There are many important terms for estate planning in Lombard. Understandably, this is because there are many possibilities, planned for or otherwise, that may transpire between drafting an estate plan and the enacting of that plan. Fortunately, there are lawyers who have experience accounting for the unseen instances that catch many people off guard. Reach out to an experienced estate planning attorney who can help you understand the terms commonly used in estate planning.
The law defines an executor or personal representative as the court-appointed fiduciary responsible for an estate. In Illinois, executors and administrators are generally divided into two categories. They are called executors when the decedent left a will and administrators when the decedent did not. Even though they have different names, they all have the same duties, and, essentially, they are the person appointed by the probate court in Illinois to handle and distribute the estate.
The law defines the grantor as the person who prepared and signed the will or the trust. In Illinois, that person is known as the decedent. The grantor is always referred to as the person whose will it is and basically whose estate is being administered. A lot of Illinois estate and trust law deals with the intent of the grantor, and that person is the person who left the will or the trust.
A last will and testament is a document that, in Illinois, must be witnessed by two people. Neither of those people is allowed to be beneficiaries under the will. As in both cases, those people have to attest to the fact that the grantor signed the last will and testament in their presence. The witnesses themselves signed the last will and testament in the presence of each other, and that the grantor was of sound mind and memory. If the will is not admitted to probate, it becomes the grantor’s last will and testament, and the provisions in that will dictate how the person’s assets are to be distributed.
The law defines an advanced medical directive as a document that expresses a person’s wishes in the event of a terminal condition. In Illinois, an advance medical directive can take several forms, including a living will or a healthcare power of attorney. It outlines what types of treatments, lifesaving support, or lifesaving treatment that they would like their doctors to administer in the event that they have a terminal condition.
The law defines intestacy as the set of statutes that take effect when a decedent dies without a will. It is a set of rules that largely follows trying to give a person’s property to their closest family members. When a person does not have a will, it is essentially the Illinois legislature’s best guess at what they would want to have happened. In Illinois, if they die and they do not have a spouse but they have kids, it is all divided between their kids if they do not have a will. If they do have a spouse and surviving children, the property is divided between them in certain proportions.
It could work out in some situations where a person has strong relationships with their closest family members; however, in other situations, they might not want the laws of intestacy to control higher properties divided on their death.
The law defines a power of attorney as a document that appoints an agent for either property or healthcare. In Illinois, the Power of Attorney Act allows for powers of attorney for property and health care. They appoint an agent to stand in their shoes and perform various activities they may or may not be able to do themselves. They are most commonly used when someone becomes disabled and is no longer able to make their own personal and financial decisions.
If they previously appointed a power of attorney, that agent could step into their shoes and perform most transactions for them. Illinois provides very broad powers to the agent under a power of attorney, which could include performing nearly every transaction the principal could perform if they were not disabled. The principal is the person who signed the power of attorney. It could be any type of real estate, account-based, or stock transaction, or almost anything they can think of.
Healthcare power of attorney is also an advanced medical directive, but it appoints someone to make personal and medical decisions for them in the event they are unable to do so.
Guardianship is effectively the court-supervised alternative to appointing agents on their powers of attorney. Guardianship involves a very specific set of procedures and statutes under which a guardian, similar to a representative, is appointed to oversee a person’s personal and financial affairs. It is all supervised by the court.
There are many important terms in Lombard estate planning that you need to be, at the very least, aware of if you intend to plan for the future. Clear and concise planning is invariably important if you wish to retain some control over your estate in the future. To ensure that you make your wishes known, speak to an estate planning lawyer today.
