Author: marcsherman

Marc is the President and Founder of Marc D Sherman & Colleagues PC in Lincolnwood, IL. For over 38 years, Marc has represented individuals and businesses in a variety of Estate Planning, Probate, Business transactional and civil litigation matters.
Real Estate, Real Estate Development

Illinois Landlords Listen Up! Illinois Safe Homes Act Change January 2026

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The New Year 2026 will bring a variety of changes to Illinois law. One of those will be effectivce January 1, 2026, when private Illinois housing providers will need to include a summary of the Illinois Safe Homes Act as the first page of all residential leases.

The Act was introduced back in 2006, with the goal of providing protections for survivors of domestic and sexual violence. Illinois legislators passed the “Summary of Rights for the Illinois Safe Homes Act” (Public Act 103-1031). The mandatory summary to be provided by landlords must be included with new leases and lease renewals starting in 2026.

What does the Summary include? There is a summary of tenant rights and protections under the law, such as the right to terminate a lease early when the tenant is subject to a threat of domestic or sexual violence, without penalty. There is also a right to change or re-key locks to prevent further abuse. Eviction protections based on incidents of domestic or sexual violence are included in the Act and in the summary description. The prohibition on discrimination is also covered.

And the summary includes a list of free legal service providers.

Who should pay attention? Both landlords and those who represent landlords for leasing purposes should become familiar with the Act, the requirement to now attach the Summary of the Act to the front of the Lease, and the penalties for failure to comply.

Want to check out a copy of the Summary? Click here: https://dhr.illinois.gov/legal/summary-of-rights-for-safer-homes-act.html

Want to discuss the Illinois Safe Homes Act? Contact the Attorneys at Marc D Sherman & Colleagues, PC using this link: https://mshermanlaw.com/contact/

Asset Protection, Estate and Probate, Estates Planning And Probate, Trusts

Trust Funding Check-Up; It’s Time.

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You have created your Living Trust. If you are like most people, you put the documents in a reasonably safe place and after some of the initial changes to your accounts there was no further follow up. Most of us don’t think that there are many changes possibly affecting our trust assets. But that’s typically not true. In any two-year period there are often changes worth discussing with your Attorney.

It’s so important to review your trust funding. Only through your own diligence will the trust and your other Estate Planning tools work the way that you intended.

Real Estate Interests:

Have your real property interests been transferred into the living trust? This would be done by deed in most instances. Changes to your prior real estate investments, or additions to your portfolio, may suggest a review with your Attorney. Has your prior residence now been changed to investment real estate? Did you previously use a transfer on death instrument (TODI) that should be reviewed?

Changes to your beneficiaries, changes to your plans for holding or distributing the real estate currently and after you have passed away, and changes affecting children and others who may inherit your real estate are important considerations.

Important situations that should trigger a discussion: Death or disability of a joint owner or beneficiary, and changes to the property or your expectations and plans for the property and its use, and changes to your residence/domicile, to name a few.

Business Interests, Including S-Corps and LLCs:

Have changes taken place with your Business activities? Are there new Members who have joined your LLC or new persons involved in your subchapter-S or other corporation? Will there be plans soon to consider succession of the business interests?

Changes in management, operations, and participants’ expectations can trigger important discussions about your living trust and estate plans. This may include modifications to the Operating Agreement for the LLC or amendments to the ByLaws for the corporation.

Changes In Accounts, Including IRA and 401k Accounts:

For living trusts and estate planning generally, there are useful considerations prompted by two areas of change, in particular.

Significant change in the health or other activities affecting your beneficiaries? Consideration of protections for your beneficiaries in these circumstances may involve the Account and the plan beneficiaries in order to avoid having your inherited IRA and 401k funds reachable by a beneficiary’s creditors, or affecting eligibility of beneficiaries for medical or other programs. In many instances, the timing of your trust and other estate planning may be key to putting important protections into place.

Changes to your accounts of all types, including financial investment accounts, Bank and CD accounts, and others, may have been made without consideration of whether those accounts should be titled in the name of your estate planning living trust. If you have not reviewed your accounts since creation of your living trust, or you have made changes to your accounts or recently opened new accounts, engage your Attorney for a follow-up review so that simple, worthwhile changes can be made.

You invested in your living trust and in your updates to your Will and Powers of Attorney for your estate planning purposes. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to accomplish an important review to make sure that your expectations will be followed and your assets are properly covered.

The Attorneys at Marc D Sherman & Colleagues PC can assist you with your review. Reach out to make an appointment: https://mshermanlaw.com/contact/

Estate and Probate, Estates Planning And Probate

The End-Of-Life Options For Terminally Ill Patients Act

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The Illinois legislature passed a bill recently that would allow doctors to prescribe fatal doses of medication to terminally ill patients.

Physicians would be required to first discuss all available alternatives, including comfort care, hospice and pain management. Patients would have to be capable of self-administering the medication and complete a focused request process, including two verbal requests and one written request witnessed by two individuals who affirm that the decision is voluntary and that the patient is of sound mind.

Doctors are required to discuss all end-of-life care options, including medical aid in dying. Life insurance benefits may not be denied to beneficiaries of patients who choose to use the law.

The bill has been sent to Governor Pritzker for signature. We will update this information if the bill becomes law.

Asset Protection, Bankruptcy, Estate and Probate, Estates Planning And Probate, Trusts

Avoid The IRA Trap For Your Children With Debt Issues

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For those of us who have built a nest egg in our IRAs intending to secure a strong retirement and to leave funds for our children, a basic but little known surprise awaits the next generation: 

Your IRA is in most instances fully protected from your creditors during your lifetime. But when the IRA continues as an inherited IRA for your kids after your death it is NOT protected from your children’s creditors.

Under Illinois law, plaintiffs can successfully garnish an inherited IRA because state exemptions protecting retirement assets from creditors generally do not extend to non-spousal beneficiaries. The 2014 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Clark v. Rameker followed the same approach under federal law, establishing that inherited IRAs are not considered “retirement funds” for bankruptcy purposes.

That’s right. If your children now have or may likely have creditor issues after you have passed, your valuable IRA will be reachable by your children’s creditors.

Why is this important? Significant attention is paid to the fact that our children have the ability to take advantage of the “stretch” and to defer payment of taxes on the inherited IRA as they draw the funds over time. As a tax tool, this certainly has a value. Yet the financial advisors almost never ask the question: Is your child in a risky profession, subject to current or future debt issues, or potentially under-insured?

It matters, and the discussion needs to take place.

When most of us think of such debt considerations, we may think of the under-insured motorist claim or the business loan guaranty signed personally by a shareholder. However, a thoughtful discussion should consider other very real concerns. How many of these scenarios raise your own awareness:

 Your children’s student loans (or student loan guarantees they sign for your grandchildren)

 Heavy credit card spending, subject to the high credit card interest rates

 Medical debt and expected future medical expenses

 Access to inherited IRA funds by a divorcing spouse after distribution

 Family Expense Act obligations for debts of a spouse and children

 Your child’s obligation for their own business debts and partnership obligations (partners are jointly and severally liable for debts of the partnership)

 Tax obligations

 Child support obligations (distribution from inherited IRA may be considered income)

Can the child simply file bankruptcy to avoid having the inherited IRA taken for their debts? No, the bankruptcy trustee, who is seeking to collect funds for distribution to the child’s creditors, is a “super creditor” and aside from other tools available to the trustee the inherited IRA is not protected from being taken during the child’s bankruptcy.

The use of an estate planning trust can help to protect the valuable inheritance you have worked so hard to make available for your children. Some attorneys recommend the use of a standalone Retirement Trust, while others recommend accomplishing the asset protection goals through modifications to the client’s living trust (often called an Estate Planning Trust or Revocable Trust). 

Talk to your attorney. If you don’t have an attorney or your attorney is not familiar with these considerations, reach out to Attorney Marc Sherman https://mshermanlaw.com/contact/ to arrange for an estate planning review.

Estate and Probate, Estates Planning And Probate, Trusts

Create A Resource For Your Executor, Trustee & Family

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An illness or other major event may require the key players in your life and estate to have to reach for up to date information. Fall is a good time to catch up and review the resource you previously created — or to create one now.

What kind of information and materials may be needed? The list can be extensive based upon your life activities and your assets. But the core is easy and powerful to have at hand. 

Gather in one file, secure on-line storage or other accessible location the following:

Estate Documents:   Powers of Attorney for Healthcare and for Property, Living Trust Declaration, Last Will & Testament, Transfer On Death Instruments and Advance Directives. It’s a good time to review them to make sure that updates can be done, if necessary. And be sure to make notes about the location of the originals.

Personal Information:   Birth Certificate, Military Discharge Papers, SSN information, prior Divorce paperwork, Immigration and Naturalization paperwork. Advance information concerning cremation or burial or other plans are also useful.

Key Individuals:   Identify the persons who are key sources of information if something should happen. This include name and contact information for clergy and affiliations, financial advisors, business and property partners, accountant, attorney, and employment information and family contact information, to name a few.

Business & Financial Information:   Contact information and the status of your interest in corporations and LLCs,  partnerships, and joint ventures are important. Include copies of the business paperwork or where to find them. Financial accounts and the nature of the accounts where assets are held; and consider including copies of beneficiary designations for those accounts as well. Consider information about personal loans to or from others, so that these matters don’t fall through the cracks. And don’t forget insurance policy information, whether life insurance, personal property and real property insurance binders, and key man policy information.

Debt Information:   Include copies of or information concering mortgages, personal property loans, credit cards and credit facilities.

This is a start. It’s not one-size-fits-all. And the more complete that you can be, the better your family and the people that are part of your estate planning will be at bringing the important information to use when necessary. This way, the important people around you can focus on you and your spouse and children, instead of having to chase documents and information.

Reach out to your Estate Planning Attorney to be sure to start the discussion. Don’t have one? Call or email to Attorney Marc Sherman.