Probate Act Terms to Know
When you work with an Oak Park estate planning lawyer to create a will and advance directives and to establish trusts and other documents, you will often be doing so with an eye toward the probate process. Depending upon the types of estate planning tools you create, you may be trying to allow your loved ones to avoid probate for certain assets or, in some instances, to avoid probate altogether. The probate process is a process where a person’s property is identified after their death, assets are distributed to heirs, and the estate of the person is wrapped up by a party known as the executor of the estate. Probate is not necessary in all situations when a person dies, but it is typically required under Illinois law when a person dies with assets totaling more than $100,000 that must be probated (i.e., assets that are not held in a trust and assets that are not payable to a beneficiary upon death of the owner). The probate process can be extremely complicated, and it is important to w...