Michelle Gooze-Miller

Michelle Gooze-Miller understands that what her clients tell her is just as important – if not more so – than what she tells them. She recognizes that the sound guidance she provides on estate planning and administration, tax, charitable giving, and business matters is a product of truly listening to and caring about each client’s story, concerns, and goals.

The work Michelle does for individuals, families, nonprofit entities, and business owners involves both hard numbers and hard decisions. Bringing clarity to complexity, and combining extensive experience, substantive knowledge, and a deep sense of empathy, she helps her clients work through some of the most consequential matters they will ever face.

In her estate planning practice, Michelle crafts estate plans that are not only tax-efficient but workable, flexible, and designed for the long term. She also advises clients regarding business succession planning, wealth transfers, and planning for disability. Michelle’s goal is to make her clients feel like a weight has been lifted off their shoulders; that they gain the peace of mind that comes from knowing their house is in better order than it was before. In her estate administration and probate work, Michelle frequently assists clients with the complicated and often emotional distribution of estate assets among children, stepchildren, grandchildren, and surviving spouses, and also helps in the unfortunate circumstance when trust and estate disputes arise.

A seasoned tax lawyer, Michelle regularly provides advice regarding income, estate, gift, and generation-skipping tax matters affecting individuals, estates, and trusts, as well as other complex federal and state law tax issues.

Michelle works extensively with nonprofit and charitable entities and donors to help maximize the scope and reach of their efforts and contributions. She oversees the formation and operation of nonprofit entities, both private foundations and public charities, and creates a variety of charitable vehicles to carry out the plans of individual donors. Michelle also assists with business transactions for family business owners.

When not serving her clients, Michelle enjoys indoor bouldering and climbing, attending concerts and music festivals, reading, writing, and solving logic problems.

Education

• University of Chicago Law School, J.D., 1997
• Northwestern University, B.A., 1993

Admissions

• Illinois
• Florida