What Happens When You Die Part 1

One of the certainties in this life is that we will one day die. What happens when we are gone depends greatly on what we did while we were alive. For the purposes of this post, I will leave the philosophical debates on the issue for another time and just focus on legalities.

When someone passes away, it puts into motion a series of events that attempt to finalize the affairs of the deceased on Earth. These include making notification to loved ones, funerals, burials, etc.—all that fun stuff that nobody wants to talk about but is inevitable for all of us.

One thing that seems like a mystery to those who do not have experience with it is the probate process, the legal process most commonly used to wind up and distribute the assets of the deceased. Through this series of posts, I hope to demystify this process.

Usually, when I meet with a loved one of a deceased, the first question I ask is whether or not the deceased had a Last Will and Testament. If so, the deceased is referred to as having died "testate." If not, the deceased died "intestate." When the decedent had a Will, I will read through the document to get some guidance on the course the probate process should take. When they do not, we must turn to the laws of the great State of Illinois. (I live and practice in Illinois, so this post is state specific.)

In the absence of a Will, the decedent has adopted the estate planning of the ever brilliant state lawmakers. The statutes give precedence to certain individuals to act as the Administrator of the Estate. They also dictate where the assets of the decedent should be distributed. At the risk of spoiling one of the overall takeaways of these posts, the default State rules usually are not desirable.

In the next installment, we will explore the role and difference between an Executor and an Administrator.