Barbara Grayson

Chambers High Net Worth consistently recognizes Barbara in the Band 1 category among the leading Private Wealth practitioners in Illinois and among the Central Region in the United States. The 2023 edition cites that Barbara "is at the top of her profession with an uncommon intellect yet an ability to translate it into accessible and innovative solutions for clients," and one client notes that she “is excellent at efficiently synthesizing complexity and pragmatism. She will be my estate lawyer until death do us part.” A past edition reported that Barbara "has the ability to decode the labyrinth of legal elements of tax and estate planning such that I can understand them and make informed decision."

Barbara regularly counsels clients through a variety of major life events, such as establishing a family foundation, developing a business succession plan, negotiating premarital agreements, administering the estate of a deceased family member and establishing gift trusts for children or grandchildren.

Barbara’s tax planning experience is focused on gift, estate and generation-skipping transfer taxes. She works with clients to design and implement estate plans, including wills, trusts and lifetime gifts. She also structures partnerships, limited liability companies, corporations, shareholder agreements and buy-sell agreements. She counsels clients regarding sophisticated planning for family businesses, including corporate recapitalizations, corporate governance, intrafamily sales and family partnerships. She also has experience in the international aspects of the estate planning practice.

A sizeable portion of Barbara’s practice focuses on philanthropic matters, including the representation and advising of tax-exempt organizations and the representation of individuals with respect to charitable giving. She has helped clients to establish public charities, private foundations and private operating foundations, and she also counsels clients as to best practices in administering those organizations in light of the complicated tax rules surrounding their governance and permissible activities.

Barbara’s practice also includes probate and trust administration, as well as litigation counseling on contested tax, trust and estate matters. She often represents fiduciaries and individual beneficiaries in the administration of estates and trusts. Barbara has experience in a variety of tax, trust and estate disputes, including controversies over will and trust construction, the impact of premarital agreements and divorce decrees on estate administration, and alleged breaches of fiduciary responsibilities.