeting.

Understanding Estate Planning Cases

Key Estate Planning Documents and How They Work Together

Each document in an estate plan serves a distinct function, and the plan only works properly when all of the pieces are in place.

• A last will and testament controls the distribution of probate assets, names an executor to manage the estate, and designates guardians for minor children.
• A revocable living trust holds titled assets during your lifetime and passes them directly to beneficiaries at death without probate, while giving you full control during your lifetime.
• A pour-over will captures any assets that were not transferred into the trust before death and directs them into the trust, acting as a safety net for the plan.
• A durable financial power of attorney authorizes someone to manage your finances if you are incapacitated.
• A healthcare power of attorney designates someone to make medical decisions for you, and an advance directive records your preferences about life-sustaining treatment.

The IRS estate and gift tax rules impose a federal estate tax on estates above the exemption threshold, and Illinois has its own estate tax at a lower threshold, so Chicago residents with significant assets need plans that account for both.

What Are Important Aspects of an Estate Planning Case?

The biggest mistake people make in estate planning is treating it as a one-time event rather than a living system that needs to be updated when life changes. A plan drafted when your children were toddlers may no longer make sense when they are adults with families of their own. Divorce, remarriage, the birth of a grandchild, the purchase or sale of a business, a move to a new state, and significant changes in asset value are all triggers that should prompt a review. We recommend revisiting your estate plan every three to five years at minimum.

Another common issue in Chicago is the gap between what people think their plan does and what it actually does. Joint tenancy, payable-on-death designations, and beneficiary forms on retirement accounts all operate outside of the will, and if those transfer mechanisms contradict the will, the non-will mechanism usually wins. Coordinating everything requires someone who understands how all of the pieces interact, and that is what we do.

What Is the Estate Planning Timeline?

Most Chicago families complete their estate plan within three to five weeks.

• Consultation: We discuss your assets, family situation, goals, and concerns in a meeting that typically lasts about an hour.
• Drafting: We prepare your estate planning documents within one to two weeks.
• Review: You review the drafts and let us know if anything needs to change.
• Execution: You sign the documents in front of witnesses and a notary, and we coordinate the logistics.
• Trust funding: If your plan includes a trust, we help you retitle assets into it, which may take an additional one to two weeks.

What Should You Bring to Your Estate Planning Consultation?

Bring the following to your first meeting:

• A list of significant assets, including real estate, financial accounts, retirement accounts, life insurance, and business interests
• Names and contact information for people you are considering as beneficiaries, executors, trustees, guardians, and agents under powers of attorney
• Any existing estate planning documents, including prior wills, trusts, or powers of attorney
• Information about debts and liabilities
• Details about business ownership, if relevant

What Are Important Illinois Legal Resources for Estate Planning Cases?

• The Illinois General Assembly publishes the Probate Act and related estate planning statutes.
• The Cook County Probate Division provides probate court forms and procedural guidance.
• The IRS estate tax page explains federal estate tax thresholds and filing requirements.
• The Illinois Attorney General offers consumer protection resources.
• Illinois Legal Aid Online provides free legal information for Illinois residents.

Reach Out to Kravets Law Group to Schedule a Consultation

If you need an estate plan in Chicago, Kravets Law Group can build one that actually works. We offer flat-rate pricing and a free consultation where we assess your situation and recommend the right documents. Contact us to schedule yours.