People Ex Rel. Burris v. Gibbs

PRESIDING JUSTICE JIGANTI

delivered the opinion of the court:

This appeal arises from an action filed by the Attorney General of Illinois seeking to contest the will of Lotta Stern. The trial court granted the Stern estate executor’s section 2 — 619(a)(9) motion to dismiss based upon the executor’s affirmative defense that the Attorney General lacked standing to bring the action. The central issue on appeal is whether the Attorney General has standing to file a will contest action in which specifically named charities are affected by the outcome of the contest.

We first summarize the pertinent…