Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Illinois

An estate planning attorney should review the trust to determine the rights of the beneficiary. Most trusts directly state that the beneficiary is entitled to an annual accounting. There are usually also provisions for income or other distributions to be made depending on certain standards stated in the trust.

If she does not have a copy of the trust that would be the first step to take.

The attorney for the estate is entitled to a reasonable fee. What is reasonable could be determined by a number of factors, but the most important in Illinois are typically the amount of time spent, and the complexity or difficulty of the work required. The attorneys fees, in some circumstances, can also be reduced based on the size of the estate, as the whole point of an estate is to provide benefit for the beneficiaries and not merely to pay for administration. Your 20-year old friend should talk to an attorney who is knowledgeable in this area about her rights in the Estate. Most attorneys, like myself, routinely offer free consultations. Encourage her to speak with more than one attorney and then move forward with the one she feels most comfortable with.

I agree with the earlier responses. With the amounts at stake, there is not any reason that your friend should not have a capable attorney involved on her behalf, preferably an attorney chosen based on a solid referral. It is likely that she will be able to provide payment of the attorney from the assets of the trust.