Illinois Will Basics

In Anatomy of a Will: A Step-by-Step Guide, 97 Ill. B.J. 506 (2009), Helen W. Gunnarsson (attorney, Highland Park, Illinois) provides a “primer on simple wills for newbies, litigators, and other will-drafting novices.”

Here are the main topics covered in her article:

• Be a good listener
• Family secrets
• Taxes fall on the probate and the nonprobate
• Passing on personalty — “[k]eep the in-laws out”
• Executors: don’t forget to waive the bond
• Designating guardians for young children
• Detemrining heirship — “Do frozen embryos take?”
• Elvis gets an A+