EducationChicago-Kent College of Law (J.D., 1996) University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (B.S., 1993), with highest honors
Eric builds sophisticated estate planning strategies for families and individuals, including business owners and executives. He also counsels clients on the legal and business implications of major life events, including premarital planning, relocating to a new jurisdiction, appointing short-term guardians for vacationing relatives and loved ones and designating agents for health care decisions.
Eric represents clients spanning numerous industries and backgrounds, including traders, doctors, professional athletes, real estate developers, private equity firms, manufacturers, movie producers and others. A certified public accountant, he creates comprehensive approaches to protect and add value to his clients’ varied business and personal interests, including designing succession plans that enable wealth and leadership to flow from one generation to another in a seamless and tax-efficient manner.
While in law school in 1995, Eric authored an amended section of the Illinois Probate Act of 1975 to expand the authority of a guardian to make gifts to and establish estate planning documents for special needs adults. The section also benefits those with special needs by directing guardians to investigate and pursue a ward’s eligibility for governmental benefits.
Clients benefit from Eric’s aptitude for developing holistic yet flexible and practical solutions for reaching their long-term objectives. They rely on him as a valued advisor whose expansive mindset incorporates their estate planning, business interests, personal matters, tax minimization, charitable endeavors, insurance needs and more – the dynamics essential to their overall well-being and success.
- Preparation, administration and construction of wills and trusts, including revocable trusts, irrevocable life insurance trusts, dynasty trusts, minors’ trusts, grantor retained annuity trusts, qualified personal residence trusts, spousal access trusts, charitable lead annuity trusts, wholly charitable trusts and foreign and domestic asset protection trusts.
- Structuring tax-advantageous solutions for transferring wealth and closely held business interests to younger generations while protecting assets from the claims of future creditors (including spouses of descendants in the event of divorce), such as sales to intentionally defective grantor trusts, traditional and reverse partnership freezes, intra-family loans and complex life insurance planning.
- Formation and reorganization of closely held corporations, partnerships, limited liability companies, private trust companies and charitable gifting structures, such as private foundations and supporting organizations.
- Assistance in tax and non-tax compliance work, including the review of federal and state income tax returns and financial statements for closely held corporations, partnerships and limited liability companies; NAIC annual statements for life insurance companies; fiduciary accountings and tax returns for domestic trusts; and income, gift, estate and generation-skipping transfer tax returns for individuals.
- Administering all aspects of income, gift and estate tax and audit controversy matters before the Internal Revenue Service and local tax authorities, including the submission of private letter ruling requests.
- Handling all aspects of probate administration, including dispute resolution.
- Chambers High Net Worth, recommended in “Private Wealth Law,” 2018-2020
- The Best Lawyers in America, recommended in “Trusts and Estates” since 2025
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