For financial advisors — the estate planning counterpart your clients need

Financial advisors and estate planning attorneys serve the same clients on adjacent problems. The advisor handles investment strategy, retirement planning, insurance, and asset allocation. The estate planning attorney handles wills, trusts, asset-protection structures, and legal documents that direct asset disposition. The two practices work best when they coordinate — particularly for clients above the Illinois $4M estate-tax threshold or the federal $15M threshold.

Where Adam's practice intersects with financial advisors

Estate planning baseline. Adam handles wills, financial and healthcare powers of attorney, HIPAA authorizations, revocable living trusts, Illinois Transfer-on-Death Instruments. Financial advisors benefit from clients who have these documents in place — it makes asset coordination cleaner and reduces probate exposure.

Trust funding. Adam drafts trust-funding deeds for Illinois real estate. Financial advisors handle the asset-titling work for non-real-estate accounts (brokerage accounts, IRAs, beneficiary designations). The two pieces fit together to make the trust actually effective.

Asset protection structures. For higher-net-worth clients, Adam handles irrevocable trusts, GRATs, SLATs, family LLCs with valuation discounts, and other structures that require legal-document drafting. Financial advisors handle the asset-management implications.

Estate-tax planning above the Illinois $4M threshold. The Illinois estate-tax exemption sits well below the federal $15M threshold (One Big Beautiful Bill Act). Many Illinois clients are exposed at the state level even when they're under the federal threshold. Coordinating advisor-side and attorney-side strategy matters for these clients.

Family-business structures. For clients whose primary asset is a family business, Adam handles entity structure, succession planning, and operating agreements. Financial advisors handle the investment side of the family wealth.

How the referral relationship works

Adam takes financial advisor referrals on a no-commercial-reciprocity basis. Illinois RPC 7.2 prohibits attorney referral fees in most contexts. Adam doesn't pay for referrals and doesn't expect financial advisors to refer to him in exchange for his sending them business.

What Adam appreciates from financial advisor partners: clear communication on shared clients, respect for the attorney-client privilege boundary, mutual focus on the client's actual interests rather than firm-revenue interests.

Educational resources Adam provides to advisor partners

Adam regularly produces written guidance on estate planning topics that financial advisors find useful: federal estate tax exemption changes under recent legislation, Illinois estate-tax exposure at the $4M threshold, AI-equity valuation issues for tech-founder estates, family-business succession structures.

Financial advisors interested in receiving these resources can subscribe via the contact form. Adam does not sell or share email lists.

Areas Adam doesn't take on

Adam doesn't handle litigation, bankruptcy, family law, criminal law, or personal injury. Adam doesn't sell investment products, prepare tax returns, or hold securities licenses. The clean-handoff matters for the advisor-attorney relationship: knowing what's in scope and what's not.

Connecting

Financial advisors interested in exploring a referral relationship can call (773) 777-9888 directly or email through the contact form. Adam meets briefly with potential advisor partners to discuss client overlap.

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