Estate Planning, Probate & Elder Law Attorneys

» Foreign Wills

The procedure for admitting to probate a Will executed in Illinois, by an Illinois resident, is pretty simple. A wrinkle is added if the Will wasn't executed in Illinois. A typical scenario is where a person executes a Will in another state, and then moves to (and dies in) Illinois. Can the "foreign Will" be admitted to probate in Illinois?

The answer is "yes," in the following situations:

1. The Will has already been admitted to probate in another state,

2. The Will, although executed outside Illinois, was executed in accordance with...

a. Illinois law;
b. The law of the state in which it was executed; or
c. The law of the state in which the testator lived when the Will was executed.

The rules about admitting a Will already admitted to probate in another state are found in Section 7-3 of the Probate Act. The big question here is whether the original Will can be obtained from the other state.

Section 7-4 of the Probate Act addresses the admission of a not-yet-probated Will executed outside of Illinois. Proof is easiest when the Will already complies with the execution requirements in Illinois, which are (from Section 4-3 of the Probate Act) as follows:

Every will shall be in writing, signed by the testator or by some person in his presence and by his direction and attested in the presence of the testator by 2 or more credible witnesses.

» More on Amending Probate Papers

Just a follow-up/clarification on this post from a month ago. It may be implied in the post, but in an intestate case (that is, where the decedent left no Will), all that's needed is a petition to amend heirship and a new affidavit of heirship.

I would also add that a lot of the difficulty and expense (in terms of time and money) in amending can be addressed at the beginning of the process. The attorney should explain to the client what an heir is, and the client should be able to get the attorney a list of all of the decedent's heirs, with full names and addresses (and, if possible, telephone numbers).

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» First Day of School

Posting is probably going to be light this week and next, as I adjust to my first quarter in business school. I'm only taking one class, but it's a doozy (business statistics).

I'll resist posting a picture of me in my "back to school" duds, lunchbox (or dinnerbox, since I'm an evening student) in hand, heading to the GSB.

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