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What if you forget minor items of property or it is not convenient to transfer all your property such as your checking account or car? $100,000 or less of personal property can be transferred to your heirs or the beneficiaries of your will without probate by means of a small estate affidavit.

This is an affidavit by a survivor which states what property is in your estate (outside the trust or without beneficiary designation), what debts still must be paid, and who is entitled to the property. This authorizes banks and others to release the property to the persons indicated in the affidavit without court intervention.

Contact Don Thompson for all you Chicago Estate Planning Needs. Call 312-782-0844 today.

These do not dispose of property. Instead they tell your doctor or hospital not to keep you alive artificially. They must be signed with witnesses and all the formality of wills. To be effective you must give them to your doctor and to whoever will have charge of your care.

Do you have a will prepared? If not, add it to your to-do list!

Don Thompson is an expert in the field of Estate Planning and Probate. Don can be reached at 312-782-0844.

      Hopper v. Beavers, 362 Ill.App, 3d 913, 299 Ill. Dec. 287, 841 N. E.2d 1019 (5th Dist., 2005). When a spouse renounces a will the spouse’s 1/3 share is to be paid from the residue of the testamentary estate, even though it is 1/3 of the entire testamentary estate. When the residue is disposed of in parts or fractions it is necessary to determine whether the testator intends the respective parts or fractions to constitute subdivisions of the entire residue or to constitiute preliminary parts after which the true residue, meaning all the rest, is disposed of.

     In Re Estate of Rex B. Lower, 365 Ill.App.3d 469, 302 Ill.Dec. 346, 848 N.E.2d 645, (2nd Dist., 2006). 755 ILCS 5/18-1.1 provides that a spouse, parent, brother, sister or child of a diabled person who dedicates him or herself to the care of the disabled person by living with and personally caring for the disabled person for at least 3 years shall be entitled to a claim against the estate upon the death of the disabled person. The claimant does not have to physically provide the care or be physically capable of doing so. it is sufficient if the claimant superivises the care.

Welcome to the Chicago Estate Planning Law Blog. This estate planning blog is brought to you by the Law Offices of Donald Thompson. Mr. Thompson is an estate planning attorney located in downtown Chicago. Visit the Wills, Trusts and Estate Planning website for more information.