Illinois Estate Administration by Newlin-Black et al., 2003, Published by IICLE

TITLE: Illinois Estate Administration
AUTHOR: Charles F. Newlin, Todd J. Black (editors)
COPYRIGHT: 2003 (but comes with annual update)
ISBN: -
PUBLISHER: Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education

A Really Wonderful Resource for Anyone Interested in Learning How to Administer and Settle an Estate.

Wow! What a goldmine of information for an executor who wants to handle his or her duties without an attorney or with limited involvement from an attorney. There are a few consumer books dealing with Estate Administration being sold through the mass market bookstores like Amazon and Barnes and Noble. None of them are really all that good. They provide an overview of the estate administration process so an executor can see in general terms what his or her duties and responsibilities will be. Of course, none of them are specific to any particular state. And none of them cover the Internal Revenue Service forms #1040, 1041, and 706 in any detail (if at all).

So what's an executor to do? Are they stuck having to read one of those mass market books and then rush off to a law firm and dump everything in an attorney's lap? Are they stuck hiring an accounting firm to prepare the various tax returns? The short answer is "no." They can purchase the Illinois Estate Adminstration Guidebook and study it before they do the work the decedent expected them to do. The big hole here is the lack of coverage on taking care of the income tax returns for the estate (IRS Form 1041).

This publication is a two-volume loose-leaf package that is written for attorneys to be used by attorneys. However, most of the tasks the book assumes an attorney should do can be done by an executor. The material is neatly organized and presented in 18 chapters. And any layman should be able to understand what the book is talking about by reading it.

Chapter 1 discusses arrangements for funeral and the disposition of the decedent's remains. It also talks about informing the decedent's family about estate administration and the different types involving the court (summary, independent, and supervised). I loved the "Guide for Executor" at pp. 1-24 to 1-26, and the "Estate Administration Questionnaire" at pp. 1-26 to 1-31.

In Chapter 2 the topic of opening an estate is covered in detail. The checklist regarding the steps required for court appointment of an executor nominated in the Will was great, and so was the analysis of the procedure that followed.

Chapter 15 regarding Independent Administration will be of particular interest to the executor who wants to minimize attorneys fees during the performance of his duties. It's well written and easy to follow.

Each chapter is outlined and easy to follow. Considering what a lawyer will charge you to answer just a few questions that this book will answer for you, the cost of this book is almost nothing. It includes most of the forms necessary to do your job as an executor in Illinois. The glaring exception is the IRS Form 1041. I would have liked this book better if there had been a chapter discussing the ins-and-outs of filling out the Form 1041 and the K-1 Schedule. This would have been covered in Chapter 8, but wasn't.

Pay special attention to Chapter 18 regarding Disclaimers. They are an important aspect of properly administering an estate that was not planned well before a decedent died.

1.   Initial Steps in Advising the Family
2.   Opening the Estate
3.   Counseling the Personal Representative, Marshalling Assets, and Inventory
4.   Claims Against the Estate
5.   Managing Decedent's Personal and Real Property
6.   Managing Decedent's Operating Business and Related Problems
7.   Handling Family Limited Partnerships and LLCs
8.   Income Taxation of Decedent's Estates and Trusts
9.   US Estate (and Generation-Skipping Transfer) and Gift (and Generation-Skipping Transfer) Tax Returns
10. Illinois Estate and Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax
11. Handling Charitable Bequests and Charitable Trust
12. Planning for Death Benefits from Life Insurance and Retirement Arrangements
13. Supplemental Proceedings: Will and Trust Contests, Citations, and Other Estate Litigation
14. Account, Report, and Distribution
15. Independent Administration
16. Ancillary Administration
17. Attorney and Representative Fees
18. The Effective Use of Disclaimers in Estate Administration

BOOK REVIEW