Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Illinois
settlement of an estate
My aged mother died in January, 2007. In reading her will, she left some money to several friends as well as family members. One of these friends moved away 6=7 years ago, and we have no clue as to his whereabouts. Two of us have tried to find him on the internet to no avail. My question is this: What is our responsibility in trying to locate this person, can expenses incurred in trying to locate this person be deducted from the monetary sum left to him, and what happens to the money if we ultimately cannot find him??
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: settlement of an estate
The person who is named as executor under the will has a duty to make reasonable efforts to locate the person. Sometimes, using a "skip-tracer" such as the credit agencies use may track him/her down. The costs directly attributed to the search would be deducted from the person's share.
I would suggest reviewing the matter with a probate attorney to be sure that you are covered as a fiduciary of the estate when deciding what to ultimately do with the funds if the person is not located. Legally, it should go to the state (as unclaimed property), but depending on the amount, it may be eaten up in costs before you get to that point.
Good luck to you.
Re: settlement of an estate
This is a matter for the executor to discuss directly with the attorney for the estate.
A little tip if you're searching to see if this person might have passed away, check the Social Security Death Index at http://ssdi.rootsweb.com/
Good luck.
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