Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Illinois

I am sorry for your loss. If the will has not been submitted to probate, then there is not an executor. The will designates who is to be appointed if and when one is appointed, but since you are bypassing the probate process there is not an executor.

As far as the distribution, the ownership interests depend on how the title was held by your father-in-law. Commonly, title is held in a form where a decedent's interest passes to the survivors, but it sounds like that is not the case here. It sounds like title is as tenants in common, which means that the two owners each owned a half interest without survivorship applying. If that is the case, your wife is selling her half as part of the transaction and your father-in-law's estate is selling the other half, which is what the title company is saying must be divided among all the children, your wife included. Assuming a review of the documents would confirm that the title company is looking at everything correctly, your wife should receive 1/2 + an additional fractional share.

To properly advise you, an attorney would need to review the documents (the deed that placed your wife and her father in title, the will and perhaps more).