Usually when a person dies with or without a Will there has to be an administration of their estate (the assets they owned when they died and the payment of the debts they leave behind) in the probate court.
In Illinois any property a person owns at their death titled in their individual name or jointly with another or others without right of survivorship will have to be administered by the probate court in the jurisdiction where the decedent lived at the time of their death, unless:
(1) The property is held by a Trust or Corporation of other legal entitle the decedent created during their lifetime which entity survives them; or,
(2) The property is titled jointly with another or others with right of survivorship in which case the surviving joint owners or beneficiaries inherits the deceased joint owner’s share by operation of law and without going through the probate process; or,
(3) There is no real estate in the decedent’s estate and the estate consists of less than $100,000 in assets the ownership of which can be transferred by Small Estate Affidavit an attorney can create with minimum expense.
Creditors in Illinois have two years to collect their debts from the assets of a decedent if the decedent’s estate is not administered in probate and for probate estates creditor claims are barred six months after a claim date notice is published in a local newspaper.
Therefore if a person disposes of assets of a decedent without paying one or more of the decedent’s creditors before the claim date for barring creditor claims has expired they could be personally liable for payment of that decedent’s bill.
A decedent’s will is required to be filed in the probate court of competent jurisdiction in both Illinois and Missouri (within 30 days of a person’s death in Illinois) and in Illinois it is a criminal offence for a custodian of a will to fail to do so. Furthermore, in Missouri if a decedent’s will is not filed in the probate court and a petition filed with the court to have the executor appointed within one year of the death the will is void and the decedent will be regarded as dyeing without a will and his heirs at law as defined by the Statute of Decent and Distribution of Missouri will inherit the decedent’s estate instead of those who the decedent intended would inherit by the will they made.
An attorney should be consulted by the person who has custody of the decedent’s will if the decedent had a will or the decedent’s next of kin if the decedent did not have a will to determine what is required for the administration of a decedent’s estate and in order to comply with the law in the administration of the decedent’s estate.