John focuses his practice on wealth transfer, business succession, asset protection, and philanthropy planning. John has assisted numerous affluent families, entrepreneurs and family offices seamlessly integrate their charitable, business succession and wealth transfer planning goals, and design, analyze and implement complex income tax and estate tax planning strategies. John routinely uses planning strategies such as GRATs, sales to grantor trusts, offshore trusts, shareholder agreements, marital agreements, and family partnerships and LLCs. In addition, John has placed a special emphasis on creating tax-efficient and philanthropy-focused estate plans using private foundations, charitable trusts and offshore blocker corporations. John has also assisted numerous charitable organizations with governance issues and gift acceptance agreements, including the preparation and negotiation of a $30 million grant from a private foundation to an educational institution.
John is also involved in the representation of individuals and charitable organizations as beneficiaries in will and trust disputes and in representing individuals and corporate fiduciaries in will and trust contest matters. He has also acted as trust counsel for certain financial institutions.
John is a frequent lecturer and author in the areas of estate planning, asset protection and charitable planning. He has presented for such organizations such as the Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education, the Chicago Bar Association and the Porter County Community Foundation. John has also published articles in places such as the Family Foundation Advisor, Journal of Taxation of Investments, College and University Law Advisor and Real Estate Law Journal. John is also one of the authors of the BNA Tax Management Portfolio: Private Foundations, Excess Business Holdings.