The fastest way families lose a home is dying without a plan for it. A will, and one simple deed for your house, can keep what you built in your family's hands instead of a courtroom's. Here's how it works in Illinois — and how to do the most important parts for free.
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When someone dies without a will and leaves a home, that house often passes to several relatives at once as "tenants in common." It sounds fine — everybody owns a share. But here's the trap: any one heir can force the property to be sold (a "partition sale"), and one cousin who wants cash can put the whole family home on the auction block. This is one of the biggest ways generational wealth — especially Black-owned land and homes — gets lost.
The fix isn't complicated or expensive. A will plus one recorded deed for your house keeps things in the hands you choose. That's what this guide walks through.
A valid Illinois will is simpler than people think. You must:
A good witness is someone who doesn't inherit anything under the will. With those steps, your will lets you do three powerful things:
Die without a will ("intestate") and Illinois law decides for you — and the default surprises almost everyone:
No will also means the court picks who administers your estate, and the whole thing plays out publicly. A will puts you back in the driver's seat.
Probate is the court process that settles an estate: paying debts, then distributing what's left. It's public, slow, and costs money, which is why most people try to keep assets out of it. In Illinois, probate is generally required when:
The good news: the most valuable things you own can be set up to pass outside probate, directly to the people you name. Here's how.
Illinois has a tool made for exactly this — the Transfer on Death Instrument (TODI). You record a simple deed while you're alive naming who gets your house when you pass, and the property transfers to them without probate.
Beyond the house, the easiest probate-avoiders are already sitting at your bank and your job:
For bigger or more complicated situations — young kids, property in multiple states, privacy, or controlling when children inherit — a living trust does more, and that's worth sitting down with an attorney for.
If someone passes and their personal property (bank accounts, etc.) is under $150,000 and there's no real estate stuck in probate, heirs can often skip court entirely with a small estate affidavit — a notarized form you take straight to the bank. As of 2026 the limit rose to $150,000, and vehicles no longer count toward it. It can't be used if heirs are fighting or probate's already been opened.
A full plan isn't only about death — it's about who speaks for you if you can't. Everyone should also have:
Illinois has free statutory forms for these. They cost nothing and spare your family impossible guesswork.
Write a will (name who gets what, an executor, and a guardian for your kids) → record a TODI for your house → add POD/TOD beneficiaries to your accounts → keep life-insurance and retirement beneficiaries current → set up your powers of attorney. Do those, and you've protected both your family and the home you worked for — keeping it in the family instead of losing it to a courthouse.
This is Ujamaa in practice: what you build doesn't stop with you. Illinois Legal Aid Online has free guides and Easy Forms for wills, TODIs, and powers of attorney, and can connect you to free legal aid.
Note: General educational information for 2026 under Illinois law; statutes and dollar thresholds change, and every family's situation differs. This is not legal advice. For a home, blended family, business, or larger estate, sit down with a licensed Illinois estate-planning attorney — and ask legal aid first if cost is a concern.
Illinois Legal Aid Online · wills, TODI & POA forms →