Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Illinois

You are going to have to hire a lawyer and have the Will probated. Someone knows where the others are at and you will have to make every effort to locate them including hiring a private investigator. You don't say who your mother named as Executor of her Estate. If she was still married to your father at the time of her death, etc. You will likely have the opportunity to buy out the others at the home 's fair market value. In the meantime, you can continue to live there but you will have to pay any existing mortgage and taxes. You can claim these expenses against the Estate. Talk to your lawyer.

Although it is possible to "do it yourself", when a will is probated it is helpful to hire an attorney to represent the estate. It will be the duty of the attorney to assist the executor or administrator in performing the necessary actions to administer the estate. The attorney represents the executor or administrator in his or her capacity as the personal representative of the estate, the lawyer does not represent the executor or administrator personally. This is what your mother's estate needs. The executor or administrator has a duty to locate all heirs and legatees and notify them of the probate of the will. Every interested party has to be given notice of the proceedings and an opportunity to be heard in the probate case. Everything else follows.