Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Illinois

deceased person:letter of administration
hello there, My wife passed away in 2008. She had around $45,000 in bank accounts + $106,000 as a life insurance policy.

We didn�t have any child(ren) so I am the sole heir/beneficiary of all the money above..

I had two options

1. small estate affidavit
2. open an probate estate

I thought life insurance amount can�t be considered as her estate + also thought, I am the beneficiary of her life insurance policy so I don�t have to count $106,000 as her estate

so I counted her total estate around $45,000 only and per Illinois law I prepared small estate affidavit as the total estate of deceased person is less than $100,000

So I prepared the small estate affidavit and received the funds from her bank accounts...

so far so good...until recently I was informed by her life insurance company that I need a letter of administration as I am not the beneficiary of the life insurance policy... in fact no one is beneficiary

So now I have to open a probate estate and get the letter of administration from court

1. I need a legal help from a lawyer whose filed experience includes probate, will, estate
2. Do you think this can be an issue because unknowingly I prepared the small estate affidavit?

Asked on 4/10/09, 1:58 pm

Gregory Turza Law Offices of Gregory P Turza

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0 attorneys agreed

Re: deceased person:letter of administration

We can help you and possibly still avoid probate by working with the company.

If a probate is filed it would make sense to include the asset already distributed to cut off any remote liability.

Go to "legacylaws.com" for contract information.

Take care.

Answered on 4/10/09, 2:27 pm

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