Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Illinois

No will, no children, who gets money?

My uncle (married to my grandma's sister) recently died and his wife died four months ago. They had no children and no will. My uncle's heir is his sister and my aunt (who died 4 months ago) heir is her sister (my grandma). The family says all the money goes to my uncle's sister. My grandma wants to know if she is entiled to any money? Her sister worked for 37 years and feels all her sister's money should not go to her sister in-law. My aunt always said everything was suppose to be split equally. We are talking about over $300,000. Can we fight this in court? Or because my aunt died first our family is not entiled to nothing?


Asked on 10/31/05, 4:02 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Cyndi Perez Trostin

Re: No will, no children, who gets money?

First of all, in the state of Illinois, if a person dies with an estate worth over $100,000, it must be probated (unless all of the property passes to a surviving spouse). That means that a court proceeding must be held to determine the appropriate heirship, and the rights of the parties involved.

If there has not been a probate estate opened, you may petition the court to open one, and have an administrator appointed.

In the scenario you describe, when your aunt died, her estate passed to your uncle. Then, upon your uncle's death, everything would pass to his heirs-at-law (most likely his siblings, if his parents predeceased him). This is, of course, if there is no will found for either person. If one or the other person had a will, it could change the entire series of distributions.

I would recommend consulting an attorney to review the estate's matters for you and inform you of your rights.

Good luck to you.

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Answered on 10/31/05, 11:08 pm


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