Robert S. Held

Robert S. Held zealously represents corporate and individual fiduciaries – as well as beneficiaries – in complex estate and trust disputes.  An aggressive litigator, Rob’s victories are frequent and substantial, establishing and preserving critical rights for his clients in addition to and beyond their financial recovery.

Through his tenacious advocacy, Rob has obtained exceptional results in many forums:

• On a direct appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court, Rob secured a rare rebuke of a trial judge while bypassing the intermediate court of appeals. On this expedited basis, Rob obtained a “supervisory order” from the highest court in Illinois, vacating the trial judge’s order. 124509, IN THE SUPREME COURT OF ILLINOIS February 21, 2019
• In successfully pursuing an accounting of a Delaware partnership, Rob persuaded the Illinois appellate court to overrule the trial court’s decision that it lacked jurisdiction to order this accounting. 2020 IL App (1st) 190717.
• On behalf of a decedent’s estate, Rob obtained an extraordinary settlement after an attorney for the executors provided improper advice on the handling of the estate’s multimillion-dollar pension and IRA assets.
• In representing an executor who had been defrauded by a tax return preparer who lied to the executor about the estate’s tax liabilities and then stole the estate’s assets, Rob worked directly with the FBI and the United States Attorney’s office to ensure justice was done. The tax return preparer was indicted, pled guilty and sentenced to federal prison. U.S. v. Parcon, 1:20-CR-00044.
• Rob intervened on behalf of a stepchild who was improperly excluded from an insurer’s payout on a wrongful death settlement. Appearing in two courtrooms on related aspects of the matter, Rob’s forceful representation yielded an immediate and extremely generous settlement for his client.
• Through creative and aggressive discovery, Rob defended a corporate fiduciary against a claimant’s multimillion-dollar claim, forcing the claimant to accept less than 5% of his original demand.
• Rob successfully had a Will contest dismissed where the opposing party was seeking the entire $180,000,000 estate. And despite the fact that the witnesses to the signing of the Will were unavailable or unable to recall witnessing the signing, Rob successfully had the Will admitted to probate after a full evidentiary hearing.
• In representing a surviving spouse who – 25 years after her divorce – discovered that her ex-husband had wrongfully concealed $1,000,000 in marital assets from her and the court, Rob successfully petitioned to reopen the long dormant divorce case and relitigated the issue of marital property. After an evidentiary hearing, the estate resolved this matter by paying Rob’s client and her children a substantial eight-figure settlement.

Rob has handled numerous additional breach of fiduciary duty claims, lost Wills, trust interpretation, contempt and related estate and trust disputes.  He has successfully obtained the removal of executors and trustees and has likewise succeeded in defending fiduciaries whose removal has been sought.

A founding partner of Harrison & Held, LLP, Rob has written articles and presented on numerous litigation, and tax and estate administration topics over his nearly 25 years as an attorney.

Rob’s numerous published articles include the following:

• 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;  https://law.siu.edu/_common/documents/law-journal/articles%20-%202019/summer-2019/7%20-%20Held%20jr%208%202.pdf
• “Indirect Criminal Contempt.” https://www.americanbar.org/groups/litigation/committees/criminal/articles/2016/winter2016-0216-indirect-criminal-contempt/
• “Nonmarketable Investments in Individual Retirement Accounts”; https://www.iicle.com/iicleonline/Detail/30981?itemId=87468
• “Handling Family Limited Partnerships and LLCs”; https://www.iicle.com/iicleonline/Detail/30045?itemId=4740
• “How to Handle Conflicts of Interest; https://www.harrisonheld.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/conflicts-in-estate-planning.pdf
• “Prudent Investor Rule Chiseled Away in Carter v. Carter”; https://www.isba.org/sites/default/files/sections/newsletter/%20May%202013_6.pdf
• “Refuse the Bequest or Lose the Will Contest: The Unforgiving Doctrine of Election” cited and adopted by the Illinois Appellate Court, First District. Boyar v. Dixon, 2012 IL App (1st) 11103,¶31.
• “Clyde Bowles – My Law Partner and Mentor to All”; https://www.harrisonheld.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/HeldLawDay2011CDLB.pdf
• “A Trust Counsel’s Duty to Beneficiaries,” https://www.isba.org/ibj/2004/12/atrustcounselsdutytobeneficiaries

Rob is the former chair of the Insurable Interest Sub-Committee of the Trust Law Committee of the Chicago Bar Association; a past chairman of the CBA’s Federal Taxation Committee as well as its Estate and Gift Taxation subcommittee; and he has been a speaker for the Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education and the Chicago Bar Association. Rob has been selected by his peers as a Leading Lawyer and a Super Lawyer and was profiled in the Illinois Super Lawyers magazine.