Justia Legal Services & Lawyers Directory

-Successfully completed over 2,200 estate plans ranging in size to $210 million.
-Assisted in redirecting more than $150 million away from estate taxes and to charities and heirs.
-Eliminated estate taxes in more than 450 estate plans which were otherwise taxable.
-Conducted more than 50 briefings, seminars and workshops on estate and tax elimination planning.
-Co-author of "Combining Life Insurance and Annuity Policies to Create a Financial Engine for a Nongrantor CLAT," Journal of Practical Estate Planning, CCH Incorporated, August-September, 2004.
-Author of "Tax Elimination Planning", "The Ten Most Common Mistakes in Estate Planning", "How a Charitable Trust Can Save You Taxes", and "The New Tax Law- An Update" for a national charity's newsletter.
-Graduate of the Family Wealth Counseling two-year training school on Tax Elimination Planning, and of the Renaissance School of Social Capital concentrating on Charitable planning tools.
-Has for 13 years successfully represented an Illinois based university in assisting donors to make planned gifts, including Gift Annuities, Charitable Remainder Trusts, bargain sale gifts and other planned gifts.
-Has for 13 years successfully represented a national charity, has conducted a national workshop program resulting in Charitable Remainder Trusts, Revocable Living Trusts, Charitable Lead Trusts, Gift Annuities and outright cash gifts.
-Founder and Director of The Good News Foundation, which is an ECFA approved charity devoted to educating Americans about their estate planning options.
-Has for ten years successfully represented a senior assisted living facility in its planned giving programs.
-Completed the Heckerling Institute and the Notre Dame Estate Planning Institute on Estate Planning.

At the Wheaton, Illinois Law Firm of Cynthia Hayes Hutchins, we have spent the last 10 years helping people throughout DuPage County and beyond plan not just for their own future, but for what happens afterward. Contact us today, we can help if you or a loved one has any estate planning or elder law needs.

You can feel welcome with our firm. We will listen to your needs and will carefully study the options to meet those needs. We will also treat you the way we would expect to be treated: with the respect you deserve.

At the Law Office of Cynthia Hayes Hutchins, you are getting quality advice from a very well-regarded estate planning and elder law attorney. Cynthia Hayes Hutchins has helped thousands of people just like you. Most of her clients are referrals from existing clients or other lawyers. She has given numerous seminars and has written several articles on estate planning, probate, guardianship and elder law.

Our practice is limited to the following areas:

Medicaid, elder law and disability planning: We can help plan for long-term care and Medicaid needs for you or a loved one. We assist with special needs trusts.
Estate Planning, Wills and Trusts: We can help prepare documents which accurately reflect your intentions.
Probate and Guardianship: We can assist with probate estate disputes and can help if you or a disabled loved one needs a guardian.

Practice consists of residential and commercial real estate, wills and trusts.

I am a native Chicagoan, and moved to DuPage County in 1972.

I attended DePaul Law School full-time in the evening, while working for one of the major trust companies in the Chicago Loop. I therefore received extensive training and experience in Estate Planning, Probate and Tax matters, and have practiced in those areas for over 30 years.

My first employment after law school was with a Chicago law firm that specialized in Real Estate and Real Estate Development matters. I worked for them for several years, adding extensive experience in both residential and commercial real estate transactions and commercial real estate development to my legal expertise.

As a private practitioner in DuPage County, I continued practicing in these fields, and added representation of clients in divorce and other domestic and family related matters. I have now represented hundreds of clients relative to dissolution of their marriages. Several judges have also appointed me as Guardian ad-litem or attorney for children in troubled situations or in complex divorce cases.

I feel that my expertise in each of these areas compliment the other. For example, complex divorces often involve real estate or business holdings, with the accompanying valuation and ownership issues. Sometimes, a trust for the benefit of children is appropriate. In doing estate planning, there is often the need to plan appropriately for the second marriage situation. Real estate clients also often need to appropriately plan their estates, and to take title to their home in a manner that is consistent with their ultimate estate desires.

I was admitted to practice in the courts of Illinois in 1971 and the U.S. Federal Court in 1971, and admitted to practice before the U.S. Tax Court in 1992. I am a member of both the Illinois and DuPage County Bar Associations.

I have been a member of the Kiwanis Club of Glen Ellyn for some years, and am presently the President of the club. As such, I recently accepted, on behalf of our club, the Family Shelter Services Civic Partner of the year award. We work closely with Family Shelter Services and other organizations to provide benefits to children in need.

My primary hobby is the study of history, particularly of the American Civil War period. I am the past president of two Civil War Round Tables (Chicago and Salt Creek, which meets in Glen Ellyn, Illinois), and a member of three Round Tables (Chicago, Salt Creek and Milwaukee). I have also given presentations, on a number of topics, to round tables throughout the midwest.

Bob Ross has practiced in Illinois in areas of wills and trusts, business law, acquisitions, succession planning and related commercial real estate matters since 1980.