The U.S. Supreme Court's Windsor (DOMA) and Hollingsworth (Prop 8) cases made big national news, but what do they mean for a civil-union state like Illinois? That's the question Charles F. Newlin considers in the latest ISBA Trusts and Estates newsletter.

The short answer? '[N]either of these monumental decisions has any immediate, significant effect on Illinois residents," Newlin writes. But they're still worth taking into account, he advises estate planners. "In the future, civil unions may qualify for certain federal benefits depending upon how various agencies decide to apply the law to civil unions and domestic partnerships in light of Windsor," he writes. And it's "unclear how Windsor will affect gay couples who married in a state that permits same-sex marriage and have since moved to Illinois." Read his analysis.