How Do I Avoid Probate in Illinois?

In Illinois, a home with a transfer on death deed, a payable on death account, life insurance with a named beneficiary and a vehicle with a transfer on death designation pass outside probate, as does property in a revocable trust; what is left is the probate estate.

Mark what the owner holds

Illinois law says how each asset passes at death. Mark what the owner holds and how each piece is titled to see which pass outside probate and what remains for the probate estate.

Examples:

General information about how each asset passes at death under state law, and what remains for probate, not legal or tax advice. The probate cost figures are the probate cost estimator’s, run at the size of the probate estate. Consult a licensed attorney for legal questions.

At a death in Illinois, the sums in a joint account belong to the surviving owner only under a written survivorship agreement signed by the owner who died. On the pay on death designation: a payment on death account passes to the named beneficiary at the owner's death.

Illinois's nonprobate-transfer statute names an insurance policy: the death benefit is paid to the beneficiary the owner designated, outside probate. A policy with no beneficiary, or one payable to the estate, is part of the probate estate.

An employer plan is governed by federal law: An employer retirement plan pays its death benefit to the beneficiary named in the plan's records, and federal law displaces a state rule that would redirect it. A married participant's spouse is the beneficiary unless the spouse consented in writing to another. An IRA is the state's: Illinois's statute does not name an individual retirement account, so whether it passes to its beneficiary outside probate rests on other law. A retirement account with no beneficiary named is part of the probate estate.

Survivorship title in Illinois: Illinois survivorship vestings are joint tenancy, which the deed must expressly declare, and tenancy by the entirety, which spouses or civil union partners may hold only in their homestead; when a tenant by the entirety dies, the survivor retains the entire estate. The Cook County Clerk publishes an optional Surviving Tenant Affidavit, also called a Deceased Joint Tenancy Affidavit, and states that recording it is not mandatory. Illinois recognizes the transfer on death deed: the home passes to the named beneficiary at the owner's death without probate. A home in the owner's name alone, with no survivor, deed beneficiary or trust, is part of the probate estate.

Illinois titles a vehicle with a transfer on death designation: the vehicle passes to the named beneficiary at the owner's death without probate. The form is Beneficiary Affidavit (Form VSD 773). A vehicle in the owner's name alone is part of the probate estate.

Avoiding Probate in Illinois

Probate reaches what a person owned in their own name alone at death, with no survivor, beneficiary or trust named to take it. That is the probate estate, and the will, or the intestacy statute where there is none, governs only that. In Illinois an estate under $150,000 may be settled by Small Estate Affidavit instead of a full probate.

Survivorship title in Illinois: Illinois survivorship vestings are joint tenancy, which the deed must expressly declare, and tenancy by the entirety, which spouses or civil union partners may hold only in their homestead; when a tenant by the entirety dies, the survivor retains the entire estate. The Cook County Clerk publishes an optional Surviving Tenant Affidavit, also called a Deceased Joint Tenancy Affidavit, and states that recording it is not mandatory. A home that passes to the surviving owner is outside probate.

Illinois recognizes the transfer on death deed: the home passes to the named beneficiary at the owner's death without probate. A home retitled to a revocable trust passes under the trust's terms; the deed used is Warranty Deed or Quitclaim Deed.

At a death, the sums in a joint account belong to the surviving owner only under a written survivorship agreement signed by the owner who died. On the pay on death designation: a payment on death account passes to the named beneficiary at the owner's death. An Illinois joint account carries survivorship only where a writing expresses the intention to hold it in joint tenancy with right of survivorship; otherwise the owners are tenants in common. A payment on death account passes to the living beneficiary, or with none to the estate.

In Illinois a death designation under an insurance or annuity contract, a pension, retirement, deferred compensation or profit-sharing plan, or a securities dealer account is not defeated by the law of wills, gifts or intestacy, even though it is revocable. The statute names an insurance policy, so the death benefit is paid to the named beneficiary outside probate. It does not name an individual retirement account. An employer plan is federal: An employer retirement plan pays its death benefit to the beneficiary named in the plan's records, and federal law displaces a state rule that would redirect it. A married participant's spouse is the beneficiary unless the spouse consented in writing to another.

Illinois titles a vehicle with a transfer on death designation: the vehicle passes to the named beneficiary at the owner's death without probate. The form is Beneficiary Affidavit (Form VSD 773).

SimplyTrust Editorial·Updated November 1, 2026

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Data sourced from Illinois statutes and official state code. How we research.

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