אחרי שחתמתם על הצוואה שלכם באילינוי

The original, and where it lives

Illinois has no deposit of a will with the court during the testator's lifetime. After a death, any person who has the will in possession files it with the clerk of the court of the proper county immediately upon the death; the court may compel its production, and wilfully secreting a will for 30 days after the death is known is a felony (755 ILCS 5/6-1). Wherever you keep the original, tell your executor where it is.

How it was signed, and proving it

A person 18 or older who is of sound mind and memory may make a will (755 ILCS 5/4-1). An Illinois will is in writing, signed by the testator (or by some person in the testator's presence and by the testator's direction) and attested in the presence of the testator by two or more credible witnesses (755 ILCS 5/4-3). Illinois gives no effect to an unwitnessed handwritten will. A will may also be created, signed and attested electronically under the Electronic Wills, Electronic Estate Planning Documents, and Remote Witnesses Act (755 ILCS 6/5-5).

When the will is offered for probate, it is proved by the testimony of the witnesses or, without them, by an attestation clause or the witnesses' affidavit stating that the witnesses were present and saw the testator sign, that the will was attested in the testator's presence, and that they believed the testator to be of sound mind and memory (755 ILCS 5/6-4). An attestation clause or affidavit signed at the time spares your family a step.

Your executor

The person your will names as executor has first preference for letters of office; the statute then ranks the surviving spouse, the legatees, the children and the other persons it lists (755 ILCS 5/9-3). Within 14 days after the will is admitted, the representative mails notice of the admission to each heir and legatee with the Supreme Court's explanation of the rights to formal proof and to contest (755 ILCS 5/6-10), publishes and mails the notice to creditors (755 ILCS 5/18-3), files an inventory within 60 days (755 ILCS 5/14-1), pays valid claims and distributes. Tell the person you named, and keep the choice current.

What changes a will

A will is revoked by burning, cancelling, tearing or obliterating it by the testator or at the testator's direction, by a later will declaring the revocation, by a later will inconsistent with it to the extent of the inconsistency, or by a signed and attested writing declaring the revocation (755 ILCS 5/4-7). Illinois also adjusts a will for later events:

• Divorce: a judgment dissolving the marriage revokes every legacy, interest, power of appointment and nomination of the former spouse as executor, trustee or guardian, and the will takes effect as if the former spouse had died before the testator (755 ILCS 5/4-7(b)).
• A new child: a child born after the will and not provided for or disinherited receives the share the child would take had the testator died intestate, unless the will shows the omission was intentional (755 ILCS 5/4-10).
• A new marriage does not revoke an Illinois will; a surviving spouse not provided for may renounce the will within 7 months after its admission and take one-third of the estate if the testator leaves a descendant, or one-half if none (755 ILCS 5/2-8).

A will and a trust together

A will governs only what passes through probate: property in your own name with no beneficiary designation, joint owner, transfer on death instrument or trust title. A will may bequeath or devise property to the trustee of a trust that is in existence when the will is signed, even a revocable one, if the trust is identified in the will; the property becomes part of that trust (755 ILCS 5/4-4). Beneficiary designations, a transfer on death instrument (755 ILCS 27/20) and joint ownership pass outside the will, so they need to agree with it.

What happens at your death

The will is filed with the circuit court clerk (755 ILCS 5/6-1), a petition asks the court to admit it and issue letters (755 ILCS 5/6-2), and the executor gives the notice of admission within 14 days (755 ILCS 5/6-10); any interested person may petition for formal proof within 42 days (755 ILCS 5/6-21) or contest the will within 6 months (755 ILCS 5/8-1). The executor publishes and mails the notice to creditors (755 ILCS 5/18-3) and files the inventory within 60 days (755 ILCS 5/14-1). A surviving spouse may renounce the will within 7 months (755 ILCS 5/2-8), and the spouse's award gives the spouse 9 months' support ahead of creditors (755 ILCS 5/15-1). A small estate may pass by affidavit (755 ILCS 5/25-1) or summary administration (755 ILCS 5/9-8).

When a licensed Illinois attorney is the right next call

TrusteeClear explains and organizes; it does not review a will or say what is missing from it. Many people bring their will to a licensed Illinois attorney of their choosing to add an attestation clause or affidavit, to coordinate it with a trust and beneficiary designations, or to update it after a marriage, a divorce or a new child.