Questions about inheritance law.?

I'm not going to take this to court or I would have contacted an attorney. I would like to know the facts about inheritence laws in order to prove a point.

It was my understanding that when a single person with no spouce passes away, provided there is NO will, all their money will be divided equally among their children? Correct?

In this case my grandmother passed away but had 5 children. I have 3 aunts and one uncle. My father passed away 5 years prior to her death.

The professor teaching Paralegal classes told us that when the money is divided among the children, the executive of the estate (usually the eldest child) has to include any decesased siblings into the equasion when dividing inheritence money. The deseased sibling is suppose to recive inheritence, but it will be passed down to his children since he has passed away?

My grandmother had $40,000 and was divided between my uncle and 3 aunts and each got $10,000. Shouldn't it be divided by 5 so that my 3 aunts and uncle would each get $8,000 and the remaining $8,000 should be divided equally to my father's children?

My aunt stated my father borrowed moeny from my grandmother but could not produce any documents stating this and that's her excuse not to give me and my siblings my father's share of my grandmother's inheritence.

If I am undersanding the law correct can someone please provide me with the case law that explains this and a link on the internet would be extra helpful. I don't recall how to look up case law so even the name of the book would be helpful.

By the way I live in central Illinois.
Thanks!

My uncle got cheated out of a car and her mobile home because my aunt stated he owed my grandmother money too. When my uncle asked for documentation/proof she would not produce it. Then my uncle asked about my father's share, and again they could not produce any proof that my father owed my grandmother any money.

I'm not taking this to court because I don't want hard feelings, and besides the statute of limitations is probably up since my grandmother passed away 6 years ago.

I'm just angry that they are self-righteous and judgmental; yet cheat my uncle and my siblings out of our share. I want to let them know that I am aware of what they did because they think I'm clueless since I didn't speak up.

You are correct. Your father, even though he predeceased his mother, should have been included as an heir, with his share divided among his children.

Illinois law says:
Section 2-1. Rules of descent and distribution. The intestate real and personal estate of a resident decedent and the intestate real estate in this State of a nonresident decedent, after all just claims against his estate are fully paid, descends and shall be distributed as follows:

(a) If there is a surviving spouse and also a descendant of the decedent: 1/2 of the entire estate to the surviving spouse and 1/2 to the decedent's descendants per stirpes.

(b) If there is no surviving spouse but a descendant of the decedent: the entire estate to the decedent's descendants per stirpes.

"per stirpes" means that a dead heirs share is divided among his heirs.

Here is the law.... http://www.illinois-attorney.com/intest....

Here is a definition of per stirpes' ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Per_stirpes

Richard

Yes. Your professor is correct. The law is generally the same for all states, including Illinois, and is called "the law of intestate succession" (who gets a share of the estate of a person who leaves no will.)
The person who goes into court to administer the estate in the event of no will is called the administrator (not an executor). He (or she) gets what are called "letters of administration", and they search for all assets of the deceased person, and after paying the still outstanding debts, gets legal authority to distribute the rest of the estate to the persons entitled to a share by the law of the state.

If there were five children, but one is deceased, and that deceased leaves children, those children will take the share that would have gone to their parent if he (or she) had survived (the legal latin phrase is "per stirpes".)(meaning by right of representation.)

Here is a legal example from one dictionary:

"Real Estate Dictionary: Per Stirpes
A legal method of distributing an Estate to include the descendants of a deceased legatee, whose share is apportioned among linear descendants.
Example: A person dies intestate. State law requires a per stirpes distribution of assets. The decedent had 4 children. Three are surviving; the fourth child died as an adult and left 5 children. The estate is divided into 4 equal parts. Each surviving child of the decedent gets one fourth, and the 5 orphaned grandchildren, as a group, share one fourth."


You need to contact a lawyer if you think you are entitled to a share of the assets of the estate. Only a lawyer can tell you what your rights are, and what needs to be done in Illinois.

Each state and country has different laws of intestacy. In most states, when a single person dies, and has surviving children and children who have predeceased him, leaving grandchildren, the estate is divided up only among the surviving children and those grandkids get nothing. Some are different. Some states would provide that the survivors and the deceased child each take an equal share, but the share for the deceased parent would be divided among the kids of that deceased parent. Other states would provide for equal distribution among the surviving children and grandchildren. There are, of course, other variations but those are the most common.

It depends on where you live. It works that way in New York. My uncle was never married and had no children (and no will). When he died, half went to my mother, who was his sister. He also had a brother (also my uncle) who died a few months before, so the other 1/2 was divided between the deceased brother's children.

If your father did owe money, it would be correct to expect that to be repaid, so it should come out of your share. Maybe you can ask your aunt for more details about the borrowed money, and discuss it with your other 2 aunts and your uncle. I think when family members owe each other money, there aren't always extensive documents. Hopefully they are telling the truth and not trying to cheat you. If they were, that would be pretty sad.