Trusts provide a vehicle for passing wealth to the next generation with some control over how the assets are managed.

They also provide for the care of people who cannot care for themselves.

Lifetime trusts are created: (a) to save on estate taxes; (b) to place income earning assets into the trust and therefore taxable to the trust; (c) to provide for trustee management of assets; (d) to provide for the specific application of property for beneficiaries; (e) to keep private the grantor's asset situation; and (f) to save on probate expenses.

Trusts, then, can be an important part of retirement and post-retirement planning, income and investment planning, asset and property ownership planning, and tax planning.

To talk with Mr. Cooke in more detail, you can contact him at (312) 497-9002 or by email at "gc@Cookeslaw.com". Mr. Cooke's fee is $300 per hour.