IBA Compliance Connection

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Can a customer use a small estate affidavit for his mother’s estate (which is well under $100,000) if his mother resided and died in Missouri? She left a will and was survived by three children. Also, does our customer have to be named as the executor of her will in order to serve as affiant on the small estate affidavit?

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Yes, we believe that an Illinois small estate affidavit can be used in Illinois even when the deceased was not an Illinois resident.

Also, Illinois law does not require that the affiant for a small estate affidavit be an executor of the deceased individual’s will. When your bank makes distributions of property in accordance with the small estate affidavit’s instructions, it is treated the same as if the bank had directly paid the executor (or other representative) of the deceased individual’s estate.

For resources related to our guidance, please see:

  • Probate Act of 1975, Article XXV, 755 ILCS 5/25-1(a) (“When any person, corporation, or financial institution . . . is furnished with a small estate affidavit in substantially the form hereinafter set forth, that person, corporation, or financial institution shall pay the indebtedness, grant access to the safe deposit box, deliver the personal estate . . . .”)

  • Probate Act of 1975, 755 ILCS 5/25-1(d) (“Any person, corporation, or financial institution who acts in good faith reliance on a copy of a document purporting to be a small estate affidavit that is substantially in compliance with subsection (b) of this Section shall be fully protected and released upon payment, delivery, transfer, access or issuance pursuant to such a document to the same extent as if the payment, delivery, transfer, access or issuance had been made or granted to the representative of the estate. . . .”)