Chosen Estate Planning LLC
Estate planning can often seem overwhelming and confusing. To add some clarity to the process, our attorney has compiled a list of our FAQs about estate planning in the space below. If you have further inquiries, do not hesitate to contact our office, and we will happily answer your questions.
Probate is the court-supervised process of administering a person’s estate after they die. It involves validating any will, settling debts, and transferring assets to the people who are supposed to receive them.
The process can be time-consuming, expensive, and — importantly — public. Probate records are accessible to anyone who wants to look, which means the details of your estate become visible after you’re gone.
That’s why many people plan around it. Tools like a revocable living trust allow assets to transfer directly to your loved ones without court involvement, keeping things private, faster, and less costly for the people left behind.
A will is a legal document that spells out your wishes for what happens to your assets after you die and who is responsible for carrying them out. If you have minor children, a will is also where you name a guardian — the person you’d want to raise them if you were gone.
A few things people often don’t realize: a will doesn’t take effect until you die, it doesn’t avoid probate, and it must go through the court process before anyone can act on it. It’s an important part of most plans — but it works best alongside a broader structure, not as the whole thing.
A living will — sometimes called an advance directive — is where you document your medical wishes in advance: what kind of life-sustaining treatment you want, or don’t want, if you’re in a terminal condition and can’t speak for yourself.
It’s typically paired with a healthcare power of attorney, which names a specific person to make medical decisions on your behalf when you can’t. Together, they make sure the right person has authority and knows your wishes — so your family isn’t left guessing during one of the hardest moments they’ll face.
Intestate means dying without a valid will or other legal arrangements in place. When that happens, Illinois law — not you — determines who inherits your assets and in what order.
Those rules are built around a narrow definition of family. For unmarried partners, blended families, and LGBTQ+ individuals, that often means the people you love most have no legal right to anything. A plan — even a basic one — puts you back in control.
Beneficiary designations let you name who receives certain assets directly when you die — bypassing probate entirely. Common examples include life insurance policies, retirement accounts like 401(k)s and IRAs, and payable-on-death bank accounts.
The catch: beneficiary designations operate independently of your will and trust. If they’re outdated or inconsistent with the rest of your plan, the wrong person could end up with your assets. Keeping them current and coordinated with your overall estate plan is essential.
A durable power of attorney is a legal document that authorizes someone you trust to make decisions on your behalf — financial, healthcare, or both — if you’re ever unable to make them yourself.
Without one, your family may have no legal authority to help you, even in an emergency. The alternative is a court-supervised process called guardianship and conservatorship, where a judge decides who makes decisions for you. It’s expensive, slow, and removes control from the people who matter most.
A durable power of attorney is one of the most important documents in any plan, and one of the most commonly overlooked.
A revocable living trust is a legal arrangement that holds your assets during your lifetime and transfers them to your loved ones when you die — without going through probate. You create it, fund it with your assets, and manage it yourself. You can change it at any time.
The trust names successor trustees — the people who step in to manage things if you become incapacitated or die. It also spells out exactly how and when distributions happen, and to whom.
Because the trust transfers assets outside of court, your affairs stay private, your family avoids delays, and your wishes are carried out clearly. For most people, a properly funded revocable living trust is the cornerstone of a complete estate plan.
Anyone who owns titled assets — like a home — and wants their family to avoid court involvement at death or incapacity should consider a revocable living trust. That includes people who are single, unmarried, in a blended family, or in a relationship where the state’s default rules may not protect the people they love.
A trust brings your assets together under one plan and gives you direct control over what happens to them — regardless of what Illinois law would say without one.
Joint tenancy is a form of co-ownership where, when one owner dies, their share passes automatically to the surviving owner — outside of probate. It’s commonly used between married couples, but it’s also available to unmarried partners.
There are important limitations to understand. Adding family members as joint tenants can expose your assets to their debts, divorces, or legal judgments. And joint tenancy alone isn’t a complete estate plan — it only applies to assets held that way, and it doesn’t address incapacity, guardianship, or what happens after the surviving owner dies.
Think of it as one tool within a broader plan, not a substitute for one.
Your family deserves a plan. Let’s build one together. Book a free discovery call and take the first step toward peace of mind.
