Estate Planning at Hendricks Wealth & Estate Management

Protect Your Legacy. Preserve More for the People You Love.

Estate planning is about much more than deciding who receives your assets. It's about protecting your family, preserving your legacy, minimizing unnecessary taxes and expenses, and ensuring your wishes are carried out with confidence.

At Hendricks Wealth & Estate Management, estate planning is an integral part of comprehensive financial planning. Our estate planning team includes Sean Hendricks, J.D., an Illinois licensed estate planning attorney, and Fran Byron, who brings 25 years of estate planning experience, allowing us to provide strategic legal guidance alongside investment management, retirement planning, tax-efficient wealth transfer strategies, and beneficiary planning.

By bringing these disciplines together, we help create estate plans that are thoughtfully aligned with your overall financial goals.

Estate Planning and Financial Planning—Working Together

An estate plan is most effective when it complements your overall financial strategy.

Because our financial advisors and estate planning team work together, we can help ensure your investment accounts, retirement plans, beneficiary designations, trusts, and other estate planning documents support the same long-term objectives.

This collaborative approach helps reduce the risk of unintended consequences while creating greater clarity for you and your family.

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Comprehensive Estate Planning Services

Every family's situation is unique. Our estate planning process is designed to help ensure your assets are protected and transferred according to your wishes.

Our services include:

Wills and Trust Planning
Revocable and Irrevocable Trust Strategies
Powers of Attorney and Healthcare Directives
Beneficiary Designation Reviews
Asset Titling and Ownership Coordination
Estate Tax Planning Strategies
IRA and Retirement Account Distribution Planning
Charitable Giving Strategies
Legacy and Multi-Generational Wealth Planning
Trust Funding and Estate Plan Reviews

Helping Your Family Keep More of What You Leave Behind

Not all assets are taxed the same when they are inherited.

Strategic estate planning can help families preserve more wealth by considering how different assets are transferred and who receives them.

Examples include:

Coordinating Traditional IRA and Roth IRA inheritances for greater tax efficiency
Reviewing beneficiary designations to help avoid unintended outcomes
Aligning trusts with retirement and brokerage accounts
Planning for potential estate tax exposure
Structuring charitable gifts to maximize their impact
Helping beneficiaries understand their distribution options

A well-designed estate plan can help reduce taxes, simplify administration, and preserve more of your wealth for future generations.

Our Estate Planning Process

DISCOVER
We take time to understand your family, financial situation, goals, and the legacy you want to leave.

DESIGN
Our estate planning team develops a strategy tailored to your objectives.

DRAFT & IMPLEMENT
Our estate planning team prepares the legal documents needed to implement your plan while coordinating with your broader financial strategy.

INTEGRATE
We review beneficiary designations, account ownership, trust funding, and investment strategies to help ensure everything works together.

REVIEW
As your life evolves, we continue reviewing your estate plan to keep it aligned with changing laws, family circumstances, and financial goals.

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ESTATE PLANNING FAQs

Why should my financial advisor and estate planning attorney work together?

Estate planning decisions often affect investments, retirement accounts, taxes, and beneficiary designations. Having your advisory team and estate planning attorney working together helps create a more coordinated strategy.

Do I need a trust?

Not everyone does. The right solution depends on your goals, family circumstances, and the assets you own. We'll help you evaluate whether a trust may be appropriate.

How often should I review my estate plan?

Estate planning is an ongoing process—not a one-time event.

We recommend reviewing your plan whenever you experience a significant life event, including:

Marriage or divorce
Birth or adoption of a child or grandchild
Retirement
Sale of a business
Significant changes in wealth
Death of a loved one
Changes in tax laws
Relocation to another state

Regular reviews help ensure your estate plan continues to reflect your wishes and your family's needs.

When you work with Hendricks Wealth & Estate Management for financial advisory services, we can also include discussions about your estate plan as part of your periodic reviews. This benefit helps to ensure that your goals in your estate plan remain aligned with your financial plan.

What is a beneficiary review?

A beneficiary review confirms that your retirement accounts, insurance policies, annuities, and other assets are titled and designated in a way that supports your estate planning objectives.

Want Us to Reach Out to You?

Complete the form below and one of our team members will reach out to answer any questions or schedule a FREE initial estate planning or financial consultation.

Hendricks Wealth & Estate Management works with third-party estate planning service providers. Hendricks Wealth & Estate Management is not a law firm, and does not practice law in any jurisdiction. Clients are advised to have estate plan documents reviewed by a licensed attorney practicing in the relevant jurisdiction.