Estate Planning · DuPage County, Illinois
Wills, trusts, and the planning that keeps your family in control and out of court, from the same DuPage County firm since 1990.
A business is often the most valuable thing a family owns, and the least likely to survive the owner’s death or retirement without a plan. Business succession planning decides what happens to your company when you step back, sell, become disabled, or pass away — who takes over, how ownership transfers, how it is valued, and how the transition is funded. Without it, a thriving business can stall, fracture among heirs, or be sold in a fire sale at the worst possible moment. We help owners build a succession plan that protects the company, the family, and the value you have created.
We work with business owners across DuPage County and the western suburbs on succession plans tailored to their company and their goals, whether the plan is to pass the business to children, sell to partners or employees, or position it for an outside sale. You work directly with the attorney building the plan, and we coordinate it with your estate plan, your trusts, and any estate tax exposure, so the transition works on every front.
Every situation is different. We design the right combination for yours.
Trust-based succession (GRATs, family limited partnerships)
We know the Illinois rules in this niche, not just generic estate planning principles.
Specialized strategies must coordinate with your wills, trusts, and POAs. We design them together.
We model the actual tax and benefit impact of strategies before you commit.
Tax law and rules change. We update strategies as needed over time.
Specialized work but predictable pricing, quoted at consultation, not hourly billed.
Chris or John handles this work personally. No handoffs to paralegals.
If you own a business with partners, the hardest succession question is what happens when one of you dies, becomes disabled, divorces, or simply wants out. Without an agreement in place, the departing owner’s share can pass to a spouse or heirs who know nothing about the business, leaving the remaining owners with an unwanted and uninvolved co-owner — or a demand to be bought out with cash the company does not have. These situations destroy good businesses and good relationships, and they are entirely preventable.
A well-drafted buy-sell agreement answers the question in advance: who can buy a departing owner’s interest, at what price or by what formula, and how the purchase is funded, often through life or disability insurance so the money is there when it is needed. We draft and update these agreements as part of succession planning, so a death, a falling-out, or a retirement triggers an orderly, pre-agreed transition instead of a crisis. The time to settle these terms is while everyone is healthy and on good terms.
From our Villa Park office, we represent clients across DuPage County and the western suburbs of Chicago.
5-10 years before you intend to step back is ideal. Earlier is even better. Last-minute succession often forces fire-sale valuations and family conflict.
Multiple methods exist, capitalized earnings, EBITDA multiples, comparable sales, asset-based. Most succession plans require a qualified appraiser. We coordinate with valuation experts.
Common. The plan changes accordingly: sale to key employees (ESOP, management buyout), sale to outside buyer, or hybrid (some children stay, some get cash). All have different tax and structural implications.
It binds owners (or their estates) to sell their interests at predetermined terms when triggering events occur, death, disability, retirement, or dispute. Usually funded with life insurance. Prevents forced partnerships between original owners’ families.
Annual exclusion gifts ($18,000 per recipient in 2024) accumulate over years. Larger transfers may use lifetime exemption or specific gifting trusts. We design the strategy around your timeline and tax situation.
A buy-sell agreement is a contract among business co-owners that controls what happens to an owner’s share when they die, become disabled, leave, or want to sell. It sets who may buy the interest, how it is valued, and how the purchase is funded — frequently with insurance so the cash is available. It prevents an owner’s stake from passing to outsiders or heirs and gives the remaining owners certainty. For any business with more than one owner, it is one of the most important documents you can have.
Earlier than most owners do. Succession planning is not just for those near retirement; it also protects the business if you become disabled or die unexpectedly, which can happen at any age. Starting early gives you time to groom a successor, structure the transfer tax-efficiently, fund a buy-sell arrangement, and adjust as the business grows. We help owners put a plan in place now and revisit it as the company and the family change.
A free consultation tells you whether this strategy fits your situation, and what the realistic impact would be.