Robert S. Held

Robert S. Held represents corporate and individual fiduciaries in complex estate and trust litigation. He is a frequent writer and speaker on litigation topics, tax and estate planning matters.

Robert Held is a founding partner of Harrison & Held, LLP.

Rob recently authored a Southern Illinois Law Journal article addressing a guardian’s ability to have a ward divorced without any evidence or legal argument from the ward’s spouse. Rob explains that the court’s determination that an incompetent person’s spouse lacks standing when a guardian seeks a divorce is inconsistent with Illinois Supreme Court precedent and risks harming the institution of marriage. https://law.siu.edu/_common/documents/law-journal/articles%20-%202019/summer-2019/7%20-%20Held%20jr%208%202.pdf

Rob obtained a supervisory order from the Illinois Supreme Court requiring a trial court judge to vacate an order. The Supreme Court exercised its constitutional right to supervise trial court judges directly and determined that a judge exceeded his authority. While such relief is rarely sought, and even more rarely granted, Rob successfully utilized an available remedy to ensure that the trial court judge would fairly adjudicate his client’s rights.

The ABA Criminal Litigation Newsletter published Rob’s article, “Indirect Criminal Contempt.” Rob authored the chapter, Nonmarketable Investments in Individual Retirement Accounts, in the 2015 edition of the Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education Publication, Estate Planning for Retirement Benefits. He is a co-author of the 2014 chapter, Handling Family Limited Partnerships and LLCs, in the Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education publication, Illinois Estate Administration. Trusts and Estates Magazine published Rob’s 2014 article, “How to Handle Conflicts of Interest,” which discusses confidentiality and conflicts in the context of estate planning (see publications for full article).

Rob authored the article, “Prudent Investor Rule Chiseled Away in Carter v. Carter,” published by the ISBA in its May 2013 Trusts & Estates Section newsletter.

Rob’s Illinois Bar Journal commentary, “Refuse the Bequest or Lose the Will Contest: The Unforgiving Doctrine of Election” was cited and adopted by the Illinois Appellate Court, First District. Boyar v. Dixon, 2012 IL App (1st) 11103,¶31. The article argued that the policy preventing an heir from simultaneously accepting a benefit under a will while contesting that will should apply with equal force to trusts.

Rob was profiled in Leading Lawyers Network Magazine and has written numerous articles including “Clyde Bowles – My Law Partner and Mentor to All” published in the 2011 Law Day Edition of the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, and “Contempt: The Court’s Highest Power” in the November 2010 CBA Record. Based on a scam often directed at law firms, Rob penned a piece describing steps that law firms can take to identify and avoid being the victim of internet fraud that was published in the Illinois Lawyer Now Quarterly, Summer 2012 edition. Rob is the co-author of the 2006 article, Federal Court Denies Protection in Bankruptcy for Inherited IRA, published in the Illinois State Bar Association’s Commercial, Banking & Bankruptcy Law Newsletter. Rob also authored “IRAs and Bankruptcy” and “A Trust Counsel’s Duty to Beneficiaries,” published in the Illinois Bar Journal. He co-authored “Hedging Death and Taxes,” and “Sham Transaction Doctrine,” published in Trusts & Estates Magazine.

Rob previously chaired the Insurable Interest Sub-Committee of the Trust Law Committee of the Chicago Bar Association. He is a past chairman of the CBA’s Federal Taxation Committee as well as its Estate and Gift Taxation subcommittee and is a frequent speaker for the Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education and the Chicago Bar Association. Rob is currently a member of the Judicial Evaluation Committee of the Chicago Bar Association. Rob has been selected as a Leading Lawyer and a Super Lawyer and was profiled in the Illinois Super Lawyers magazine. In 2012, Rob was selected by the University of Buffalo College of Arts and Sciences as a Distinguished Alumni.