CBA Record March-April 2026

THE YOUNG LAWYERS SECTION

A cross the country, families prepare for shifts in generational wealth, but in Chi cago, many fight for the legal footing to pass on even a single asset. Community development financial institution LOCUS Impact Investing projects a generational transfer of $434 billion nationwide in combined demographic, economic, and household wealth by 2030. Yet disparities in property ownership, assess ment, and legal representation for asset transfer plans will force thousands of Chicagoans to forfeit their opportunity to inherit wealth. Harnessing wealth transfer is essential for economic mobility. “Through wealth build ing, individuals gain pathways to stability, opportunity, and long-term empowerment,” says Chicago Urban League CEO and President Karen Freeman-Wilson. Chicago serves as a case study in the consequences of the rising generational wealth gap. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, substantial differences exist in homeowner ship, retirement accounts, and stock ownership—key forms of long-term wealth—across racial and socio-economic groups in Chicago. Chicago’s Uneven Starting Line In Chicago, the legal system is a tool for both challenging and perpetuating the wealth gap. Probate courts, tax appeals, foreclosure actions, and basic estate-planning processes illustrate key differences in how families experience the law, depending on their resources. For families with fewer resources, systems designed to protect assets often contribute to a loss of wealth through unpaid legal taxes, legal fees, missed deadlines, or the inability to clear title on inherited homes. In these ways, Chicago’s legal framework mirrors the city’s economic divide: Those who can navigate its complexity can preserve wealth, while those who cannot lose prop erty, equity, and the opportunity to build generational wealth. Housing as a Fragile Channel for Passing on Wealth Chicago’s wealth gap is rooted in patterns of discriminatory laws and institutional prac tices. Nowhere are barriers to transferring wealth more visible than in housing. Historical redlining, housing appraisal bias, and an inequitable property tax system continue to undermine homeownership, particularly in neighborhoods that have endured decades of disinvestment. For example, from the 1930s through 1960s, the federal Home Owners’ Loan Corporation maps classified large portions of Chicago’s South and West Sides as “hazardous,” effectively denying Black families access to mortgages and forcing them into contract-buying arrangements that offered little protection or equity. Those same neighborhoods later faced decades of underinvestment, predatory lending, and restric tive covenants that limited home appreciation and weakened financial stability. Today, appraisal bias continues to undervalue homes in majority-minority neighbor hoods, suppressing equity and reducing the financial cushion available for legal plan ning. A recent analysis by the Illinois Policy Institute found that reassessments in parts Unequal Tools, Unequal Outcomes: Chicago as a Case Study in Wealth Transfer and Economic Justice By Jordan Whisenton

of Chicago’s South and West Sides have led to massive increases in home valua tions, generating property tax bills that far outpace household incomes. For families who remain in their homes, these rising costs create immedi ate financial pressures and long-term challenges for heirs who may lack the resources to manage or appeal those assessments. Home ownership pressures reveal just one dimension of wealth transfer ineq uity. For many families, the barrier to transferring wealth stems not from a lack of desire to plan but from struc tural and legal inaccessibility. Estate planning tools, such as trusts, wills, and probate assistance, are critical to secur ing the transfer of property and avoid ing the burdensome probate process. Yet these resources remain unevenly accessible across Chicago. The legal consequences of this gap are significant. When property passes without a will or trust, heirs are forced to rely on an often-cumbersome intes tacy scheme that results in fractional ownership, disputes among family members, or property arrangements When Legal Tools Are Out of Reach

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