Executor Checklist Illinois: Small Estates, Claims and Estate Tax

If you have to settle an estate in Illinois, you are probably wondering where the paperwork starts. This executor checklist Illinois readers can use sets out the route check, the time limits written into the Probate Act of 1975 (755 ILCS 5), the main steps and the taxes that may apply.

The representative's role in Illinois

Illinois calls the executor (named in a will) and the administrator (no will) "representatives". Estates are handled by the circuit court of the county where the deceased lived; in Cook County that means the Probate Division. When the court appoints you, it issues Letters of Office, and that document is what proves your authority to banks, insurers and agencies.

Your job is to gather the estate, protect it, pay valid debts and taxes, and then distribute what is left under the will or, without one, under the intestacy rules in 755 ILCS 5/2-1. Keep estate money in a separate account and record every payment in and out.

Route check: small estate affidavit or court administration

Start by adding up the personal property in the deceased's sole name, leaving out registered motor vehicles and anything that passes by beneficiary designation or joint ownership.

Small estate affidavit (755 ILCS 5/25-1). If the personal estate is $150,000 or less, no letters of office are outstanding and no petition for letters is pending or contemplated, a person can complete the statutory affidavit, attach a death certificate copy and present it to whoever holds the property. No court case is opened. The affidavit covers personal property only, and funeral expenses and other debts must be paid or listed in it.

Court administration. When an estate is needed, the court may grant independent administration, where you act without a court order for each step, or supervised administration, where you file an inventory and accounts with the court and need approval for many actions. In independent administration you generally report to interested persons rather than the court.

Illinois time limits and federal dates

The will rule deserves attention: the law requires filing immediately, and willfully secreting a will for 30 days after learning of the death is a Class 3 felony. Claims not filed by the claim date are barred.

Executor checklist Illinois: steps in order

1. File the will with the clerk of the circuit court in the county where the deceased lived.
2. Do the route check against the $150,000 limit before contacting banks.
3. Report the death to Social Security, usually through the funeral director, and return any payment for the month of death or later.
4. Petition the court to admit the will and appoint you, and receive Letters of Office.
5. Get an EIN and file IRS Form 56, then open the estate account.
6. Publish the creditor notice once a week for three successive weeks in a county newspaper, file proof of publication, and mail or deliver notice to each known creditor.
7. Collect assets and review claims filed by the claim date.
8. Deal with estate tax if the $4,000,000 threshold is crossed.
9. Distribute and close once debts and taxes are paid: a closing report in independent administration, a final account in supervised administration.

Estate tax, income tax and fees

Illinois has its own estate tax, separate from the federal one. It applies where the gross estate plus adjusted taxable gifts exceeds the $4,000,000 exclusion amount, whether or not a federal return is required. Form 700 goes to the Illinois Attorney General with a copy of the federal return, the tax is paid to the Illinois State Treasurer, and an extension can be requested within nine months of death (Form 700-EXT).

At federal level, Form 1041 is needed in any tax year the estate has gross income of $600 or more, and Form 706 applies only above the basic exclusion amount ($15,000,000 for 2026 deaths) or to elect portability. The final Illinois individual income tax return goes to the Illinois Department of Revenue. Circuit court filing fees are set by each county clerk; check the current schedule.

Getting professional help

Illinois courts treat representing a decedent's estate as the practice of law (In re Estate of Mattson, 2019 IL App (1st) 180805), and the Cook County circuit clerk states that you need to hire an attorney to open a probate estate. Some other circuits have allowed self-represented petitioners, so check with your county's circuit clerk. The small estate affidavit does not need a lawyer. Legal advice is worth considering if the Illinois estate tax may apply, someone disputes the will, the estate may not be able to pay its debts, there is no will and the heirs are unclear, or a beneficiary is a minor or cannot be found.

The Steady Executor Illinois kit gathers this into five files: a user guide on the Illinois and federal steps, an executor workbook that calculates deadlines and tracks assets, debts and the estate account, a set of financial letters for banks, insurers and retirement plans, services and agencies letters for utilities, credit bureaus and government offices, and beneficiary letters with a distribution receipt.

Sources

• 755 ILCS 5/25-1 Small estate affidavit
• 755 ILCS 5/6-1 Duty to file will
• 755 ILCS 5/18-3 Publication and mailing of notice to creditors
• Illinois Attorney General: Estate Tax Instruction Fact Sheet
• IRS Publication 559, Survivors, Executors, and Administrators
• IRS: Instructions for Form 706