Michael D. Whitty
Shareholder
T: +1 (312) 609 7812
F: +1 (312) 609 5005
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Chicago
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Michael D. Whitty is a Shareholder in the firm’s Tax Estate Planning group concentrating his practice in estate planning, taxation, and estate and trust administration.
Mr. Whitty represents principals of venture capital and private equity funds, key executives, investors and other high-net-worth individuals in planning for the preservation and transfer of their wealth. Specifically, he advises individuals and fiduciaries in the design/drafting of estate plans, wills, trusts, lifetime gifts, premarital agreements and other estate planning documents.
Mr. Whitty reviews and manages estate and gift tax returns, including complex reporting and valuation issues. He has extensive experience with various types of trusts, family limited partnerships, corporate recapitalizations, shareholders’ and redemption agreements, private annuities, installment sales, intra-trust sales and other transactions, self-canceling installment notes and net gifts.
Mr. Whitty consults with executors, administrators, guardians and trustees in probate and trust administration. He supervises the drafting of estate administration documents and the filing of pleadings, motions and accountings with probate courts. He also advises clients in connection with litigation involving disputes between trustees and beneficiaries and in contested trust and tax matters, and he has served as an expert witness in such cases.
Mr. Whitty is an active member of the American Bar Association, in which he serves on the Section Council and recently served as chair of the Wealth Planning and Nontax Issues Group of the Probate and Trust Division of the Section of Real Property, Probate and Trust Law. He also is a member of the Chicago Estate Planning Council, Attorneys for Family-Held Enterprises, and the Family Firm Institute, and is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel.
Mr. Whitty served for three years as an adjunct professor at the Northwestern University School of Law, teaching a course titled "Federal Estate and Gift Taxation and Estate Planning." He is a Certified Financial Planning practitioner (CFP™and a member of the Financial Planning Association of Illinois. Mr. Whitty was selected for inclusion in 2006 and from 2008 to 2012 in Illinois Super Lawyers. He also received an "AV Preeminent" Peer Rating in Martindale-Hubbell.
Mr. Whitty is a frequent speaker on estate and financial planning topics, has appeared on the PBS program Nightly Business Report on December 21, 2005, and has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal. A list of several recent speaking engagements and publications follows on the next page.
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Presentation on "Risk Management for Fiduciaries," ALI-ABA Course on Representing Estate and Trust Fiduciaries and Beneficiaries, Chicago, Illinois, July 15, 2011.
Presentation on "Drafting Trusts in Anticipation of Business Ownership," NMS Family Office Conference, Palm Beach, Florida, March 8, 2011.
Presentation on "Top Ten Estate Planning Techniques," and Panel Moderator on "Estate and Elder Law Planning for Illinois," Lorman Conference, Chicago, Illinois, May 28, 2008.
Panel Moderator on "Rights of Creditors of Trust Beneficiaries under the Uniform Trust Code," American Bar Association Section of Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Spring 2008 Symposium, Washington, DC, May 2, 2008.
Presentation on "Legal, Regulatory and Governance Issues and Trends for Family Offices," Attorneys for Family-Held Enterprises Annual Conference, San Antonio, Texas, April 12, 2008.
Presentations on "Regulatory Issues Facing Multi-Family Offices" and "Section 2701 Issues in Transfer of Carried Interests," ABA Joint CLE Meeting of the Tax Section and the Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Section, Vancouver, British Columbia, September 28, 2007.
Presentation on "Regulatory Issues Facing Multi-Family Offices," Multi-Family Office Symposium hosted by Financial Research Associates, LLC at the Princeton Club, New York, December 11–12, 2006.
Presentation on "Raising Capital from the Inside Out," Family Firm Institute Annual Conference on Varied Architectures: The Art and Science of Designing Family Enterprises, Chicago, Illinois, October 19–22, 2005.
Presentation on "Leveraged Transfer Techniques in a Low-Interest-Rate Environment," Attorneys for Family-Held Enterprises Annual Meeting, New York, May 20–22, 2004.
Panel discussion on "Business Reorganization Strategies for International Holding Company After the Founder’s Death," International Bar Association Conference on International Wealth Transfer Planning, New York, December 8–10, 2003.
Presentation on "Planning and Drafting Using Defined Value Gifts and Formula Clauses After McCord," State Bar of Texas Section of Real Estate, Probate and Trust Law Advanced Planning and Drafting Course, Dallas, Texas, October 23–24, 2003.
- Panel discussion on "Estate Planning Techniques for Closely Held Business Owners," ABA Joint CLE Meeting of the Tax Section and the Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section, Chicago, Illinois, September 12, 2003.
Recent Notable Publications
"The Jane Austen Plan Club: Lessons for Estate Planners and Their Clients from the Life and Novels of Jane Austen," Real Property Probate & Trust Law Journal, Vol. 46, No. 4 (Winter 2011).
Co-author, "Valuing Private Equity Interests in Estate Planning," Practical Tax Strategies (January 2011).
"GRAT Expectations: Questioning, Challenging and Litigating the Service Position on Estate Tax Inclusion of Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts," ACTEC Journal, Vol. 36, No. 1 (Summer 2010).
"Heresy or Prophecy? The Case for Limiting Estate Tax Inclusion of GRATs to the Annuity Payment Right," Real Property Probate & Trust Law Journal, Vol. 41, No. 2 (Summer 2006).
- "Effect of Low Interest Rates on Investment-Driven Estate Planning Techniques," Estate Planning, Vol. 30, No. 12 (December 2003).
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- J.D., University of Texas School of Law, 1988
- B.B.A., with honors, University of Texas at Austin, 1983
- Texas
- Michigan
- Illinois
- US Tax Court
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