Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Jill Gathers The Bills

Jill’s father died without enough money to pay all of his bills.  Fortunately, Illinois probate law has a partial solution to the problem of finding money to pay for the living expenses of Jill’s younger sister, 16-year-old Pam.

The only “second class” claim in her dad’s estate is money to support Pam for 9 months after her dad’s death.  The law calls it a child’s award.  Their mom had died some years ago, so there will be no “spouse’s award” made by the probate court. 

Since there is no surviving spouse, the statutory minimum amount for the child’s award for Pam will be $30,000.  That means that $30,000 will be available for Pam’s support before any of her dad’s debts are paid (except for the first class funeral and probate expense claim we talked about in our last column). 

That does not guarantee that there will be $30,000 for Pam’s support.  But it does mean that her dad’s back taxes owed to Illinois and his credit card bills, for examples, should not be paid unless the $30,000 or other amount approved by the judge has already been set aside for Pam’s support.

For advice about proper after-death legal procedure, either with or without probate, please call our office at (815) 436-1996 for an appointment.  ©2013 Gruber Law Office, Ltd.


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