Taxation & Estate Planning

Increases in Surviving Spouse, Child Awards

By Joel A. Schoenmeyer

As I wrote about here, a surviving spouse award can help the survivor get some money from his or her spouse's probate estate ASAP. That can be a godsend, as property can sometimes be tied up in probate for a long time.

The surviving spouse's award is found in Article XV of the Illinois Probate Act (here), and there's been a recent change to the law. The standard for a payment for a surviving spouse is as follows:

a sum of money that the court deems reasonable for the proper support of the surviving spouse for the period of 9 months after the death of the decedent in a manner suited to the condition in life of the surviving spouse and to the condition of the estate

The statute also awards "an additional sum of money that the court deems reasonable for the proper support, during that period, of minor and adult dependent children of the decedent who reside with the surviving spouse at the time of decedent's death."

There is also a mandated "minimum" amount for a surviving spouse award. The amount used to be $10,000, but it recently has been raised to $20,000.

There's a similar award for children (minors or adult dependent children), payable "for the proper support of the child for the period of 9 months after the death of the decedent, in a manner suited to the condition in life of the minor child and to the condition of the estate." The minimum amount of this award has also increased, from $5,000 to $10,000.

Note that the above new minimum amounts are only for estates of decedents dying after July 2, 2010.

Full post as published by Death and Taxes Blog on September 09, 2010 (boomark / email).