1999 Articles

1998 Illinois case law update: How to keep your powder dry By Donald L. Metzger February 1999 Dawn Calhoun, a minor, received a personal injury settlement in excess of $2.5 million.

Beyond the legalities By Thorpe Facer May 1999 The membership of the Trusts and Estates Section of the ISBA is the second largest of any section.

A conversation with a client By Thomas A. Polachek September 1999 A. The short answer is that I cannot answer until I know more about your family and financial circumstances, although I will say that you should at least have a simple will (everything to spouse, if she/he survives, otherwise to children) and if you have minor children, you want to name who will be responsible for them ("guardians") in your will. More importantly, you may need an estate plan.

Donating bodies to science By Deanne Morgan, J.D. May 1999 On occasions, a client may express a desire to donate his or her body to science.

Editor’s note February 1999 Editor's note: This newsletter issue contains a compendium of recent Illinois estate and probate decisions prepared by Donald L. Metzger of Edwardsville, Illinois.

Editors’ notes By Paul A. Meints & Mark E. Zumdahl October 1999 This issue is unusual from a couple of perspectives, none of which is really obvious to the reader.

Editor’s notes By Paul A. Meints & Mark E. Zumdahl September 1999 This first issue of Volume 46 of the Trusts and Estates newsletter contains four articles.

Editor’s notes May 1999 Editor's note: This issue of the Trusts and Estates newsletter contains three interesting articles. The first article is by Deanne Morgan of Saint & Carmichael, P.C., Bloomington, Illinois.

Estate, gift and GST tax reform: The “Taxpayer Refund and Relief Act of 1999” By David A. Berek September 1999 The "Taxpayer Refund and Relief Act of 1999" (hereinafter the "Act") was approved by both houses of Congress on August 5th, 1999.

Estate tax malpractice—PART I By Robert Feinschreiber & Margaret Ken October 1999 Executors are increasingly willing to pursue malpractice claims against estate tax professionals, as witnessed by two recent cases, Stevenson v. Severs, 82 AFTR2d. Par. 98-6912 (D.C. 1998), and Johnson v. Sandler, Balkin, Hellman & Weinstein, 958 S.W.2d 42 (Mo.App.1998).

Estate tax malpractice—PART II By Robert Feinschreiber & Margaret Kent November 1999 The diversity of malpractice claims includes loss of the marital deduction, loss of the alternative valuation option, loss of "less than fair value" valuation, failure of life insurance trusts, inadequacy of disclaimers, late payments, erroneous tax returns, inheritance tax returns, misapplied Clifford trusts, misuse of QTIP trusts, erroneous fiduciary income tax returns, and the like.

For what it’s worth By Paul A. Meints November 1999 New legislation.

Get the most from your section membership: join the Trusts & Estates Section e-mail discussion By Mark Mathewson September 1999 Have you ever needed a quick curbside from a colleague but couldn't find one, or a quick answer about, say, a new piece of legislation but didn't know whom to ask? If so and who hasn't?

Mistakes of practitioners in estate planning By Richard P. Miller September 1999 A. The description of a specific bequest must be clear as to what property and to whom it should be distributed.

Naming a trust as beneficiary of an IRA By Douglas J. March May 1999 The advantages of naming a spouse as beneficiary of an IRA are fairly well known.

Package pricing for estate planners By Thorpe Facer September 1999 All of us want a profile practice that provides professional service to clients. We also want time with our families, vacations, the opportunity to pursue hobbies.

Recent estate and gift tax cases, rulings and regulations—the stuff that there was not enough time in the day to read By Michael L. English April 1999 Letter Ruling 9842003 continues the recent Service assault on valuation discounts for transfers to family limited partnerships which are created or funded shortly prior to death.