Rebecca Wade is a shareholder in Meyer Capel’s Estate and Trust Practice Group. Rebecca concentrates her practice in the areas of estate planning, tax planning, estate administration, probate, wills, trusts, and trust administration. She counsels clients on a variety of estate planning, estate administration, and trust administration issues. She has significant experience in drafting both basic and complex estate plans that include wills, revocable trusts (or "living trusts"), irrevocable life insurance trusts, living wills, advanced directives, powers of attorney for health care, and powers of attorney for property.
In addition to preparing basic estate plans and counseling clients regarding a broad array of issues such as the importance of choosing an appropriate guardian for children and the role of life insurance in providing for one’s family, Rebecca also formulates and prepares complex estate plans for individual clients and families designed to transfer wealth to younger generations while minimizing estate, gift, generation-skipping transfer, and income taxes. She also advises clients on the estate planning implications of marriage and divorce, and prepares pre-marital and post-marital agreements.
Rebecca advises clients in the administration of estates and trusts of all sizes, and has extensive experience preparing federal and state estate tax returns and gift tax returns. She also has broad experience representing beneficiaries as well as individual and corporate fiduciaries (such as executors, administrators, trustees, guardians and agents under powers of attorney) in all phases of estate and trust administration.
If you are interested in having Rebecca evaluate your estate planning needs and provide you with an estimate of fees for a proposed estate plan, please feel free to complete a Confidential Estate Planning Questionnaire and submit it to Rebecca for her review.
Practice Areas
Areas of Focus
- Estate Administration
- Probate
- Wills
- Trusts
- Trust Administration
- Estate Planning
- Tax Planning
Education
Rebecca graduated magna cum laude from the University of Illinois College of Law in 1998 and holds a B.A. in economics from the University of Illinois. As a law student, she was named to the Dean's List for six consecutive semesters and was awarded the Celia M. Howard Fellowship for graduate study. She is a four-time recipient of the CALI Excellence for the Future Award and received honors distinctions and high honors distinctions for her legal research and writing. An accomplished legal researcher and writer, Rebecca served as articles editor of The Elder Law Journal and earned the Joseph W. Rickert Award for excellence in legal publications. Prior to joining Meyer Capel in 2000, Rebecca served a two-year judicial clerkship in the Fourth District Appellate Court, State of Illinois, under the Honorable Justice James A. Knecht. Rebecca has been recognized by the Leading Lawyers Network for her experience in Wills, Trusts and Estate Planning. The Leading Lawyer distinction is given to lawyers who are most often recommended by their peers.
Personal Interests
Away from the practice of law, Rebecca enjoys reading, traveling, and spending time with her family. Her husband Monty is a civil engineer and also received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Illinois.
