RODNEY H. PIERCEY

Rodney H. Piercey, Partner

rodney@pierceyassociates.com*
224-848-4644

Since 1973, Rodney H. Piercey has been serving affluent and high net worth clients with estate planning, asset protection and tax elimination planning. For more than half of his career, he has been designing customized plans for cutting and/or eliminating taxes for this same client base. Featured in “Chicago’s Top Rated Lawyers” magazine; Rodney has also been quoted in the Chicago Tribune and been interview on radio and TV concerning estate planning and tax issues. As a leader in developing creative and comprehensive legacy strategies for protecting wealth and assets, he received the AV Preeminent™ rating by Martindale Hubbell® Peer Review Ratings™ – the highest rating for an attorney’s legal ability and professional ethics.

Highlights of Practice

  • Successfully completed over 7,000 estate plans.[1]
  • Assisted with tax planning for clients with over $1 billion in assets.
  • Assisted in redirecting more than $320 million away from estate taxes and to charities and heirs.
  • Eliminated estate taxes in more than 800 estate plans which were otherwise taxable.
  • Conducted more than 125 briefings, seminars, webinars, and workshops on estate and tax elimination planning.
  • National Professional Advisor of the Year Award co-Recipient for dedication to American Cancer Society’s vision and for promoting charitable estate giving to fellow advisors, clients and constituents, March 2025.
  • Co-author of “Combining Life Insurance and Annuity Policies to Create a Financial Engine for a Nongrantor CLAT,” Journal of Practical Estate Planning, CCH Incorporated, August-September, 2004.
  • Quoted in the Chicago Tribune and guest speaker on AM 560 radio.
  • Author of “Tax Elimination Planning”, “The Ten Most Common Mistakes in Estate Planning”, “How a Charitable Trust Can Save You Taxes”, and “The New Tax Law- An Update” for a national charity’s newsletter.
  • Graduate of the Family Wealth Counseling two-year training school on Tax Elimination Planning, and of the Renaissance School of Social Capital concentrating on charitable planning tools.
  • Has for 25 years successfully represented several Illinois based universities in assisting donors to make planned gifts, including Gift Annuities, Charitable Remainder Trusts, bargain sale gifts and other planned gifts.
  • Has for 28 years successfully represented national charities, conducting workshop programs resulting in Charitable Remainder Trusts, Revocable Living Trusts, Charitable Lead Trusts, Gift Annuities and outright cash gifts.
  • “AV PreeminentTM” rated by Martindale Hubbell® Peer Review RatingsTM.
  • Has worked with more than 20 charities in their planned giving and charitable planning areas

[1] This number is an estimate based upon a review of company files over a 35-year period.

Education

  • John Marshall Law School, Chicago, Illinois
  • Regularly participates in the Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning’s educational program – one of the nation’s leading (if not the best) conference on estate planning
  • Licensed to practice law in Illinois and Wisconsin