Perhaps the Most Important Article We Have Ever Written
I've written a lot of articles over the years about trusts, taxes, probate, and the finer points of Illinois estate law. This one is simpler, and in a way more important, because it applies to almost everyone reading it.
Here it is: if you're an adult, you need a basic estate plan. Not someday. Now. And most people don't have one.
I understand why. Estate planning sounds like something for the wealthy or the elderly, and it sits on the same mental shelf as cleaning the gutters and updating your passwords — important, never urgent. But the cost of skipping it doesn't fall on you. It falls on the people you leave behind, at the worst possible time, and it's almost always more than the cost of doing it right.
What happens in Illinois if you do nothing
When someone dies in Illinois without a will, the state has already written one for them. It's called intestate succession, and the law decides who gets what based on a fixed formula — not on what you would have wanted.
If you're married with children, your spouse and children split your estate; your spouse does not simply inherit everything. If you have a blended family, an unmarried partner, a charity you cared about, or a relative you'd specifically want to leave out, the statute doesn't know any of that and doesn't care. It distributes your property to your legal heirs in set shares, full stop.
And someone still has to run the process. Without a will naming an executor, the court appoints an administrator, who often has to post a bond. The estate goes through probate — a public court proceeding that takes time and costs money in fees. Your family doesn't get to make the choices you'd have made; they inherit a process instead of a plan.
A basic plan is only a few pieces
A solid foundational estate plan isn't complicated, and for most people it comes down to a handful of documents working together.
A will
Your will names who inherits, who serves as executor, and — critically, if you have minor children — who would raise them as guardian. That guardianship choice alone is reason enough for young parents to get this done. If you don't name a guardian, a judge decides who raises your kids.
Powers of attorney
A power of attorney for property lets someone you trust manage your finances if you can't, and a power of attorney for health care lets someone make medical decisions for you. These protect you while you're alive — which a will never does. Without them, your family may have to go to court for guardianship just to help you.
Beneficiary designations that actually match your plan
Retirement accounts, life insurance, and payable-on-death accounts pass by beneficiary designation, not by your will. These are some of the most valuable things most people own, and they're also the most commonly neglected. An ex-spouse still listed on a 401(k), a deceased parent named as beneficiary, a blank form on file — I've seen all of it. A beneficiary designation overrides your will, so if it's wrong, the rest of your plan can't fix it.
The real costs of having no plan
People imagine the cost of no plan is just the inconvenience of probate. It's bigger than that.
There's the financial cost — court costs, bond premiums, attorney's fees, and delay that can tie up money your family needs to pay the mortgage and keep the lights on. There's the family cost — the arguments that erupt when there's no clear instruction and grieving relatives are left to guess what you wanted. And there's the personal cost — your assets distributed by a formula that may bear no resemblance to your actual wishes, and decisions about your children or your medical care made by a court instead of by you.
Compared to all of that, a basic plan is inexpensive and, frankly, a relief to have done.
Who this is for
This is for the young couple with a new baby. The single person who assumes "I don't have enough to bother." The retiree whose will is twenty years out of date. The business owner whose family would have no idea how to keep things running. In other words — almost everyone.
You don't have to map out every contingency in your first meeting. You just have to start. Getting the basic documents in place is one of the most genuinely caring things you can do for the people you love, and it usually takes far less time and worry than folks expect.
If you've been putting this off — and most people have — let's take it off the list. You can read more about how we approach estate planning, and if you're dealing with the estate of someone who passed without a plan, our probate work can help your family through it. Either way, I'd encourage you not to wait.