Illinois law also does not require that the individual signing a small estate affidavit (the “affiant”) be an executor of the deceased individual’s will, and once the bank makes payments and distributes property as the affiant instructed in the small estate affidavit, it is as if the bank had paid the executors (or other representatives) of the deceased individual’s estate directly. 755 ILCS 5/25-1(b), (d).