Top Best Estate Lawyers | 18703 Available

Sean Robertson and Gateville Law Firm focus their practice in the areas of real estate and estate planning law.  Sean Robertson is an experienced real estate and estate planning attorney with virtual offices in Yorkville, Illinois.  Sean Robertson is Principal of Gateville Law Firm, which is located in Yorkville, Illinois.  With respect to real estate closings, we handle closings throughout the Chicagoland area. For estate planning, we primarily handle estate planning issues in and around Yorkville, Illinois. We do handle estate planning matters virtually via phone and/or zoom in Illinois as well.. With respect to real estate law, Sean Robertson concentrates in real estate law including the following:. --Residential Real Estate Closings including the purchase and sale of real estate. --Commercial Real Estate Law including the purchase and sale of commercial real estate and property. --Asset Protection for Real Estate Owners, Investors, and Commercial Property Owners. --Review of Commercial Real Estate Leases. --Preparation of Quit Claim Deeds. With respect to estate planning law, Sean Robertson concentrates in simple to advanced planning, wealth preservation, and asset protection for individuals and business owners.  As a graduate of DePaul University College of Law, Sean Robertson has an advanced tax and wealth planning background, which enable Gateville Law Firm to concentrate on simple to sophisticated estate planning and business planning.. We assist in the following areas:. --Preparation of Revocable Living Trusts, Wills, and Powers of Attorneys. --Advanced Estate Planning involving federal and state estate tax planning and income tax planning. --Business Succession Planning and Exit Planning. --Special Needs Estate Planning. --Business Purchase and Sale Transactions involving businesses and franchise businesses. --Set-up of holding and subsidiary companies for Real Estate Owners and Investors. --Asset Protection and Physician Estate Planning. --Family Business and Estate Planning. --Elder Law

Donna concentrates her practice in the area of probate, particuarly guardianship, trust administration and decedent's estates. She routinely oversees real estate transactions as well. In addition to representing individuals and their families, Donna represents financial institutions in their capacity as estate guardian, trustee and executor and advises clients in various other aspects of trust and estate administration.. Donna received her Bachelor of Arts in English and minor in Biology from Loyola University Chicago in 2018, followed by her Paralegal Certificate with Honors in 2019. She received her Juris Doctor from Chicago-Kent College of Law in the Spring of 2022 and is licensed to practice in Illinois as of November 2022. During her time in law school, Donna externed for the Circuit Court of Cook County Probate Division and clerked for two probate firms. Following her admittance to the bar, Donna worked as an associate in the estate settlement department of a large financial institution, where she assisted in the post-death administration of high net worth and ultra-high net worth trusts.

Private Practice Philosophy: Trisha focuses her practice on individual and small business transactional and compliance matters.  She handles all areas of real estate law, estate planning matters, and business transactions and compliance.  She believes in actively listening and communicating with her clients in order to help them accomplish their goals, and in up-front flat-fee pricing whenever possible to help clients stay on budget.Professional Legal Experience: Before starting her own practice, Trisha worked in both a large law firm and as general counsel for a small business.  While working for one of the largest labor and employment law firms in the country, Trisha gained experience counseling employers on benefit law compliance and transactions.  This consisted of complex business tax planning and compliance, and managing employee relations.  Later, she joined a small business team in which she negotiated vendor contracts, employment agreements, and asset purchase agreements; managed employment functions; and established business infrastructure.  Professional Non-Legal Experience: Before becoming an attorney, Trisha worked as a business insurance agent where she helped clients assess their asset status and possible liabilities and determine insurance coverages appropriate to protect those assets and insulate clients from liabilities.  Education: Trisha graduated from Chicago-Kent College of Law in the top 10% of her class.  While in law school she served as a Notes and Comments editor on the Chicago-Kent Law Review, was Vice President of the Moot Court Honor Society, worked as a Legal Writing Teaching Assistant, completed a judicial externship and received a certificate in Labor and Employment Law.She received her undergraduate degree from DePaul University with a major in Mathematics and a concentration in Actuarial Science, which is the mathematical analysis of insurance and financial instruments, among other statistical analysis.  She has studied the financial aspects of instruments such as mortgages, life insurance policies, and investment vehicles.Community Involvement: Trisha is a Lincoln-Way resident and a very active member of the Lincoln-Way community.  She currently sits on the board of a community not-for-profit corporation and volunteers with many other similar organizations.

Kevin Gilbert Drendel is the managing shareholder in Drendel & Jansons Law Group. Kevin graduated cum laude from Cornell College in 1982 and from Northern Illinois University Law School magna cum laude in 1991, graduating second in his class.  While at Northern Illinois University, he was a member of the Law Review, was published in the University’s scholarly journal, and received the West Publishing Award for Outstanding Scholastic Achievement.  Kevin Drendel is a member of the Illinois State Bar Association and is a past President of the Kane County Bar Association. Kevin Drendel’s practice emphasizes estate planning and administration, lending law, corporate law, commercial and business law, employment law, commercial and residential real estate, civil litigation, municipal law and school law.

Brandon Ayers prides himself on providing client-focused service that blends a commitment to care and positive outcomes to clients and their families. Brandon enjoys serving young families, working professionals, and retirees by guiding them through stressful and complex decisions. He is an experienced estate planning, income tax planning, and real estate attorney who has helped hundreds of clients navigate through important life events.. Brandon believes that modern estate planning requires focus on more than end of life issues. Other considerations including aging, disability, long-term care, and multi- generational income tax are essential to a crafting a comprehensive estate plan. Brandon stands alongside clients to guide them through difficult, yet important decisions that result in estate plan that serves the unique nature of each person’s situation. While Brandon cannot solve every problem in someone’s life, he aims to provide clients a plan that helps confidently navigate the unknowns ahead.. Brandon’s commitment to his clients extends into sales and purchases of their homes. Over the better part of the past decade, Brandon has helped many of his clients achieve their home buying and selling dreams. Brandon has created a system of clear and open communication with his clients and their realtors to ensure a smooth closing process that reduces unnecessary stress and ambiguity.. Brandon brings a diversity of life experiences to his practice. He began his legal career after teaching high school history and coaching soccer. Brandon has carried his classroom practices of meeting individualized needs, as well as breaking down complex topics into clear, understandable concepts to his practice of law.

Pat has been a trial lawyer for more than a decade and has tried numerous cases to verdict. Pat first developed a passion for advocating for the rights of others when he worked trying criminal cases as a third-year law student while serving as a law clerk in the Cook County State's Attorney's Office. Pat founded Quinn Law Group on the principles of serving the needs of his clients and fighting for their just compensation.. Pat is a lifelong Chicagoan. He grew up in a working-class family and learned a strong work ethic from watching his parents work hard to provide for their four kids. Pat's father worked six days a week, often in 12-hour shifts, as a union printer, and his mother worked part-time as a bookkeeper while teaching Pat and his sibling's self-reliance and the importance of education.. Pat lives with his family on the northwest side of Chicago. In his free time, he enjoys spending time with family and friends, coaching his kids' sports teams, and being an active member of the Saint Paul of the Cross Men's Club.

I am an attorney and principal with Rhoades Levy Law Group P.C., Northbrook, Illinois - with offices in Chicago and Lake Forest.Specialties: The Supreme Court of Illinois does not recognize certifications of specialties in the practice of law, and I do not hold myself out as a specialist. However, I concentrate my practice in the areas of estate planning, estate and trust administration, business / corporate law and commercial real estate. I provide comprehensive business and personal services to small and medium sized business and the owners of these businesses. My business practice focuses on counseling clients on business entity choices, organizing corporations and limited liability companies, advising clients with regard to day-to-day business operations (including confidentiality, employment, independent contractor, employment separation, supplier, vendor, website development and software development agreements) and handling a multitude of other matters including purchases and sales of businesses, real estate transactions and commercial leases. In addition, I have considerable experience in the areas of estate planning and estate and trust administration, including preparing and coordinating estate plan documents, counseling clients with regard to business succession planning and wealth preservation planning, handling estate and trust administration and preparing estate and gift tax returns. I am committed to building collaborative relationships with clients and providing cost-effective, comprehensive, client-focused service utilizing sound legal strategies and judgment in a responsive manner.

Ian received his Juris Doctor, Magna Cum Laude from Georgetown University in 2007, and was admitted to the Illinois Bar the same year.  From 2007-2014, Ian served as a JAG in the United States Air Force.  As a uniformed attorney, Ian prepared hundreds of estate planning documents for deploying servicemembers, military families, and retirees around the world.  For these clients, a solid estate plan typically included a will, applicable testamentary trusts, durable powers of attorney for finances and healthcare, a living will, and other associated documents.. Many of Ian's clients have had legal complexities common to the military world, including domicile outside their state of residence, blended families spread across multiple states and countries, and property ownership in several jurisdictions.. Last year Ian and his family returned home to DuPage County, where Ian was raised from birth until graduation from Naperville North High School. As an estate planning and small-business-focused attorney, Ian plans to continue helping clients achieve security and peace of mind for their family's future.

Jeff is a Naperville attorney and counselor who has a unique blend of skills.  He is equally at home in a court room, advocating aggressively for his client, as he is sitting across a table, helping a family grapple with sensitive issues in creating a lasting legacy.

My clients trust me with the two most valuable aspects of their lives: everyone they love and everything they own. I consider this the highest honor. My mission is to give them peace of mind.I focus my practice on estate planning, asset preservation, probate, special needs planning, elder law, business, taxation, and succession planning in the Chicago area. I am experienced in integrating business, tax, asset protection, and estate planning for individuals, closely-held business owners, and families. I listen to my clients and then recommend a plan in keeping with their needs and goals. I structure and draft documents ranging from simple wills, trusts, and powers of attorney to complex plans involving limited liability companies, irrevocable trusts, special needs trusts, and charitable trusts. My scholastic professional background includes a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and History from Loyola University Chicago, a Juris Doctorate from Valparaiso University School of Law, and a Master of Laws (LLM) degree in Information Technology and Privacy Law from the John Marshall Law School. I am a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys, the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, the Illinois State Bar Association, the DuPage County Bar Association, the Kane County Bar Association, and a former member of Wealth Counsel.  I am also a fellow of the prestigious Leadership Greater Chicago, a group that strives to create lifelong partnerships and develops community awareness among leaders in the Chicago metropolitan area.. I live in the western suburbs, where my husband has established his dental practice.  We have four energetic and curious children who range in age from 17 to 3.  I enjoy travel, hiking, biking, tidepooling, and wading through creeks with my children.. I practice estate planning law for one simple reason: I want to leave the world a better place than the one I inherited. Why do I care what happens after I’m gone? Because my children and their friends are going to live in this world. I am thankful to be living the American Dream and I see it as my responsibility to help the next generation do the same. A meaningful legacy can help them achieve it.

Robert J. Varak is a graduate of the University of Illinois (B.A, 1993) and The John Marshall Law School (J.D., 1996), where he was recognized as a Dean’s Scholar. In over a decade as a practicing attorney he has focused on estate planning and business law. Mr. Varak has created plans for estates of all sizes, from the most modest of estates up to and including complex estates with assets valued at millions of dollars. While the primary goal of most of Mr. Varak’s clients is to insure that their children are provided for financially, the plans he implements for his clients include creative tools to assure every parent that the guardianship, educational and other needs of their children are completely addressed while minimizing the costs and expense which may diminish many estates. In addition to representing private individuals, Mr. Varak has consulted with nonprofit organizations regarding implementing and optimizing their planned giving programs. He has drafted planned giving policies and advised organizations on everything from marketing to stewardship. Mr. Varak also has extensive experience in business law as both a transactional attorney and litigator. He has successfully litigated on behalf of Fortune 500 corporations as well as individual entrepreneurs, and he understands that every deal or lawsuit requires a unique plan suited to the business he represents. Mr. Varak is married and the father of three young daughters.Specialties: The Illinois Supreme Court rules do not allow attorneys to claim specialization. I do focus my practice on estate planning, living trusts, A-B trusts, QTIP, irrevocable life insurance trusts, wills, living wills, powers of attorney for health care, land trusts, special needs trusts and related endeavors.

Michael graduated from Pace University in New York with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting and Psychology, worked briefly as the general accountant in the medical science industry before attending Pace University’s School of Law in White Plains, New York.. He then worked in the Tax Department for Coopers & Lybrand, CPAs in Portland, Oregon.  He began his law practice in Portland, and moved to Chicago in 1989 where he continued his law practice and concentrated in Estate and Tax Planning.  The Stuart Legacy Alliance, LLC was created to address the recognized the need in the community for advisors to work together to accomplish clients’ goals more effectively.  The firm’s philosophy is that collaborating with a client’s advisory team better accomplishes the client’s overall goals in a proactive and dynamic way.  Currently the firm concentrates the practice in the areas of Estate and Exit Planning, Business Planning and Asset Protection with many innovative programs to help families and businesses keep their plans on track.. He serves on the Boards of the Mental Health Association of Greater Chicago and on the Executive Board of the Boy Scouts of America.. Michael enjoys the outdoors and can be found hiking, biking and occasionally playing a round of golf.