Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Illinois
My grandmother who lived in Illinois recently passed away. She had a pretty nice sum uf money in the bank, as well as, stocks and her home which had been paid off years ago. My grandfather had long since passed away and they had 2 children, my mother, who has also passed away years ago and my aunt. A few weeks after my grandmothers passing, my brother called my aunt and asked about the will my grandmother had left. My aunt responded that as her last living child, she had thrown my grandmothers will out and would handle all the money and sell the house and keep the money. Is she allowed to do this? I am sure my grandmothers attnorney has a copy of the will, but I wouldn't have the first clue who the attorney is. Is there any recourse against my aunt just keeping my grandmothers entire estate for herself?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Yes. Hire a lawyer of your own and open a probate. From there you can demand the will from the aunt. But if she is the sole heir or she was a joint tenant then you could end up spending your money for nothing.
The will should be filed with the Clerk of the Probate Court even if there is no probate. Perhaps you could ask he lawyer to do so. That way you would know if you had anything coming to you.
Let me start by saying that since your mother is deceased, you and your brother are legal heirs of your grandmother. That means that if your grandmother had no Will (or I suppose if it was thrown away and never to be found) then you would be entitled to a share of her probate estate. I'm not sure under what authority your aunt is planning to sell the house and take all the other assets. If they are in your grandmother's name alone then she isn't going to be able to do that. The key is determining how your grandmother's assets were titled, and then if there are significant assets that were in her sole name, get a probate estate opened to have them transferred under the Will, or if no Will, then to the legal heirs, including yourself.
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