In this video, our Champaign County probate litigation attorneys explain family settlement agreements for Illinois probate litigation and trust disputes.  A family settlement agreement can be used to resolve ambiguities within a trust or will in order to avoid tension between family members and costly litigation A family settlement agreement is an agreement between beneficiaries of a trust or will that have a genuine dispute over a provision of the trust or will.  The agreement can be used to adjust or clarify a provision of the trust or will.  The agreement must be signed by all interested in parties, but it does not have to be filed in court.

In this video, Champaign County probate litigation attorneys will explain the procedure for will contests in Illinois probate cases. We will discuss the difference between will contests and formal proof of will hearings, the causes of action, defenses, and burdens of proof for Illinois will contests, the Illinois statute of limitations for will contests, as well as several procedural issues regarding will contests such as who has standing to contest a will, who is entitled to notice of a will contest, the executor’s duty to defend the will, and who is responsible for paying attorney fees in a will contest.

In this video our Champaign County probate litigation attorneys describe probate as a court case in which the court oversees the executor or administrator as they distribute the assets of a deceased individual to creditors and beneficiaries.  The probate process occurs after a person has died and is handled by an executor of the deceased person.  The executor is usually the person that the deceased named in his or her will to be responsible for managing his or her estate.  In the absence of a will, the person with this responsibility is referred to as the administrator.  The overall goal of probate is to clarify who gets certain assets of a deceased person and to ensure that debt is paid off.