Settling an estate in Illinois
An executor in Illinois has to work through the Circuit Court (Probate Division) and a long list of tasks that have nothing to do with the court. This page sets out what Illinois law actually requires at each step, with the section it comes from and the date we last read it.
- Probate court
- Circuit Court (Probate Division)
- Small-estate shortcut
- Estates of $150,000 or less may qualify for a simplified small-estate procedure (personal property only — real estate is not counted toward the limit).
- Creditor claim period
- 6 months
- Typical timeline
- 9–18 months
- State death tax
- a state estate tax
Immediate
Obtain certified death certificates
Illinois issues two different documents and the cheaper one is often enough. Under 410 ILCS 535/25 the State Registrar searches the files on a written request and a $10 fee and, if the record is found, furnishes one certification of it. A certified copy costs an additional $5, and for a death certificate a further $2 that goes to the Death Certificate Surcharge Fund. Each additional certification or certified copy is $2 more. If the record is not found, the Registrar will on request furnish a certification attesting to that fact. Local registrars and county clerks search their own files on the same basis, which is often the faster route. Section 24 otherwise limits access to custodians for administrative purposes, but opens deaths fifty years old and older for inspection at the Illinois State Archives, the Regional Archives Depositories and approved libraries. Two practical notes. The funeral director usually orders the first batch as part of their service, so ask them how many they have already requested before you order more — families routinely pay twice. And order more than you think: banks, insurers and transfer agents often keep the copy you give them rather than returning it. Confirm the current fee on the state’s own page at the moment you order, because fees change without notice.
410 ILCS 535/24, 535/25·last read 2026-08-25
Locate the will (or confirm there is none)
Illinois gives the tightest deadline we have checked and backs it with a felony. Under 755 ILCS 5/6-1(a), immediately upon the death of the testator, any person who has the will in their possession must file it with the clerk of the court of the proper county. Not deliver it to the executor, and not within thirty days — immediately, and to the clerk. On failure or refusal, the court may issue an attachment and compel production of the will, either on its own motion or on the petition of any interested person, so you do not have to be the executor to set it in motion. Subsection (b) is the part worth quoting to anyone who is hesitating. A person who wilfully alters or destroys a will without the testator’s direction, or who wilfully secretes it for 30 days after the death is known to them, is on conviction sentenced as in cases of theft of property classified as a Class 3 felony. The section operates subject to Section 5.15 of the Secretary of State Act. Put your request in writing and keep a dated copy.
755 ILCS 5/6-1·last read 2026-08-25
Short-term
Claim the family allowances you are entitled to
Illinois sets a floor rather than a cap, which is unusual and works in the family’s favour. Under 755 ILCS 5/15-1 the surviving spouse is allowed a sum the court finds reasonable for their proper support for the nine months after the death, plus a further sum for the deceased’s minor children who lived with them. The award may in no case be less than $20,000, together with not less than $10,000 for each such child — so a spouse with two children starts at $40,000 and the court can go above it. It is paid in no more than three instalments across those nine months. One condition decides whether it is available at all: the spouse is entitled to the award unless the will expressly provides that its provisions for the spouse are in lieu of the award and the spouse does not renounce the will. Read the will for that phrase before assuming the award is automatic. While it is in the representative’s hands the award is exempt from the enforcement of a judgment, from garnishment and from attachment. Two forfeitures reach it. Under 755 ILCS 5/2-6 a person who intentionally and unjustifiably causes the death receives no property, benefit or other interest by reason of it, in any capacity whatever, and a court may decide that separately from any criminal case. Under 5/2-6.2 the same follows from a conviction, or from a civil finding on the preponderance of the evidence, of financial exploitation, abuse or neglect of an elderly person or a person with a disability.
755 ILCS 5/2-6, 5/2-6.2, 5/15-1·last read 2026-08-27
Notify beneficiaries and keep them informed
Illinois gives you fourteen days, among the shortest we have checked, and will not let you write the letter yourself. Under 755 ILCS 5/6-10 the representative, or the petitioner where none has been appointed, has fourteen days from entry of the order admitting or denying admission of a will to probate. Within that time they must mail a copy of the petition and the order to each heir and legatee whose name and address appear in the petition. Anyone not listed is reached by publication instead. The notice must also include an explanation, in the form prescribed by rule of the Illinois Supreme Court, of the rights of heirs and legatees to require formal proof of will under § 6-21 and to contest the admission or denial of admission under § 8-1 or § 8-2. Use the Supreme Court’s form rather than drafting your own. Getting this wrong rarely costs money directly — it stalls the case. An estate that cannot show notice was properly given can be held open, and the appointment itself can be reopened, so keep proof of what you sent, to whom, and on what date.
755 ILCS 5/6-10·last read 2026-08-25
Determine if probate is required
Illinois raised its small-estate affidavit cap from $100,000 to $150,000, and the change turns on the date of death — deaths before 10 September 2025 still use the old $100,000 figure. Check the date before assuming the higher limit. One more quirk in your favour: motor vehicles registered with the Secretary of State are excluded from the count, so a car does not push an estate over the line.
755 ILCS 5/25-1·last read 2026-08-17
Legal Process
File a petition with the probate court
Illinois gives independent administration by default, and then hands everyone the form to take it away. Under 755 ILCS 5/28-2 the court grants independent administration where the petition does not request supervised administration, unless the will forbids it. The court may still require supervision where an interested person is a minor or has a disability and their interests are not adequately represented. The lever is the objection: where an interested person objects, the court shall require supervised administration — except that if the will directs independent administration, supervision follows only on a finding of good cause, and for a creditor or a non-residuary legatee only where it is necessary to protect their interest. The part worth knowing either way is the notice duty. The independent representative must give the heirs and legatees an explanation of their rights and the petition form for terminating independent administration. One practical point: the word your state uses for this office is not decoration — asking for the wrong one wastes a trip and a phone call. And where a registrar or clerk can grant it, no judge is involved and no hearing is set, so nothing in the system will prompt you: the case moves only when you file.
755 ILCS 5/28-2·last read 2026-08-25
Inventory all assets and debts
Illinois gives sixty days and expects a lawsuit to be listed as an asset. Under 755 ILCS 5/14-1 the representative has sixty days after the issuance of letters to file an inventory with the court. It describes the real estate with its improvements and encumbrances, states the cash on hand, and lists all the personal property — including any cause of action on which the representative has a right to sue. That last item is the one people miss. An unresolved claim the deceased had, or one arising out of the death itself, is estate property and belongs on the list. If further assets come to light afterwards, a supplemental inventory must be filed within sixty days of the discovery. Two things that apply everywhere. Values are as of the date of death, not today — a house that has risen since is still listed at what it was worth then. And the inventory is the document everything else is measured against: fees, bond, and every later distribution. It is also what beneficiaries most often challenge, so take the time to get it right rather than filing a rough figure you intend to fix later.
755 ILCS 5/14-1·last read 2026-08-25
Publish notice to creditors
Illinois runs two periods and takes the later, then caps everything at two years. Under 755 ILCS 5/18-3 the notice must state a date for filing claims that is not less than six months from the date of the first publication, or three months from the date of mailing or delivery, whichever is later. The section also requires the representative to mail or deliver notice to each creditor whose name and address is known or reasonably ascertainable, where the claim has not already been allowed or disallowed. Section 18-12 then supplies the outer limit that catches people out: whatever the notice said, and whether or not letters were ever issued, all claims that could have been barred under that section are in any event barred two years after the death. Two things to hold on to. Publication is what starts the clock in most states, so an estate where nobody published can stay exposed to claims far longer than the family expects. And a known creditor usually has to be told directly — publication alone does not bind someone whose name and address you could reasonably have found.
755 ILCS 5/18-3, 5/18-12·last read 2026-08-25
Administration
Identify and close digital accounts
Illinois takes certified copies and names no affidavit, so an appointment or a court order is the way in. Under 755 ILCS 70/7 the content of electronic communications is disclosed where the deceased person consented or a court directs it, and the representative gives the custodian a written request, a certified copy of the death certificate, and a certified copy of the letter of appointment or a court order. There is no small-estate affidavit on that list. Unless the person used the provider’s online tool you must also produce the will, trust or power of attorney evidencing consent. One warning about finding the act: Illinois numbers it oddly, and 755 ILCS 70/15 is the fiduciary duty and authority provision rather than anything to do with a deceased user. Section 7 is the one you want. The rule to hold on to everywhere: without consent you generally get only the catalogue — who was contacted, when, and at what address — not what was actually said. “The executor can get into the accounts” is not what these laws do. And if you are advising someone still living, the provider’s own online tool is where this should be set, because it beats the will.
755 ILCS 70/7·last read 2026-08-25
Financial Settlement
Pay valid debts and expenses
Illinois has seven classes, and puts the family second — ahead of the federal government. Under 755 ILCS 5/18-10 the classification is as follows. First class: funeral and burial expenses, expenses of administration, statutory custodial claims, and the final fees and costs of any guardianship. Two things inside that first class are worth knowing. Funeral and burial expenses count whoever paid them, a surviving spouse included — so a family member who settled the funeral home bill out of their own pocket holds a first-class claim against the estate, not a favour to be repaid at the end. And they are defined to take in a burial space, crypt or niche, a marker on it, and the care of that space, together with interest on those amounts. The interest runs from 60 days after letters of office issue — or 60 days after the amounts fall due where no letters are ever issued — at up to 9% a year, as contract or law allows. Second: the surviving spouse’s or child’s award. Third: debts due the United States. Fourth: reasonable and necessary medical, hospital and nursing home expenses for the care of the deceased during the year immediately preceding death, and money due employees of the deceased of not more than $800 for each claimant, for services rendered in the four months before the death. Fifth: money and property received or held in trust by the deceased which cannot be identified or traced. Sixth: debts due Illinois and any county, township, city, town, village or school district within it. Seventh: all other claims. Two details catch executors out. The medical class reaches back only one year before death, so older care bills drop to the seventh class. And the spouse’s or child’s award, set separately under 755 ILCS 5/15-1, outranks every creditor except the funeral home and the cost of administration. Paying a lower-ranked debt before a higher-ranked one can leave you personally liable for the difference. So where the estate may not cover everything, stop before paying anything beyond the funeral and administration costs, and take advice.
755 ILCS 5/18-10·last read 2026-08-27
File required tax returns
Illinois has the trap that catches more families than any other state estate tax: the exemption is $4 million and it is not indexed to inflation. It has not moved in years and does not rise with prices, so estates that were comfortably clear a decade ago are now caught — very often because of a house that has appreciated rather than any new wealth. Illinois also has no portability between spouses, unlike the federal system, so a couple cannot simply carry the first spouse’s unused exemption across without planning. If the estate is anywhere near $4 million, including the house and any life insurance payable to the estate, this needs an estate tax professional rather than a checklist. The Illinois estate tax is administered by the attorney general’s office, not the Department of Revenue. That fixed figure is the whole of the trap. 35 ILCS 405/2 recognises an exclusion amount of $4,000,000 for persons dying on or after 1 January 2013 and has not moved since, so the number of Illinois estates caught grows every year without the legislature touching it. One planning point sits in the same section: under subsection (b-1) the Illinois return may make a qualified terminable interest property election that is separate and independent of the federal QTIP election. None of that removes the federal returns: the deceased’s final income tax return, and Form 1041 for income the estate itself earns during administration — and this state wants its own fiduciary return alongside the 1041.
Illinois Attorney General — Estate Tax·last read 2026-09-09
Distribution
Distribute assets to heirs
Illinois splits the estate in half and does not adjust for whose children they are. Under 755 ILCS 5/2-1, where a spouse and descendants both survive, the estate goes half to the surviving spouse and half to the deceased’s descendants per stirpes. Where a spouse survives and there are no descendants, the spouse takes the entire estate — parents do not cut in, unlike in most uniform-code states. Where there is no spouse, the descendants take everything per stirpes. Failing them the estate goes to parents, siblings and their descendants sharing equally, with a dead parent’s portion doubling the survivor’s. Then to grandparents and their descendants, divided between the maternal and paternal sides. Then great-grandparents on the same pattern. Then to the nearest kindred in equal degree. And failing everyone it escheats to the county or the state. One rule runs through all of it: in no case is there any distinction between the kindred of the whole and the half blood. Two people can be written out entirely, and neither appears in the shares above. Under 755 ILCS 5/2-6 anyone who intentionally and unjustifiably causes the death takes nothing by reason of it — not as heir, legatee, beneficiary, joint tenant, survivor or appointee — and the property passes as if they had died first. A conviction for first or second degree murder of the deceased raises a presumption that they acted intentionally and unjustifiably. Under 755 ILCS 5/2-6.5 a parent is barred from a deceased minor or dependent child’s estate where, for one year or more immediately before the death, they wilfully neglected or failed to perform any duty of support owed to the child, or wilfully deserted them. A court may allow that parent reduced benefits where justice requires, but the reduction must be at least the amount of child support owed at the death. Note it covers a DEPENDENT child, not only a minor. Illinois has a third disqualification aimed at elder abuse, and it does not need a criminal case. Under 755 ILCS 5/2-6.2 a person convicted of financial exploitation, abuse or neglect of an elderly person or a person with a disability — or found civilly liable for financial exploitation on a preponderance of the evidence — takes no property, benefit or other interest by reason of the death. A civil finding is enough on its own. There is one way back: the bar does not apply where it is shown by clear and convincing evidence that the deceased knew of the conviction or the civil finding and afterwards ratified their intention to transfer the property to that person anyway. If money moved out of an elderly parent’s accounts before the death, that is the section to raise. These shares apply only where there is no valid will — a will overrides all of it. And do not distribute anything until the creditor period has run and the debts are settled: a representative who pays the family early can be personally liable for what is still owing. Illinois puts an adopted child’s position in 755 ILCS 5/2-4, and two parts of it are wider than the usual rule. Under subsection (d) an adopted child is not a child or descendant of a natural parent — except where the adopting parent is “a descendant or a spouse of a descendant of a great-grandparent of the child”, in which case the child is a child of BOTH natural parents. That reaches a long way past the stepparent: an aunt, a cousin, a great-uncle’s wife all sit inside it. The same exception applies where a natural parent died before the adoption, or where a contrary intent is shown in an instrument by clear and convincing evidence. Subsection (a) cuts the other way for adult adoptions. An adopted child is a descendant of the adopting parent, except where the adoption happened after the child turned eighteen and the child had never lived with that parent before then. And subsection (b) traces property back: the natural parent and that parent’s kindred take from the child whatever the child had taken from or through the natural parent.
755 ILCS 5/2-1, 5/2-4, 5/2-6, 5/2-6.2, 5/2-6.5·last read 2026-09-09
Close Estate
File a final accounting and close the estate
Illinois gives independent administration a dated end point, which most states do not. Under 755 ILCS 5/28-11 the independent representative seeking discharge mails or delivers an accounting to all interested persons and files a verified report with the court. That report states in substance that the notice requirements were met, that every claim has been allowed, disallowed, compromised or barred, that all death taxes have been determined and paid or otherwise provided for, that the expenses of administration have been paid, that the remaining assets have been distributed, and that the fees were approved. It also confirms that copies of an inventory and an accounting were mailed or delivered to the extent § 28-6 requires. The representative then mails the report to those entitled to it, telling them they have forty-two days to object. If no objection is filed within that time, the court shall enter an order discharging the independent representative and declaring the estate closed. Closing is what ends your exposure, so do not simply stop when the money runs out — an estate left open leaves the representative personally on the hook. And filing a closing statement is not the same as being discharged. In several states the appointment only terminates some months later, if nobody objects. Keep the file, the receipts and the proof of what you sent until then.
755 ILCS 5/28-11·last read 2026-08-25
Work through this as a checklist
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EstateMate is not a law firm and this is not legal advice. Every note above cites the section it came from and the date it was last read, so you can check it yourself. Statutes change, and the right answer can turn on facts specific to your family — when something looks close to the line, talk to a Illinois probate attorney.