Q: Questions pertaining to an affidavit of heirship. Very confused on paperwork
Help. Please
A: The affidavit of heirship is important when opening an estate. Some counties have pdf forms other require original typed word documents. You essentially need to identify the spouse and children. If there is no surviving spouse or child, then make sure there is no survivor of a predeceased child. If there are no spouses, children, survivors of children (grandchildren), then you need to expand out to parents and siblings of the deceased and their survivors, if any. It gets a little more tricky at that point. If you want to see the exact statutory scheme, look at the Illinois statute at 755 ILCS 5/2-1. The affidavit of heirship is important. If you get it wrong, then omitted heirs may have rights that are not resolved by your orders and administration. Hope this helps.
Anthony M. Avery agrees with this answer
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