Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Illinois

Re: Unclaimed funds

A filing must be made in the local probate court. either to permit you to administer the estate. Consult an attorney to do this for you.

Under certain circumstances, you may also obtain an order from the probate court declaring that no administration is necessary. This will give you access to SOME accounts, etc., but may not give you access to all funds. Again, consult an attorney.

Re: Unclaimed funds

Generally, there is no deadline to collect the assets of a deceased person by a process called probate. Depending on the amount of all the assets at issue, it could be as simple as presenting an affidavit to the bank where the safety deposit box is held. If the amount is larger, you may have to go to probate court. You should anticipate problems, however, in recovering these funds after so long. It may be too late to collect overpaid tax withholding. And the savings account, and contents of the safety deposit box may have been turned over to the state as unclaimed property.