Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Illinois

My uncle past away over a year ago and my dad is the one who is in charge of everything now with all the financial stuff but the laywer keeps dragging this out , like I said it has been over a year now , almost 1 1/2 years now . The laywer will not give dad a straight answer to anything , the laywer tell's dad that it should be all done within a couple of weeks every time dad calls him or when dad goes to the laywer the laywer rush's dad out of his office , kinda like the laywer don't care about the situation ,I know that there are certian time frames to settle thing's like this . What I need to know how much time is allowed by law before everything is lost for dad's benifit and can dad get a different laywer to get this done quickly . My uncle's house has been sold for a year or so and the household bills have all been taken care of , the laywer is dragging his feet about the life insurance policy or policies and finishing this estate . Thank you .


Asked on 8/04/11, 11:42 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Cyndi Perez Trostin

It's very difficult to answer your question without knowing what is involved with the estate. Some things take longer than others to resolve (property issues, finding lost heirs, etc.) On the other hand, life insurance policies are usually rather straighforward UNLESS there is a dispute over who the beneficiary should be.

There is no typical timeframe for opening and closing an estate, however, if one starts to go toward the 2 year mark, there must be a dispute that is causing the delay. If you suspect that this is not the case, then your father should have another lawyer review the situation and give him an opinion on why the estate has not closed.

Is the estate in Illinois? Good luck to you.

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Answered on 8/21/11, 11:00 am


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