Will requirements in Illinois

Illinois requires you to be at least 18 and of sound mind. Capacity is judged at the moment of signing and asks whether you understood the nature of the act, roughly what you owned, and who would ordinarily expect to inherit from you.

Illinois does not use the separate self-proving affidavit used in most states. A will executed with the required witnesses is already treated as effectively self-proved, so there is no additional notarized document to attach. California and Maryland reach the same result by their own routes.

Illinois separately has its own electronic wills statute, authorizing electronic execution with its own requirements. That is a genuinely different process rather than a scan of a signed paper will, and the law here is moving quickly, so confirm the current procedure before executing one electronically.

Illinois does not recognise holographic wills. A handwritten, unwitnessed document has no effect as a will here, however clearly it sets out your wishes.

Illinois requires a written will that you sign with two witnesses signing in your presence. The informal handwritten note many people imagine as a backup does nothing in Illinois.

Illinois allows property to be collected by small-estate affidavit where the estate falls below a statutory limit, avoiding full administration.

Confirm the current figure with the circuit court clerk rather than relying on an aggregated number found online. Thresholds are adjusted over time, and the court will apply the one in force.

Illinois is a common law property state. Ownership follows title rather than being automatically shared between spouses because property was acquired during the marriage.

Illinois protects a surviving spouse through a statutory renunciation right, letting a spouse who is left out claim a share of the estate instead of taking under the will. How large that share is depends on whether there are descendants, so it is worth confirming with an attorney before planning around a spouse.

Illinois provides a statutory living will for recording treatment preferences and a separate health-care power of attorney naming someone to make medical decisions when you cannot. Illinois also uses POLST forms in clinical settings, which are medical orders rather than advance directives.

For financial matters Illinois has a statutory short-form power of attorney for property. These documents operate while you are alive, which is precisely the gap a will never fills.