Michael D. Whitty

Shareholder

T: 312-609-7812 F: 312-609-5005

Chicago

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 wealthy individuals in planning for the preservation and transfer of their wealth. Specifically, he advises individual fiduciaries in the design or drafting of estate plans, wills, trusts, lifetime gifts, premarital agreement 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 serves as expert witness in such cases.

Mr. Whitty is a Fellow of the American College of Trusts & Estates Counsel.

Mr. Whitty is active as a member of the American Bar Association, in which he 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.

Mr. Whitty served for three years as an adjunct professor of law 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 is a frequent speaker on estate and financial planning topics and appeared on the PBS program, Nightly Business Report, on December 21, 2005.

Mr. Whitty was selected by his peers for inclusion in Illinois Super Lawyers.

• Carpe Diem: Prompt Action Required to Take Advantage of Estate and Financial Planning Opportunities
• Reality Check: Valuing ERISA Plan Investments In PE Funds
• GRATs - Going . . . Going . . . Gone?
• Bad Economic Times Create Great Estate Planning Opportunities

• Business Succession
• Estate and Trust Administration
• Estate Planning: Wills & Trusts
• Premarital Agreements
• Tax & Estate Planning
• Wealth Preservation and Transfer

• Panel discussion on "Estate Planning Techniques for Closely Held Business Owners" at the ABA Joint CLE Meeting of the Tax Section and the Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section, Chicago, September 12, 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, October 23–24, 2003.
• 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 "Leveraged Transfer Techniques in a Low-Interest-Rate Environment," Attorneys for Family-Held Enterprises (afhe) Annual Meeting, New York, May 20–22, 2004.
• 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, October 19–22, 2005.
• Presentation on "Regulatory Issues Facing Multi-Family Offices," Multi-Family Office Symposium hosted by Financial Research Associates, LLC at the Princeton Club, New York City, December 11–12, 2006.
• Presentations on "Regulatory Issues Facing Multi-Family Offices" and "Section 2701 Issues in Transfer of Carried Interests, at the ABA Joint CLE Meeting of the Tax Section and the Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Section, Vancouver, September 28, 2007.
• 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.
• 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, D.C., May 2, 2008.
• 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.

• J.D., University of Texas School of Law, 1988
• B.B.A., with honors, University of Texas at Austin, 1983

• Texas
• Michigan
• Illinois

• Member, American Bar Association (Chair of the Wealth Planning and Nontax Issues Group of the Probate and Trust Division of the ABA's Section of Real Property, Probate & Trust Law).
• Member, Chicago Estate Planning Council, Attorneys for Family-Held Enterprises, and the Family Firm Institute.