Community Corner
Two Illinois Estate Law Changes Take Effect Jan. 1
New rules for powers of attorney and small estate affidavits start Jan. 1, 2027. Bloomington attorney Carissa Haning explains what changes.
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Two changes to Illinois estate law take effect January 1, 2027. Neither drew much attention. Both will matter to families in McLean and Tazewell counties the next time someone has to step in for an aging parent or settle a loved one's affairs.
One makes it harder for banks and other institutions to turn away a valid power of attorney. The other changes which vehicles count when a family decides whether it can skip probate.
Those are two of the moments that bring families to an estate planning attorney like Carissa A. Haning, founder of Haning Estate Planning, an estate planning and probate firm with offices in Bloomington and Morton. Each law is short. What it means for a family depends on paperwork most people have not looked at in years.
A power of attorney for property lets a person name an agent to handle their finances if they cannot. In practice, the document only works if the bank accepts it. Illinois has spent the past two years narrowing a bank's room to say no. A change that took effect in 2025 made it unlawful for a third party to unreasonably refuse a properly signed Illinois statutory short form power of attorney for property, and it spelled out that refusing because the document is not on the bank's own form, or because time has passed since it was signed, is unreasonable.
The new law, House Bill 4462, goes a step further. It removes two items from the list of reasons a third party can still give for refusing: the agent's refusal to provide a copy certified as valid by an attorney, a court order, or a government entity, and the refusal of the principal's attorney to certify that the document is valid.
Starting January 1, that means an agent should not have to track down a lawyer's certification just to get a bank to honor the document. Institutions can still refuse for other reasons the law allows, including knowing the power has been revoked or suspecting financial exploitation of the person who signed it.
The bigger risk is not having a power of attorney at all. Without one, a family may need to ask the circuit court to appoint a guardian before anyone can manage a parent's accounts, a slower and more public process.
The second law deals with small estates. Since August 2025, Illinois families have been able to use a small estate affidavit to collect a loved one's personal property without opening probate, as long as that property is worth $150,000 or less. The same change let families leave registered vehicles out of that $150,000 count. Real estate titled in the person's name alone still generally requires probate.
Senate Bill 2704 narrows that vehicle exclusion. Starting January 1, several kinds of vehicles will no longer be left out of the count: motor homes, mini motor homes, and van campers; vehicles used as living quarters; vehicles that are not self-propelled, such as trailers; commercial vehicles; implements of husbandry, the Vehicle Code's term for certain farm machinery; and buses and commuter vans. Their value goes back into the $150,000 total.
In Central Illinois, that list can matter. A camper, a livestock trailer, or farm machinery can carry real value, and adding it back can push an estate that would have qualified for the affidavit over the limit. When that happens, the family generally has to open a probate estate in the county circuit court, McLean County for Bloomington and Tazewell County for Morton.
Neither change requires anyone to act by January 1, but both are a reason to look at what is already in the drawer. Confirm that a power of attorney for property is signed, current, and on the Illinois statutory form, and that the agent knows where it is. Look at how vehicles, trailers, and equipment are titled, and who would inherit them. Assets held in a funded trust can generally pass without probate, and Illinois allows real estate to pass through a transfer on death instrument.
“My goal is simple: prevent the problems before they start,” Haning writes on her firm's website. Her firm checks in with every client once a year, and changes to an existing plan are included in the original flat fee, so a plan can keep up when the law changes.
Families can schedule a meeting at the firm's Bloomington or Morton office.
About Haning Estate Planning
Haning Estate Planning is a Central Illinois estate planning and probate firm founded by attorney Carissa A. Haning, who has practiced law since 2003. The firm handles estate planning, trusts, wills, powers of attorney, special needs planning, and probate on a flat-fee basis that includes at least two meetings with every client and a check-in once a year. Offices are in Bloomington and Morton, serving families across Bloomington-Normal, Morton, East Peoria, and Peoria.
To learn more, visit haningestateplanning.law.
Attorney responsible for this content: Carissa A. Haning, Haning Estate Planning, 2416 E. Washington St., Suite C-4, Bloomington, IL 61704
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