What Happens to Real Estate When One Spouse Dies?

Welcome to this Blog by Robertson Law Group, P.C., 9923 S. Ridgeland Avenue, Suite 99, Chicago Ridge, Illinois 60415, (312) 498-6080.

Today, I received a phone call from a widow because she received a payment of $800 as a refund. What is the problem? The refund check is in her husband's name, who is deceased. Her question was what do I do?

Probating Real Estate or Not?

When the first spouse dies, living spouses often times do not think about changing their real estate deeds to reflect that one spouse is deceased. In my prospect's example, her simple question about a $800 refund was really a question of whether we must establish a probate estate or will a simple small estate affidavit be sufficient? In her case, her and her husband's name were titled in both of their names as "Joint Tenants". In Illinois, Joint Tenants is a way of owning real estate with your spouse where as if one spouse deceases, the other spouse's one-half interest immediately transfers to the surviving spouse. Thus, in our example, my prospect must not undergo probate court because as a matter of law, she owns her home in her personal name only due to Joint Tenancy with Right of Survivorship. Therefore, automatically upon her husband's death, his interest was transferred to her.

What happens when Surviving Spouse dies?

The children, brothers, or sisters must probate the house and hire an attorney and undergo a legal process called probate court. Probate court is a court that hears inheritance issues such as who is the rightful owner of the parent's home when a will was not made. In Illinois, when one does not complete a will, the property must go through probate court and Illinois law assumes that the surviving spouse (if any) gets one-half of the property and the children will split the other one-half of property. If there is no surviving spouse like our example above, than all the children will split the profits equally.

How Much Does Probate Costs?

The answer depends on the complexity of the family relationships and whether the family gets along with one another. A typical probate estate may costs from $3,000 to $6,000 or more depending on the assets and nature of the probate estate case. The fees are generally around $600 to $1,000. Obviously, if any issue such as heirship is contested, a probate estate may costs in excess of $15,000 to $100,000s in attorney's fees and costs.

This Article is written by Sean L. Robertson, an attorney that concentrates in wills, trusts, probate, guardianship, corporate and asset protection law. Simply put, Sean is an estates and trusts and corporate attorney.


Sean L. Robertson, Esq.
RobertsonLawGroup
9923 South Ridgeland Avenue, Suite 99
Chicago Ridge, Illinois 60415
w) 312 498 6080
e) RobertsonLawGroup@gmail.com
www.RobertsonLawGroup.com



Key words: Chicago Ridge, Chicago, Southside of Chicago, Joliet, Will County, Oak Lawn, Bridgeview, South Loop (Chicago), Homer Glen, New Lenox, Orland Park, Wills, Trusts, Probate, Power of Attorney (Property & Healthcare)