A will is a start.
It's rarely enough.
Most people with an estate plan have one thing: a will drafted years ago that hasn't been looked at since. Meanwhile, their accounts have grown, their family has changed, and the documents meant to protect them no longer reflect what they actually want.
Our Approach
We're not estate attorneys. We're the people who make sure everything actually works together.
Estate attorneys draft documents. We make sure those documents connect correctly to your accounts, your beneficiary designations, your retirement assets, and your financial plan. Those two things happen separately far more often than they should — and the gaps get discovered at the worst possible time.
We work alongside your estate attorney — or can help you find one — to coordinate the financial and legal sides of your plan. The goal is simple: your assets go where you intend, on your terms, with as little friction and tax exposure as possible.
- Beneficiary designations that point to the wrong person
- Retirement accounts handled by will instead of designation
- Powers of attorney that are outdated or missing entirely
- Illinois estate tax exposure no one has modeled
- Business interests with no succession structure in place
Estate planning in practice
These are the specific conversations and reviews we have with clients — not abstract concepts, but the actual work that makes an estate plan functional.
Will & Trust Coordination
We review your existing documents with an eye toward how they interact with your financial accounts. A will controls probate assets — but most retirement accounts and life insurance pass by beneficiary designation, not through a will. We make sure both sides are aligned.
Beneficiary Audit
Outdated beneficiary designations are one of the most common — and most costly — estate planning mistakes. A divorce, a death, a new child, or even a forgotten account can route assets in ways that contradict everything your documents say. We review and update these proactively.
Illinois Estate Tax Planning
Illinois imposes its own estate tax starting at $4 million — one of the lowest thresholds in the country. Many clients, particularly business owners and long-time homeowners, are closer to that number than they realize. We model your current exposure and identify strategies to reduce it.
Who we help: Business Owners →Powers of Attorney & Directives
A financial power of attorney and a healthcare directive are not optional documents — they're the pieces that let people you trust make decisions on your behalf if you're unable to. We make sure these are in place, current, and that the people named actually know what you want.
Gifting & Transfer Strategies
Annual exclusion gifts, 529 contributions, and direct tuition payments can move assets out of your estate in a way that benefits your family today. Coordinated with your broader financial picture, strategic gifting is often the most efficient way to reduce estate tax exposure while you're still here to see the impact.
Business Succession & Transfer
Transferring a business interest — whether to family, a partner, or a third party — involves estate, tax, and financial planning that must happen well in advance. The structure of the transfer affects what your heirs receive, what gets taxed, and whether the business survives the transition intact.
Estate planning for business owners →The documents are only as good as the coordination behind them.
Estate attorneys draft wills and trusts. Financial advisors manage accounts. The problem is that these two sides rarely talk to each other — and the disconnects that result are discovered when families are least equipped to deal with them.
We sit in the middle of that conversation by design. It's the part of estate planning most people don't know they're missing — and the part that determines whether the plan actually works when it needs to.
Estate planning looks different depending on where you are
The priorities shift based on your assets, your family structure, and what's most likely to go wrong without attention.
Retirees & Pre-Retirees
Retirement account assets — IRAs, 401(k)s — are among the most tax-inefficient assets to pass to heirs. How they're handled in your estate plan, and how they interact with your spending and RMD strategy, makes a meaningful difference. This is worth a careful look before accounts grow further.
Who we help: Retirees →Business Owners
A business interest complicates estate planning in ways a standard will wasn't designed to handle. Between Illinois estate tax exposure, buy-sell agreements, and succession questions, the financial and legal pieces need to be coordinated — early, not at the end.
Who we help: Business Owners →Suddenly Single
Divorce and the death of a spouse both require immediate estate plan updates — beneficiary designations, powers of attorney, account titling, and will provisions that may now point to the wrong people. This is urgent work, and we help clients get through it without missing something critical.
Who we help: Suddenly Single →From our Planning Perspectives library
Articles and tools you can use before, during, or after a conversation with us.
Tax-Efficient Gifting Strategies
Annual exclusion gifts, donor-advised funds, and how to give in ways that reduce your estate while benefiting the people you care about.
Read article →Do You Need a Trust?
Wills get most of the attention, but for many families a trust plays an important role. The right answer depends on your assets and how you want things handled.
Read the guide →Certified Divorce Financial Analyst
Estate plan updates after divorce require financial and legal coordination. Brianna's CDFA® credential means this work is part of our core practice, not a referral.
Learn about CDFA® →Let's make sure your plan actually does what you intend.
A single conversation can surface gaps you didn't know were there — and that's worth something before they become a problem.