Ferguson v. Zeller

The primary issue this appeal presents is whether a person who continues her long-term residence in a home which she inherits under a will is estopped from contesting the provisions of that will. We hold she is not.

Mary Nichols (decedent) died on January 6, 1987. In her will she left to Beatrice Ferguson, her daughter and the plaintiff in this case, two tracts of real estate in Jacksonville, Illinois. On one of those tracts, located on Chilton Street (the Chilton residence), was the home in which plaintiff had lived since 1967. During her mother’s lifetime, plaintiff never paid any rent on…