Mary-Ann Wilson focuses on advising clients in connection with estate planning and estate and trust administration. Her practice includes developing estate plans that meet clients’ personal and family goals and minimize taxes, both now and for future generations. She frequently advises clients on all aspects of the administration of trusts and estates, from statements of intent to help guide future trustees, post-mortem estate planning (such as the use of disclaimers to achieve unique tax results for the next generation) to liquidity issues (such as qualification under Code Section 6166 to pay estate taxes in installments).

When representing families, Mary-Ann conducts family meetings, including multiple generations of a client’s family, to share everyone’s perspective on the family-wide estate planning goals and fine-tune each client’s planning.

She reforms existing trusts that have obsolete or omitted provisions, both through inter-beneficiary agreements and court actions, negotiates the terms of clients’ major charitable gifts, and organizes and maintains private foundations, from obtaining recognition of their tax-exempt status and creating governance structures to advising on operational matters.

Mary-Ann is a frequent speaker on estate planning topics. Since 2006, she has been elected as a member of the Leading Lawyers Network (rated in the top 5% of Illinois lawyers).