Blooma Stark focuses her practice on estate planning and probate with particular emphasis in the areas of tax planning, asset protection planning and elder care planning.

Valued by clients for her ability to express complex concepts in clear, understandable language, she helps clients meet their goals with respect to their estates and providing for their families in the most tax efficient way. Clients enjoy working with her because she can explain difficult concepts to them in plain language and they know she will get their work done efficiently and effectively.

REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS

  • Effecting sales to intentionally defective grantor trusts

  • Establishing and operating private foundations

  • Establishing and operating charitable remainder annuity trusts and unitrusts

  • Effecting sales in exchange for a private annuity

  • Establishing and operating family limited partnerships

  • Creating asset protection strategies

  • Administering estates of all sizes including those in excess of $100 million

SPEECHES AND PUBLICATIONS

An experienced speaker on the subjects of estate and trust administration, estate planning, elder law and Medicaid planning, asset protection planning and other estate planning topics, Blooma has been invited to present before many organizations. These include the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education (IICLE), Illinois CPA Society and Foundation, American Bankers Association, Attorney Alliance, Financial Planning Association, ISMIE Mutual Insurance Company, several Estate Planning Councils (Chicago, DuPage County, Northwest Suburban and Lake County), and numerous community groups. A sampling of her presentations includes:

  • “Life Cycle of Trust,” at the CPA/JD Practitioners’ Breakfast hosted by the Fox Valley Chapter of the Illinois CPA Society, Lisle, Ill., Dec. 2017

  • "Skipping Transfer Tax Planning Options," at the Explore Genworth Financial Annual Convention, Chicago, May 2011

  • "Drafting Third-Party and Self-Settled Special Needs Trusts," at the IICLE Annual Special Needs Planning Program, Chicago, June 2010

  • "Irrevocable Trusts and Testamentary Special Needs Trusts," at the IICLE 5th Annual Elder Law Short Course, Lisle, Ill., Dec. 2009

  • "Estate Planning in an Unsteady Environment, " Genworth Financial Convention, Orlando, May 2009

  • "Important Considerations Regarding Eligibility for Medicaid," Illinois CPA Society's Estate and Gift Tax Conference, May 2009

  • "Irrevocable Trusts," at the IICLE  Practice Guidance Session, Dec. 2008

PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND

 Blooma joined Aronberg Goldgehn in August 2001. She has achieved an AV® Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell, which is a testament to the fact that her peers rank her at the highest level of excellence. In 2018, she was named by Crain’s Custom Media as a “Notable Woman Lawyer in Chicago.”


Also among her accolades, since 2006 she has been recognized annually as a Leading Lawyer in Trust, Will & Estate Planning Law by the Leading Lawyers Network. She has also been named to the Illinois Super Lawyer Estate Planning & Probate Law list annually since 2005 as well as honored on the Best Lawyers in America list for her work in Trusts and Estates since 2024.

In addition to her law degree, Blooma holds a degree in accounting from Northern Illinois University where she graduated summa cum laude and was also awarded an outstanding student award by Arthur Young (a major accounting firm that no longer exists).

Blooma has been a member of the Trust Law Committee of Chicago Bar Association for many years and chaired that Committee in the 1990s. Additionally, she has been an Adjunct Faculty member of The John Marshall Law School, teaching a class in Estates and Trusts.

In her free time, Blooma enjoys reading, traveling, going to the movies and the theater as well as spending time with her family and six grandchildren.

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

  • Temple B'Nai Israel (Board of Directors and Finance Committee Member)

RELATED NEWS



Northwestern University School of Law, J.D., cum laude, 1981

Northern Illinois University, B.S. Accounting, summa cum laude, 1978



BAR AND COURT ADMISSIONS

  • Illinois

MEMBERSHIPS

  • Chicago Bar Association, past Chair of Trust Law Committee
  • Chicago Estate Planning Council


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  • Illinois Super Lawyer in Estate Planning & Probate Law (2005-2022)
  • llinois Leading Lawyer in Trust, Will & Estate Planning Law (2006-2020)
  • Crain’s Chicago Business's Notable Woman Lawyer in Chicago (2018)
  • AV® Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell

PERSONAL

What is your favorite thing about working at Aronberg Goldgehn? I love the relationships with other lawyers in the firm.
What is one item on your bucket list? Learning to speak French fluently.
What would you be doing if you weren’t a lawyer? I think if I weren’t a lawyer, I’d probably be an accountant.
What is your favorite place in Chicago? The Lakefront
What is the best vacation you’ve ever been on? A trip we took to India.
What is your favorite restaurant? I like all of the Francesca restaurants.
What is something most people don’t know about you? I grew up in Montreal.

 

 
Blooma Stark