The Illinois Legislature and Governor Pritzker signed a law recently that makes some big and helpful changes to when you can use a Small Estate Affidavit to handle a decedent’s estate rather than having to go through probate court!

Here’s what has changed:

1. The eligibility threshold to use a Small Estate Affidavit increased. It used to be if the total estate value was under $100,000. Now it’s $150,000.
2. Making this even better is the total estate value now EXCLUDES vehicles.

This will spare a sizeable number of people from having to go through probate court when someone dies. However, this will only be the most effective if someone has done good planning to keep the value of their estate under the $150,000 threshold. 

The requirement that if a decedent owned any real estate valued at over $2500, that real estate must be handled through probate court has not changed. Trusts or transfer-on-death instruments (deeds) can help prevent this from being an issue.

With these changes, it’s a good time to check in with an estate planning attorney to see if your plan needs to be changed, or start working with an estate planning attorney if you haven’t yet. They may be able to help you take advantage of these changes and other tools to save your beneficiaries the time and expense of going through probate court to handle your estate.