LGBTQ Estate Planning and Related Rights under the Current Supreme Court

The march to marriage equality for the LGBTQ community seemingly moved at the speed of light when compared with other equality struggles. Yet, like other struggles for equality, what occurred before and after the apex is critical to understand. Several factors are involved in most legal struggles for equality: generally, the public must reach a point where the majority are either in favor of or ambivalent to the issue; legislators must be willing to bring the matter before their colleagues; the Federal administration must not be adverse, or the Supreme Court must have a majority that is either reasonably in favor of the law or contains one or more majority members willing to provide a plurality vote.

This program, presented by Max Elliott, founder of a Chicago-based firm practicing estate planning and wealth preservation for the LGBTQ community, women, and small business owners, will engage in a high-level discussion of the landscape of critical and life-altering estate planning issues for the LGBTQ community, and how that is defined by different SCOTUS decisions. In addition to managing the Law Firm of Max Elliott, Ms. Elliott is a member of the Chicago Bar Association Trust Law Executive Committee, Chicago Estate Planning Council, and American Bar Foundation Fellow. She frequently presents on estate planning topics such as marriage equality and the intersection of retirement and estate planning. 

Learning Objectives:

1. Review the evolving jurisprudence of the United States Supreme Court and how its composition has affected equality issues for the LGBTQ community
2. Analyze the confluence of laws, beginning with SCOTUS and flowing through to administrative and state agencies, that affect LGBTQ family equality
3. Discuss intersecting estate planning and family law issues, such as adoption, affecting LGBTQ families
4. Use appropriate estate planning techniques to protect LGBTQ families, including choice of law provisions