Once Removed Episode 19: The Step-Transaction Doctrine and the Case of Smaldino
Once Removed Episode 18: The Reciprocal Trust Doctrine
Charitable Planning With Guest Stephanie Hood: Navigating Complex Rules and Traps for the Unwary
Once Removed Episode 16: Gift and Estate Tax, Inflation Adjustments for 2024
Once Removed Episode 17: Annual Gifting to Individuals: Options, Opportunities and Pitfalls
Once Removed Episode 12: SLATs and the Case of McKim vs. McKim
Once Removed Episode 11: Spousal Lifetime Access Trusts, or SLATs
Once Removed Episode 10: Trustee Removal and Case Update on Leo Kahn Revocable Trust
(A)ESOP's Fables - The Income and Estate Tax-Free ESOP
The Renoir Spelling Bee
Taking the Sting Out of Death Taxes with Dylan Metzner, Jones & Keller
RETURN TO FOREVER - What Game Shall We Play Today?
To Give or Not to Give: Considerations for Year-End Gifting
INTRODUCING MALTA SPLIT DOLLAR
THE PAPER CHASE
With a Little Help from My Friends
The Greatest Gift: Your Individual + Family Estate Plan
For musicians, estate planning is not just about deciding who inherits guitar collections or song royalties. It is about protecting your artistic legacy, ensuring your intellectual property is handled according to your...more
In the months preceding the general election in 2024, the owners of many closely held businesses who had not yet given much thought to the disposition of their future estates, including their businesses, decided they should...more
On July 4, 2025, President Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (“OBBBA”) into law. The OBBBA is the tax and budget reconciliation package for the current 2025 fiscal year through 2034. While the bill focuses primarily...more
On April 30, 2025, Katten hosted Loyola University Chicago's Family Business Center for the "Family Business Through a Legal Lens" program. Private Wealth Partner Adam Damerow and Loyola University Chicago School of Law...more
Across all industries, family offices and their owners and management teams face rapidly evolving challenges, opportunities, and risks in the dynamic environment that is 2025. Here are six issues that family offices should...more
The Chicago Bears are a charter member of the National Football League, with ownership maintained by George Halas and later, his daughter, Virginia Halas McCaskey, for over 100 years. Upon Virginia McCaskey’s death last week,...more
A well-structured trust is often a central estate planning tool for small businesses and closely held family business owners when passing a business or wealth to your children. This includes heirs, beneficiaries, and future...more
Each new year offers a chance to step back, recalibrate, and plan for the year ahead. Individuals and businesses alike should take the time to ask and answer some simple questions to ensure their estate and business...more
Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously in Connelly v. United States, that the valuation of a decedent’s shares in a closely held corporation for federal estate tax purposes must include insurance proceeds received...more
In Connelly vs. United States (602 U.S. 257, June 6, 2024), the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that in a redemption of a deceased shareholder’s shares of stock, the corporation’s fair market value should include the proceeds...more
On June 6, 2024, the Supreme Court held 9-to-0 in Connelly v. United States that company-owned life insurance increases the company’s fair market value for estate tax purposes, and the company’s obligation to redeem a...more
On June 6, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision in Connelly v. United States affecting the valuation of closely held businesses for estate tax purposes. The Court explained that, for purposes of federal...more
Connelly v. Internal Revenue Service is a landmark SCOTUS decision that will impact business owners, partners, shareholders, members, and professional practitioners from a business perspective, succession planning, as well as...more
It is typical to have provisions in the governing documents for your company which contemplate the death and buyout of the owners. Most often, those buyout obligations are funded by the purchase of a life insurance policy on...more
On June 6, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a pivotal decision in Connelly v. United States, affecting how life insurance proceeds are treated in buy-sell agreements for closely held corporations. The ruling states that...more
In the recent case, Connelly v. United States, 602 U.S. (2024) (slip op.) the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that life insurance proceeds received by a closely held corporation which is used to fund the redemption of a...more
In its recent decision in Connelly v. U.S., the U.S. Supreme Court held that life insurance proceeds received by a corporation to fund an obligation to purchase a deceased stockholder’s shares in the corporation must be...more
Many co-owners of closely held businesses will employ life insurance as a tool for funding the transfer of ownership in the business upon the death or retirement of an owner. In these cases, planning involves the use of...more
You may have heard or even read about the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision regarding the date of death value of a deceased shareholder’s shares in a closely held corporation that owned a life insurance policy on the...more
Amidst many recent sharply divided decisions, the United States Supreme Court (SCOTUS) on June 6, 2024 issued a rare unanimous ruling in Connelly v. United States, which addressed estate tax considerations relative to...more
The United States Supreme Court (Supreme Court) released the Connelly v. United States opinion on June 6, 2024. The opinion affirmed the Eighth Circuit's holding in favor of the IRS that a company's contractual redemption...more
On June 6, 2024, in the case of Connelly v. United States, the United States Supreme Court determined that corporate-owned life insurance proceeds used to redeem a decedent’s shares in the corporation must be included when...more
On June 6, 2024, the United States Supreme Court issued its opinion regarding Connelly, as Executor of the Estate of Connelly v. United States. This final decision will directly impact all closely held business owners that...more
As AI increasingly becomes part of our everyday lives, individuals and families are exploring the use of AI programs to prepare estate plans. The answer to whether AI can be used for this purpose is, of course, yes. AI...more
The Supreme Court has just weighed in on how gift and estate taxes apply with respect to non-cash gifts in Estate of Connelly v. United States. The Court’s opinion closely follows the economics of such arrangements, but...more