Steven Fagan

You've probably heard someone mention a living trust at some point—maybe a coworker, a family member, or someone in your neighborhood on the North Shore. And usually, the way people talk about them, you'd think they were the ultimate solution to every estate planning problem. In a lot of ways, they are genuinely powerful. But like anything in law, they come with trade-offs worth understanding before you decide whether one belongs in your plan. So let's be honest about the full picture: what a...

When people picture estate planning, they usually just picture a will explaining where their assets will go, and that’s it. Now, that’s not false, but it’s not all there is to estate planning. Estate planning covers not just where your assets go, but also your health, protecting your family, your finances, and your privacy. Estate planning has tools to ensure that if you ever fall ill or get into an accident, your health will be handled the way you’d want it to, as well as your bills and...

The Effect of a Will on Probate in Illinois It's a call we get all the time - "I want to make a will so that my family doesn't have to go through probate court". It's a beautiful idea and reveals a person who really cares about their family's well-being. Not everyone takes the time to concern themselves with what happens after they're gone, but if you do, it's understandable to come to the conclusion that a little estate planning can have a big effect on protecting your assets. But are these...