It is a misconception that estate planning is only appropriate when you are old or wealthy. Starting your estate planning early, like retirement planning, has substantial benefits and addresses both your immediate and long-term needs. Particularly new families should begin estate planning early.
Some issues to address in early estate planning include:

  • Guardianship of children and others in the event of death or disability.
  • Caretaking for others for whom you are responsible.
  • Funding those who will care for your children and others.
  • Deciding asset division before marriage, particularly for blended families.
  • Avoiding the delays and costs of probate.
  • Determining how

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Continue Reading Early Estate Planning

For Illinois contractors performing public work, prevailing wage compliance requires careful attention to worker classifications, payroll practices, and fringe benefit calculations. Recently, however, many contractors have reported audit findings and assessments that appear disconnected from Illinois Prevailing Wage Act (IPWA) requirements, established industry practice, and, at times, the Illinois Department of Labor’s (IDOL) own published guidance.
The consequences can be significant. Prevailing wage assessments can increase project costs, complicate bidding decisions, and expose contractors to repeat-violation penalties that may include debarment from public work. Even when employers disagree with an audit determination, the cost of challenging it almost always exceeds…
Continue Reading When the Referee Gets the Rulebook Wrong: Concerns About Recent Illinois
Department of Labor Prevailing Wage Audits

Fed. Cir. Docket No. 2024-1094PROST, CUNNINGHAM, ANDREWS (D.J., sitting by designation)April 16, 2026

Teva asserted claim 30 of U.S. Patent No. 8,586,045 and claims 5 and 6 of U.S. Patent Nos. 9,884,907 and 9,884,908 (the “headache patents,” November 2006 priority) against Lilly’s Emgality product.  The FC panel considered ’045 claim 30, directed to a “method for reducing incidence of or treating headache in a human” using any humanized “anti-CGRP antagonist antibody.”  The shared specification disclosed one humanized antibody (G1, the active ingredient of Teva’s Ajovy), several murine anti-CGRP antagonist antibodies (including one sold commercially), and prior-art humanization methods.  In earlier…
Continue Reading Teva Pharms. Int’l GmbH v. Eli Lilly & Co.

A beer distribution agreement can promise a 30-day exit without supplying a lawful basis for termination and the whole mechanism and contract can get written in blatant contravention of a state’s beer franchise laws. A recent Florida beer distributor termination dispute shows why brewers and wholesalers should read the franchise statute alongside the contract, and why their lawyers should do the same before sending termination notices or briefing their rights to do so.

In Titan Products of Puerto Rico Corp. v. Compañía Cervecera de Puerto Rico, Inc., Judge Julie S. Sneed denied both sides’ summary-judgment motions on October 15,…
Continue Reading Before a Brewer Terminates: Lessons from Titan’s Florida Franchise Fight

Accident News | Decatur, Illinois

A 22-year-old motorcyclist, Brylan Lee Williams, was killed in a hit-and-run crash involving a white SUV in Decatur, Illinois, on Sunday evening. According to the Decatur Police Department, the collision occurred around 6:30 p.m. at the intersection of East Cantrell Street and South Franklin Street. Williams was riding north on South Franklin Street when a westbound SUV stopped at a stop sign on East Cantrell Street before turning right onto South Franklin Street and striking the motorcycle.

Police said the SUV driver left the scene without stopping. Williams was transported to a hospital, where he…
Continue Reading Motorcyclist Killed in Decatur Hit-and-Run Crash Identified

Topic: Your Next Client Isn’t Googling You: How People Now Find Lawyers, and How to Make Sure They Find You
Speaker: Sean Daily, CEO/Founder, AI Rank System and Lead Eagle
For twenty years, getting found meant ranking on Google. That’s changing fast. Nearly half of consumers now ask tools like ChatGPT and Google’s AI answers to recommend local businesses, including attorneys, and in many cases they get a short list of two or three names instead of a page of links. If your name isn’t on that short list, you’re invisible to a growing share of potential clients before they…
Continue Reading Chicago Bar Association’s Solo/Small Firm Practitioners Committee 11/03/26

A couple living in Kendall County with a paid-off home, retirement accounts, a life insurance policy, and some farmland outside town may not think of themselves as wealthy. However, when the value of these assets is added together, the total may pass the threshold for estate taxes in Illinois. When that happens, the family may owe the state hundreds of thousands of dollars after a person’s death. Fortunately, taking the proper steps during the estate planning process can help to reduce or avoid estate taxes.
When planning for wealth preservation that will minimize estate taxes in Illinois, families need to…
Continue Reading Illinois Estate Tax Planning: Portability, Family Trusts and Protecting Children’s Inheritance

If a contractor records a mechanic’s lien against your home, you should first find out whether the claim is valid. Illinois has strict rules about when liens can be filed and what notices contractors must provide. A valid lien can make it difficult to sell or refinance your property. However, you have several ways to challenge or remove one in 2026. Our DuPage County civil litigation lawyer can review the lien, explain your rights, and help you decide what to do next.
What Is a Mechanic’s Lien on a Home in Illinois?
A lien is a legal claim against property…
Continue Reading What Should You Do if a Contractor Places a Mechanic’s Lien on Your Home?

Maybe you’re already thinking about where life could take you after your divorce. You might have a job opportunity in another city, family you want to be closer to, or a chance to return to the place you once called home. There’s a lot to look forward to when you finally get to start building […]
The post How Does Child Custody Work When Parents Live Far Apart? appeared first on SAM LAW OFFICE LLC.
Continue Reading How Does Child Custody Work When Parents Live Far Apart?

No. Illinois law does not generally require you to hire a lawyer simply because you are selling your home without a real estate agent. But selling FSBO does not eliminate the legal work involved in selling a home.
In fact, when there is no listing agent involved, it can become even more important for a seller to understand who is handling the contract, disclosures, title work, closing documents, deadlines and problems that arise between contract and closing.
That is where a real estate attorney comes in.
FSBO Means “For Sale By Owner,” Not “Do Everything Yourself”
Selling FSBO usually means…
Continue Reading Do You Need a Lawyer for an FSBO Sale in Illinois?

Retailer returns could turn Illinois’ November 12 hemp deadline into a warehouse problem for beverage distributors. A store sends back unsold THC drinks, the distributor issues a credit, and the cases wait for the supplier’s truck. If that truck arrives after the deadline, the distributor may have cleared the retailer’s account while keeping the regulatory problem.

The Illinois Department of Revenue’s new hemp bulletin, announced October 14, gives suppliers and wholesalers a reason to settle those arrangements now. IDOR confirms that Illinois plans to begin enforcement on November 12 “regardless of the federal government’s delay of related enforcement.” The…
Continue Reading Illinois’ Hemp Deadline: Don’t Let Retailer Returns Become Your Warehouse Problem

In Wakenight v. Katherine Shaw Bethea Hospital, 2026 IL App (4th) 251048, the Fourth District addressed an evidentiary issue that arises frequently in medical negligence cases involving an adverse surgical outcome: when may the defense introduce evidence that the plaintiff’s injury is a known risk or complication of the procedure?

The court drew a distinction between evidence that a complication can occur despite non-negligent care and evidence that the physician warned the particular patient about that complication before surgery. The former may be relevant to standard of care and causation, but the latter generally is not if the plaintiff…
Continue Reading Known Complication or Informed Consent? Wakenight Clarifies the Distinction in Illinois Medical Negligence Cases

When a couple ends their marriage in divorce, the process of separating their lives from each other can be a lengthy, difficult process. Determining how to divide physical property, financial assets, and debts can be a complex matter, and when one or both spouses own a business, this process can become even more complicated.
Spouses who are business owners often have many of their mutual financial assets tied up in the business, making it difficult to divide these assets while keeping the business intact. At A. Traub & Associates, our Schaumburg, IL divorce attorneys have handled many high-asset divorces,…
Continue Reading Protecting a Family-Owned Business During Divorce

Stussy, Inc. v. The Partnerships & Unincorporated Associations Identified on Schedule A, No. 26 C 2870, (N.D. Ill. June 1, 2026) (Kendall, C.J.).Chief Judge Kendall denied defendant NIOKIT’s motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction in this Schedule A trademark counterfeiting action. Stussy, the well-known streetwear brand, alleged that NIOKIT sold rugs on Amazon bearing a counterfeit version of Stussy’s federally registered “stylized billiard 8 ball” mark. Stussy’s investigator purchased one allegedly infringing rug from NIOKIT via Amazon. NIOKIT accepted the order and shipped the rug to Stussy’s attorney’s office in Chicago. Stussy obtained an ex parte temporary…
Continue Reading Single Amazon Sale to Illinois Sufficient for Personal Jurisdiction in Schedule A Trademark Case

Accident News | Naperville, Illinois

A 61-year-old man was killed in a single-vehicle crash in Naperville, Illinois, on Saturday night, according to police.

Naperville police said first responders were called to the intersection of Hobson Road and Olesen Drive at approximately 10:33 p.m. They found a gray 2015 Mercedes-Benz severely damaged and resting on its side beneath a tree. The driver was trapped inside the vehicle and unresponsive. Fire crews confirmed that the man had died at the scene.

Investigators believe the vehicle was traveling south on Olesen Drive toward Hobson Road when it left the roadway, struck a tree,…
Continue Reading Crash Leaves Driver Dead in Naperville, Illinois

Crash News | Johnston, Ill

One person died and another was injured in a two-vehicle crash on Interstate 57 in Johnston City, Illinois, on October 17, according to Illinois State Police. The crash occurred around 4:25 p.m. in the northbound lanes of I-57 near milepost 59.

According to state police, a vehicle struck a passenger vehicle that had stalled in a lane of traffic. Both individuals involved in the crash were transported to area hospitals, where one person later died from their injuries.

The crash forced authorities to close the northbound lanes of I-57, with traffic diverted off the interstate…
Continue Reading 1 Dead, 1 Injured in Johnston City, Ill. Crash