Illinois living trusts & estate documents

Living trust law in Illinois

A revocable living trust holds your home, accounts, and other property during your life, you stay in full control as trustee and can change or revoke it any time, then passes it to your beneficiaries without probate when you're gone. In Illinois, trusts are governed by the Illinois Trust Code, 760 ILCS 3.

Avoiding probate in Illinois

Probate in Illinois is governed by the Illinois Probate Act of 1975, 755 ILCS 5 and handled by the Circuit Court's Probate Division. Illinois allows independent administration, which avoids most court supervision.

Illinois allows a small estate affidavit when the personal estate, excluding motor vehicles registered with the Secretary of State, is $150,000 or less for deaths on or after August 15, 2025, $100,000 for earlier deaths (755 ILCS 5/25-1). Public Act 104-624 (SB 2704), effective January 1, 2027, keeps the $150,000 limit but provides that for a decedent who dies on or after that date the following are not treated as excluded motor vehicles and so count toward the $150,000: motor vehicles used as living quarters; motor homes, mini motor homes, and van campers; non-self-propelled vehicles; commercial vehicles; implements of husbandry; and buses or commuter vans. Assets held in a funded living trust pass to your beneficiaries without probate, whatever the size of the estate. Many Illinois homeowners set one up for that reason. Illinois also authorizes a transfer-on-death instrument (755 ILCS 27/1 et seq.) to pass real estate outside probate. A living trust does the same for every asset, not just real estate.

In Illinois, creditors generally have at least 6 months from the first published notice, with a 2-year absolute bar from death to file claims against the estate (755 ILCS 5/18-12), one reason court probate takes time that a funded trust avoids.

Estate and inheritance tax in Illinois

Illinois levies its own estate tax on top of the federal one, and at a much lower exemption: Illinois has a state estate tax with a $4 million exclusion (not portable between spouses). The separate federal estate tax reaches only estates above $15 million per person (2026, adjusted yearly), so most families never owe it.

Protecting a surviving spouse in Illinois

A surviving spouse in Illinois who is left out of the will can instead claim an elective share of one-third of the estate where the decedent left descendants, one-half where none under 755 ILCS 5/2-8, a protection the will itself cannot override.

Illinois also sets aside a spouse's award of at least $20,000, plus at least $10,000 for each minor child and at least $5,000 for each dependent adult child who lived with the spouse, for the surviving spouse, or for the decedent's minor children when there is no spouse (755 ILCS 5/15-1 and 15-2). The award is the spouse's own property, exempt from the enforcement of a judgment, garnishment or attachment while in the representative's possession, and it ranks second among claims against the estate, after funeral and burial expenses and expenses of administration (755 ILCS 5/18-10).

Signing your Illinois documents

1. Sign the living trust. Executed and acknowledged before a notary (State of Illinois certificate).
2. Sign the will. Two witnesses; notarized self-proving affidavit included (standalone and pour-over wills).
3. Sign the power of attorney. Sign your Durable Power of Attorney in the presence of one adult witness and before a Notary Public. The witness signs the witness certification printed after your signature. The Notary Public may not also sign as the witness. Under Illinois law (755 ILCS 45/3-3.6), none of the following may serve as the witness or as the Notary Public:
4. Sign the health care documents. Sign your Power of Attorney for Health Care before one adult witness, and your Living Will Declaration before two adult witnesses, as the forms provide.
5. Follow your package instructions. Your package includes page-by-page signing instructions written for Illinois. Follow those as the authoritative guide.

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