Taxation & Estate Planning

More on Will Filing in Cook County

By Joel A. Schoenmeyer

I previously wrote about how to file a Will in Cook County at Avvo.com.

Recently I had a question from an attorney who watched my free "Probate" video at MentorCLE. He was completing the forms to open a Cook County probate estate, and was perplexed when it asked for the Will number, written as ___ W ___. What did this mean? What was he supposed to fill in?

When you file a Will in Cook County, the clerk records the date of filing in a big book, and assigns it a number (like 2009 W 000001, for the first Will filed in Cook County in 2009). Sometimes the clerk will stamp this number on your receipt for the Will; sometimes they forget. You can ask them to do it, or ask them for the number, when you file. Or, if you forgot to do that, you can check online at the clerk's website, here. Here's what you do:

1. Click on "Online Case Info."

2. Click on "Probate Wills Docket Search."

3. Input the name you want to search, and it will give you the Will number. (For example, Mike Royko's Will is 1997 W 004517.)

Full post as published by Death and Taxes Blog on October 20, 2009 (boomark / email).