Wealth, Estate & Legacy Planning

Create clear instructions for how your property should be managed and transferred while addressing beneficiaries, fiduciaries, family circumstances, and long-term goals.

For appropriate clients, a properly structured and funded revocable living trust may also simplify asset transfers and reduce the need for probate administration.

Right for you if: You want more control over how your property is managed and distributed and want a plan built around your family and assets.

Estate planning is not only about what happens after death.

Powers of attorney allow you to designate trusted individuals to make financial and health-care decisions if illness, injury, or incapacity prevents you from making those decisions yourself.

Right for you if: You want to make sure someone you trust has clear legal authority to act on your behalf when important decisions must be made.

Estate planning works best when the documents are coordinated.

Depending on your circumstances, a comprehensive plan may include:

• Revocable Living Trust

• Last Will and Testament or Pour-Over Will

• Power of Attorney for Property

• Power of Attorney for Health Care

• Living Will / Advance Directive

• HIPAA Authorization

• Trust Funding Guidance

• Beneficiary and Asset Coordination

Right for you if: You want a complete estate plan rather than isolated documents that may not work together.

Creating a trust is only the beginning.

Asset ownership, beneficiary designations, real estate, financial accounts, and other property may need to be coordinated with the trust so the plan functions as intended.

The firm provides guidance on what steps may be needed after signing so clients understand how to put their estate plan into practice.

Right for you if: You already have or are creating a trust and want to make sure your assets are properly coordinated with it.

Whether you need to open a probate estate, have been asked to serve as executor or administrator, or are responsible for settling a loved one's affairs, Attorney Stitt handles the legal requirements so you can focus on what matters most.

What Attorney Stitt can help you with:
— Opening the probate estate with the Illinois court
— Petitioning to be appointed executor or administrator
— Notifying creditors and handling valid claims
— Inventorying and valuing estate assets
— Distributing assets to rightful heirs
— Fulfilling your fiduciary duties correctly and efficiently
— Closing the estate with the court

Right for you if: You need to open a probate estate in Illinois, serve as executor or administrator, or settle a loved one's affairs — and want professional guidance to fulfill your duties correctly, protect yourself from personal liability, and close the estate efficiently.

For parents, estate planning involves more than determining who inherits property.

A thoughtful plan can address:

• Guardianship nominations

• Management of assets for minor children

• Who should control inherited funds

• When children should receive property

• Life insurance and beneficiary coordination

• Incapacity planning for parents

Right for you if: You have children who depend on you and want to create a clear plan for their care and financial protection.

Blended families often require more careful planning.

A client may want to provide for a spouse while also preserving assets for children from a prior relationship.

Estate planning can help clarify intentions, balance competing interests, and reduce opportunities for conflict later.

Right for you if: You are remarried, have children from a prior relationship, or need a plan that accounts for multiple family interests.

Real estate is often one of a family's most valuable assets.

The way property is owned and transferred can affect estate administration, beneficiary rights, and how efficiently the property passes to the next generation.

The firm helps clients evaluate how real estate fits into the broader estate plan.

Right for you if: You own a home, rental property, or other real estate and want that property integrated into your planning.

Your personal estate plan and your business plan should not exist in separate worlds.

Business ownership, operating agreements, succession planning, incapacity, and transfer provisions may all affect what happens to the company if an owner retires, becomes disabled, or dies.

The firm helps business owners coordinate personal estate planning with business ownership and succession objectives.

Right for you if: You own a business and want your estate plan to account for ownership, continuity, succession, and family considerations.

Estate planning can help you think beyond immediate document needs.

Depending on your circumstances, planning may help simplify transfers, reduce unnecessary administrative expense, address beneficiary concerns, consider potential tax issues, and reduce the likelihood of future family disputes.

Right for you if: You want to think strategically about what happens to your assets over time—not simply who receives them.