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Findgreatlawyers.com helps people with any Illinois legal matter, including estate planning as well as cases where someone dies without a valid will otherwise known as dieing "intestate." If you have general questions or would like an attorney referral, Please call us at (312) 346-5320 or (800) 517-1614 or fill out our contact us form and we will contact you. There is never a charge to talk to us and all calls and emails are confidential.

If a will is found to be invalid, it will be denied probate, and the rules of intestacy will be invoked. The rules of intestacy are the rules that govern the distribution of the deceased's property upon their death if they did not make a complete disposition of their assets in a will. These same rules apply when someone dies and never prepared a will.

Under the Illinois intestacy statute, the deceased person's spouse will inherit one-half of the deceased's estate if the deceased is survived by any children. In addition to this intestate share, the surviving spouse is entitled to a family allowance to provide support for the family during the probate/distribution period. This allowance is $10,000 minimum for the spouse as well as $5,000 for each minor or disabled adult child. If the deceased is not survived by any children, then the surviving spouse will inherit the entire estate.

If there is no surviving spouse and a will is invalidated, Illinois intestacy rules distribute the deceased's estate equally amongst the first line of living descendants. To illustrate, if Jane dies a widow and is survived by two of her three children, then her estate is distributed equally amongst her children. However, assume her deceased child had two children. Because they can "step up" into their parent's place, they will share in that parent's share of Jane's estate. So, each of Jane's two surviving children each take one-third of Jane's estate, and the two grandchildren of Jane's deceased child each share one-third (so each takes one-sixth) of Jane's estate.

So what happens if a will is invalidated but the person does not have any children? In Illinois, parents, brothers, and sisters take equal shares of the estate. This is different from the majority of other states in which the parents take the entire estate. However, Illinois gives a double portion to a surviving parent if the other parent is deceased. So, to illustrate, if Jane died with no children, and is survived only by her father and two brothers, Jane's father would inherit one-half of her estate (one-fourth for him and one-fourth for Jane's mother's share), and each brother would take one-fourth of Jane's estate.

As one can see, Illinois intestacy statutes can be very tricky. Because these are the rules that will determine how the deceased's estate is distributed if a will is found to be invalid, it is important to consult with an experienced estate planning attorney. If you have general questions or need a referral to an Illinois attorney who is very experienced with cases where someone dies without a will or with an invalid will, please call us at (312) 346-5320 or (800) 517-1614 or fill out our contact us form and we will contact you.