How to Avoid Probate in Illinois

Non-probate options in Illinois include: transfer on death instruments for real estate, witnessed by two credible witnesses, notarized and recorded before death (755 ILCS 27/40, 27/45); payable-on-death accounts (205 ILCS 625/4); transfer-on-death registration of securities; a single transfer-on-death beneficiary on a vehicle title for a sole individual owner with no lien (92 Ill. Adm. Code 1010.150); joint tenancy; property in a funded trust that is expressly revocable (760 ILCS 3/602); the small estate affidavit for personal estates up to $150,000 for deaths on or after August 15, 2025 (755 ILCS 5/25-1); and summary administration for estates up to $100,000 (755 ILCS 5/9-8).

A small estate affidavit can be used to collect personal property when no letters of office are outstanding or planned anywhere and the decedent's personal estate passing by will or intestacy is worth $150,000 or less, not counting motor vehicles registered with the Secretary of State (registered vehicles can also be transferred with it). It covers money, bank accounts, safe deposit boxes, stocks and other personal property; it cannot transfer real estate. The affidavit must list each asset and its value, the debts, and the heirs or beneficiaries, and a death certificate must be attached.

Yes. Illinois allows a transfer on death instrument for real estate. It must have the formalities of a recordable deed (consideration and beneficiary addresses not required), state that the transfer occurs at the owner's death, be signed by the owner, be attested in writing by at least two credible witnesses, be acknowledged before a notary along with the witnesses' signatures, and be recorded with the county recorder before the owner's death. A transfer on death instrument that is not witnessed by two credible witnesses is void.