Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Illinois
My mother was in the hospital and asked my brother and I to type a letter about what she wanted done after her death. She had us list what funeral home, cemetery, as well as what to do with her home. She had a notary at the hospital notarize it and my brother and I had to sign it. She does not have a will. She has a home that is paid in full and a piece of property that is paid in full. She has me on both deeds as "right of survivorship". She has 2 life insurance policies with me being listed as beneficiary on one and my sister on the other. She has 2 bank accounts with little in them. Other than that, she doesn't have anything else. This is all she feels is needed for us to finalize everything because of the way her deeds are set up and her life insurance is set with beneficiaries. Will this notarized document be enough to follow her wishes or do we need anything else?
1 Answer from Attorneys
The documents signed in the hospital will have no effect on property held in joint tenancy. The bank balances can be distributed, using a small estate affidavit, to pay for funeral expenses, with any money left over split among your mother's heirs: her children in equal shares (and if there were a surviving spouse, half to him). If there's anything else in your mother's name, a small estate affidavit can be used to distribute her property in equal shares to her heirs, so long as the total value is less than $100,000 and she has no real estate in her estate (as she would in the unlikely but possible event her joint tenant (you) predeceased her).
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