In this article, our Chicago trust litigation attorneys examine trust contests in Chicago. We discuss what a trust challenge is, who can challenge a trust as well as the legal grounds to challenge a trust. A trust contest occurs when a party believes that the “trustor,” or the deceased person who made the trust, was incapacitated or influenced when the trust document was signed. These matters happen more often that one would expect and when this has been determined to be the case by a party, a trust contest is filed with the appropriate court.

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In this article, our Chicago trust dispute attorneys explain statutory custodial claims. Statutory custodial claims are claims for payment from a deceased person’s probate estate that can be made by certain caregivers to the deceased (“the decedent”).  Statutory custodial claims are created and governed by 755 ILCS 5/18-1.1, part of the Illinois Probate Act.  
Certain claims that can be made against the estates of a deceased individual can be brought by:

1. The claimant must be the spouse, parent, brother, sister, or child of the decedent;
2. The decedent must have had a disability for at least 3 years; and
3. The claimant must have lived with and personally cared for the decedent for at least 3 years.  

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In this article, our Chicago trust litigation lawyers explain lack of testamentary capacity in trust disputes. If a qualified party believes that a trust was not created by someone who was not mentally competent to understand what they were doing when executing the trust, the trust can potentially be invalidated based on lack of testamentary capacity.  In order to execute a valid will, the person creating the will or trust (“the testator”) must have the mental capacity to understand the ramifications of the act of executing the will or trust.  Lack of testamentary capacity is one of several bases for arguing that a will or trust is invalid, including undue influence, fraud, revocation, and noncompliance with formalities of execution

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