CLINTON COUNTY, ILLINOIS WILL CONTEST ATTORNEY, METRO EAST, BELLEVILLE, ST. CLAIR COUNTY, ILLINOIS ESTATE LITIGATION LAWYER, AN ELDERLY MOTHER CHANGED HER ESTATE PLAN IN REGARD TO FARM PROPERTY WORTH IN EXCESS OF $2,000,000, INSTEAD OF HER ESTATE BEING RECEIVED BY HER CHILDREN OF EQUAL SHARES UPON HER DEATH, CERTAIN CHILDREN THAT WERE FARMING THE FARMLAND WERE BASICALLY GIVEN A LIFE ESTATE THAT WOULD TERMINATE UPON THEIR DEATHS, SUCH THAT THEY WOULD CONTINUE AS THE TENANT FARMERS, AT A BARGAIN PRICE, TO THE EXCLUSION OF THE OTHER SIBLINGS THAT WERE THEN DEPRIVED OF RECEIVING THEIR RIGHTFUL INHERITANCE UPON THE DEATH OF THEIR MOTHER. INSTEAD OF THE OTHER SIBLINGS RECEIVING THEIR INHERITANCE UPON THE DEATH OF THEIR MOTHER, UPON THE TERMINATION OF THE LIFE ESTATES FOR THE CHILDREN CONTINUING WITH FARMING THE PROPERTY, THERE WAS THEN A PROVISION THAT THERE WOULD BE A DISTRIBUTION TO THE GRANDCHILDREN OF THE DECEDENT, WHICH MAY NOT OCCUR FOR DECADES. FURTHER, DEPENDING ON ANY CHANGES IN THE TAX LAW, THE ESTATE PLAN RAISED ISSUES IN REGARD TO THE GENERATION-SKIPPING EXEMPTION TAX. AVAILABLE TO REPRESENT CLIENTS FROM PULASKI COUNTY, MOUINDS, ULLIN, KARNAK, ILLINOIS.
The estate plan of the elderly mother made no sense to us. Rather, there could have been provision for equal division of the farmland upon the death of the elderly mother subject to certain children remaining in possession with tenant farming rights upon terms and conditions that may be appropriate. In that manner, all children would have received their rightful inheritance and all children would have benefitted from the farming operations that would continue with certain children with others receiving a substantial income during their lifetimes.