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the most common is revocable trusts

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revocable trusts or trusts that are

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created by you these are trusts that

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could be amended at any time but they’re

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designed to hold assets to avoid probate

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to gain certain tax advantages to make

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sure that assets go to children at a

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defined age maybe not 18 maybe 30 35 or

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later the most common type of trust is

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what’s called a revocable trust the

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revocable trust becomes irrevocable when

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you pass away or become incompetent but

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while you’re alive you can freely make

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changes to it and nothing changes in

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your life the only thing that you’re

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going to notice that’s different is the

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name on on your accounts might be

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different but you’re allowed to buy and

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sell assets freely you can move assets

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freely there’s tremendous advantages to

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doing and creating a revocable trust

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other types of trusts

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can get very complicated irrevocable

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life insurance trusts

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Grant or retained annuity trusts grats

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for sure there’s a whole alphabet soup

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of trusts out there that are very

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complex and can definitely help our

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clientele

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but I’m a big fan of not over lawyering

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files so if it’s something that’s not

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appropriate we’re not going to do it for

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you but understand that there is a

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multitude of trusts out there that can

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deal with the number of situations

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another common trust would be a special

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needs trust and so if you’re a parent

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with a child with special needs or a

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loved one that’s on some means-based

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program such as Medicaid for example or

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Social Security there are certain trusts

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such as special needs trusts that can be

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created to allow them to continue to

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receive benefits under those government

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programs but also receive certain

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inheritances from family and loved ones

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financial planners should know about

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estate planning that

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bilsky Chapman looks at this as a team

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approach any individual that has

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assets or family members to be

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successful you need a team and that team

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often includes financial advisors

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accountants life insurance agents

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attorneys all of those professionals

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work together to create a comprehensive

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plan for the client estate planning for

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financial advisors is important because

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while the financial advisor is concerned

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about maximizing returns and increasing

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net worth that is only one small part of

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an estate plan and likewise we want to

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help clients accumulate assets and grow

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their assets and a tax advantage basis

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but there’s more to an estate plan than

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just finances there is care for loved

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ones there’s care for children that are

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under 18. there might be special desires

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such as pets or certain heirlooms of a

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family that go beyond just the financial

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planning and aspect of a plan I think

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it’s very important that a finance

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planner understands that it estate

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planning is a team approach

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and that they need to work with a

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competent attorney in order to

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effectuate the goals and desires of the

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so in 2012 the Supreme Court of Illinois

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passed a law that said anytime a

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survival act lawsuit is going to be

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filed that it needs to be filed by

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someone who is a court appointed

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representative by a probate judge so

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personal injury attorneys really need to

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be aware that to have standing to file

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their lawsuit they need to get a probate

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estate representative appointed and

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that’s where we come in we’re probate

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experts we’ve been practicing in Probate

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Court for 10 years we’ve handled

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thousands of probate Estates for

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personal injury attorneys so that they

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have standing to file their lawsuit

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and something else that’s really

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important for personal injury attorneys

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to know is that their role is as a

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fiduciary not only to the their client

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but also to all of the errors and

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beneficiaries of the probate estate so

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they’re not just representing their

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client as the plaintiff in a lawsuit

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they’re also representing all of the

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interests of all of the people who are

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going to benefit from that

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representative’s probate estate so it’s

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really important that for any personal

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injury attorney that is interested in

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bringing a lawsuit on behalf of someone

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who’s injured and that lawsuit is going

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to be filed after the injured person has

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passed away that they are making sure to

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connect with a probate attorney to make

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sure that all of the proper steps are

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followed in the probate process to

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ensure that they have standing to file

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their lawsuit

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so a lot of clients who come into our

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office have who have loved ones with a

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disability want to make sure that that

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person is protected for their whole life

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financially so what they’ll do is

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they’ll incorporate a provision in their

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trust or in their will leaving a larger

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share of their estate to that person or

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leaving a certain amount of money to

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that person who has a disability

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what they don’t understand is that that

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could put the person who they love with

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a disability at risk of actually losing

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eligibility for those great programs and

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services that Medicaid provides what we

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do is we make sure that for any clients

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who have a loved one with a disability

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to build in something called a Special

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Needs Trust into their estate plan and

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that way if our clients want to leave a

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bigger share or really anything to a

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loved one with a disability they can

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make sure that any inheritance to that

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person with a disability goes into the

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Special Needs Trust rather than going to

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that person with a disability outright

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because those two things really make the

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difference about whether someone could

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be eligible for Medicaid programs or not

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we have a lot of clients who are

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inheriting a large sum of money which is

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the first time that they’ve really had

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money in their life a lot of these

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clients are on programs such as Medicaid

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or SSI and these are government programs

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that will provide medical care that will

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give them a study source of income for

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their life

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and the risk of inheriting a windfall is

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that it puts these clients over an asset

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threshold for eligibility for continuing

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benefits under those programs so it’s

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really important that when someone

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inherits a windfall that they make sure

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to identify any government benefits that

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they’re currently on are they on

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Medicaid are they on SSI if they’re on

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either of those we can protect their

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windfall inheritance by transferring it

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into a Special Needs Trust in that way

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they can keep their windfall and they

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can keep their government benefits at

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the same time

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I could say that everyone needs a trust

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but that would be a really generic

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answer so for most folks the most

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important things to look at to determine

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whether you need a trust are do you have

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a blended family so do you have

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stepchildren or are you coming into the

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into a marriage with children and you’re

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going to have children with with your

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new spouse another factor that people

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take into account about whether they

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need estate planning or not is whether

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they have a loved one or a family member

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with with a disability such as being on

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the autism spectrum or having Down

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syndrome or having a physical disability

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that means that they need supportive

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living care for themselves really trusts

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are fantastic vehicles for anyone who

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wants to Future proof their life savings

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or their home there’s two steps to

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estate planning first someone typically

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the life cycle is someone gets a

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financial advisor and that financial

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advisor will help them to start the

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process of accruing and Building Wealth

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then we as estate planners can help that

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person to Future proof that well future

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proof that wealth to keep it with them

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and with their loved ones sometimes we

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have clients who come in who have

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younger children maybe they’re in their

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teens or maybe they’re in their early

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20s and these are children who are

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likely to get married in the future

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maybe they want to go to grad school in

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the future so our clients want to make

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sure that the inheritance that they’re

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leaving their children doesn’t get split

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up between divorcing spouses so half of

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the child’s inheritance in other words

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wouldn’t go to their divorcing spouse or

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all of their inheritance wouldn’t go to

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student loan debt so in that way we

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really help our clients to make sure

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that through a trust the money that

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they’ve spent a life building stays with

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them and the people that they wanted to

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go to

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when we talk about special needs

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planning we’re talking about planning

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for the care and needs of family members

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or loved ones who have disabilities

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in Illinois and in New York there are

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robust government programs under the

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Medicaid Department that provide a lot

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of really great services for family

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members and loved ones who have

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disabilities so these Services include

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day programs Career Training Residential

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Care lots of really great things that

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can help someone who has a disability

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live their most independent

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healthiest happiest most comfortable

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life with as much dignity as possible in

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order to become eligible for those

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programs

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folks who have disabilities have to have

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under a certain threshold of assets

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so what we do is in Special Needs

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planning for anyone who has property in

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excess of that threshold we can use

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something called a Special Needs Trust

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to transfer those assets into an

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irrevocable trust so that they won’t be

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taken into consideration when Medicaid

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is determining whether or not someone

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with a disability is eligible for

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benefit for benefits under those

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programs or not

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when our clients come to us because

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their family may be a parent or maybe

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our clients themselves have been

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diagnosed with a long-term ailment

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something like Parkinson’s or

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Alzheimer’s they know that eventually

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Whoever has been diagnosed will need

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long-term care

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and all of a sudden they’re scared that

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what they’ve spent a life building so

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their life savings the home that they’ve

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had maybe it’s a childhood home that

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that they brought their children up in

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for years are at risk of being lost to

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long-term care costs so with Medicaid

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asset protection planning what we do is

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we take advantage of irrevocable trusts

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to transfer their assets that they’ve

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spent a life building into that

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irrevocable trust which we call a

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Medicaid asset protection Trust

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to save those assets for whatever the

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person who was diagnosed with the

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ailment needs

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sometimes we refer to this as a dignity

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fund so that the money can be there as a

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resource on top of whatever that person

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is getting from their long-term care

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facility whether it’s a supportive

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living facility or a nursing home or

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memory care that money is there as a

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dignity fund for anything that they need

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in addition to what their caretakers are

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already providing for them

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in addition to that a Medicaid asset

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protection trust also really gives our

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clients peace of mind that they’re

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leaving behind an inheritance for their

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children so they’re not going to to have

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to exhaust their funds paying for their

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own care or paying for their parents

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care in long-term care facilities

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they’re going to be able to preserve

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what they’ve spent a life building in

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that irrevocable Medicaid asset

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protection trust sometimes I call this

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future proofing your money so we future

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proof our clients life savings we future

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proof our clients homes we do that

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through Medicaid asset protection trusts

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estate planning is extremely important I

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firmly believe that anybody over the age

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of 18 should have an estate plan

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prepared by a competent attorney

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and there’s a number of reasons for that

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one is most people do not appreciate the

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fact that even if you don’t sign a will

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or a trust an estate plan has been

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created for you and that’s the probate

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act and so under the probate act if you

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don’t sign a trust or don’t sign a will

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that act is going to dictate where your

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assets go to or if you have minor

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children who takes care of your children

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so a great example of that would be

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if you have a child under 18 and

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something happens to you and your spouse

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well what happens to that child

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under the probate act there’s defined

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people who will have the right to care

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for your child

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so I always say you may love your

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brothers and sisters equally you may

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love your brothers and sisters in law

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equally but the reality is you may not

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trust them equally to take care of your

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child or maybe it’s somebody that’s not

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a family member that you want to take

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care of your child and that’s fine

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but if you don’t do a plan the

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government’s going to dictate who takes

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care of your child and I for one don’t

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believe the government or the courts

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should be the decider who takes care of

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your children and so to handle that we

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do Estate Planning and that’s a very

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important provision under estate plans

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another reason to handle or to do an

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estate plan with a competent attorney

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is most of us spend a lifetime building

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up our assets and uh material goods for

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lack a better word

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and again if you don’t do an estate plan

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the probate Act is going to dictate who

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gets your assets

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I want to dictate who handles my assets

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and to do that I I do that through

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trusts and wills so a great example

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would be I’m married with a child if I

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did not prepare an estate plan and I

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passed away half of my estate by law

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would go to my child and half would go

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to my spouse there’s a number of

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problems with that one is for a child

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under 18 that would create a

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guardianship case

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guardianship is very expensive uh it’s

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under the court control and I don’t

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think that’s the best result for my

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child

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likewise most families want the spouses

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to have control over all the assets so

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they can manage their own Affairs and

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also the Affairs of their children there

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are certain tax advantages with a

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properly prepared estate plan this is

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legal and uh

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it has the potential to save you

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hundreds and potentially millions of

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dollars if you don’t do your estate plan

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you risk your large estate to estate

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taxes other advantages of estate

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planning is avoidance of probate

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avoidance a guardianship

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there is a misunderstanding among a lot

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of people that if you have a will you

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avoid probate

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that’s not necessarily true in most

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States if you have assets that exceed a

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certain amount you will be subject to

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probate and probate is a post-death

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court proceeding that handles your

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Affairs again my goal as your attorney

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is to avoid probate and to avoid probate

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we need to properly drafted a state plan

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my guiding philosophy is that I’ve been

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there so a lot of the work that I do

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with elder law actually comes from my

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experience of having parents who

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themselves need elder law assistance so

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my dad was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in

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2012 and so we knew at that point that

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he was eventually going to need

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long-term care we were able to work with

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him to create a Medicaid asset

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protection trust so that we could

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protect what my parents had spent a life

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building to really give them peace of

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mind that when my dad eventually needed

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long-term care that they wouldn’t need

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to spend all of their assets to get that

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for him now when someone is diagnosed

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with an ailment such as Parkinson’s

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there’s a lot of family stress there’s a

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lot of uncertainty and worry that comes

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along with that so I personally have

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been there myself so my guiding

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principle when I’m practicing is that

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I’ve been there I bring empathy to my

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practice and I really am able to give my

1:06

clients Peace of Mind based on my own

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personal experience with the same life

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experiences that they’re going through

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foreign

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giving back to the community has always

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been very important to me I recently

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traveled to Africa with lawyers Without

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Borders to teach prosecutors immigration

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officers and judges how to arrest and

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put on cases and try cases under a new

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anti-human trafficking act that had been

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passed in Tanzania

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so that really has taken me to some

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great places

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on that trip I actually got to be

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personally introduced to Justice Sonia

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Sotomayor so I know that the work that

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I’m doing outside of the firm is also

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having a big impact on communities

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whether they are Global communities or

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local communities I also like to spend

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my holidays volunteering at food banks I

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prefer food banks that are local so in

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Chicago I like to volunteer at Rogers

2:10

Park food banks and in New York City I

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like to volunteer at local food banks in

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in and around Brooklyn

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my background is that I started as a

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licensed attorney in 1997. I have a

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background as a CPA and an MBA I also

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hold a managing broker’s license I was

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with few firms before 2010 and then 2010

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I went out on my own started this firm

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with a computer a telephone and a

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borrowed desk and I literally had one

0:25

closing to my name over the years we’ve

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built this practice up to four offices a

0:31

large team of

0:33

paralegals and administrative staff as

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well as attorneys in my former life I

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like to say before billski Chapman I did

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a heavy amount

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of estate planning tax work real estate

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and litigation I used to do over 250 tax

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returns a year I don’t do taxes anymore

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but I felt that that experience was

0:53

invaluable because it really built a

0:55

background of tax knowledge that is

0:58

useful in all areas of my practice

1:05

when I’m not practicing law I enjoy

1:08

spending time with my wife and son as

1:11

you can imagine my son there’s a lot of

1:13

time at Cross Country sporting events

1:16

school events but the three of us enjoy

1:18

traveling overseas I enjoy fishing and

1:21

I’m a big fan of board games with

1:23

friends and family

0:04

the areas of law that bilsky Chapman

0:06

practices in is probate and guardianship

0:09

law real estate law Estate Planning and

0:12

general business transactional and

0:13

litigation law as far as probate and

0:16

guardianship work we are one of the

0:18

larger firms in Illinois as far as

0:19

volume of cases and we practice in

0:22

almost every County in Illinois and we

0:24

have cases pending throughout the United

0:25

States

0:30

so when we’re providing our clients with

0:32

service we really like to give White

0:35

Glove VIP servants to all of our clients

0:38

we know that our clients are coming from

0:40

all different backgrounds all different

0:43

levels of wealth all different walks of

0:45

life and we treat every single one of

0:48

our clients like a VIP

0:50

foreign

0:54

most of our cases are flat or what’s

0:57

considered fixed fee cases these are set

1:00

rates that the client knows going into

1:02

the engagements however on certain cases

1:04

in which that is not practical we will

1:07

sit down with the client and explain to

1:09

them what the hourly rate would be and

1:12

what the proposed budget will be our

1:15

goal is that the client knows exactly

1:17

what they’re getting into as far as

1:18

rates and fees and we want to

1:22

communicate our rates to them at all

1:23

stages of the engagement an example in

1:26

which fees might be flat would be

1:28

guardianship by Statute and by rule

1:31

judges require that we do that hourly so

1:34

those are at a statutory rate and so

1:36

that would be an example where we cannot

1:38

do a fixed fee some of the more

1:40

complicated estate planning engagements

1:42

in which we’re doing heavy tax planning

1:44

or there is something that is really

1:47

unique those are examples where we would

1:51

engage on an hourly basis but again in

1:54

all those cases we try to put a budget

1:56

in place so the client knows what that

1:58

rate will be when the engagement is

2:01

completed