Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Illinois

If you or the other heirs wish to keep the property, then the mortgage payments must be continued until title is transferred as part of the probate proceedings. The children can make the payments or the payments can be made by the court appointed executor during probate from the estate. The most absolute important thing is that the children go through with the probate proceedings. There are rules that will determine how the estate is distributed even if the decedent was intestate.

Not directly. The house is still subject to the mortgage lien. In other words, if someone wants the house, either the mortgage would need to paid in full, or someone would need to continue to make the payments.

To be clear, in this market of underwater properties I think you should be explicitly reassured that you can let the property go if you want. You are not the debtor. The mortgage holder can't do anything to collect the debt against you personally. So if more is owed on the property than it is worth then you can safely let them foreclose. It won't be on your credit and you won't have to pay.

If it is worth it to keep the property then you will have to maintain the mortgage and pay it off when you sell.

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