Booker v. Lal

PRESIDING JUSTICE CAHILL

delivered the opinion of the court:

This is a variation on the “rich old bachelor” scenario that turns up in law school estates courses. If a rich old Illinois bachelor dies without a will, our Probate Act tells the probate court how to distribute his estate. Because the bachelor never married or fathered children and his parents predeceased him, the Act directs the court’s attention to brothers and sisters. If a bachelor has two surviving sisters, they will split his estate. But if one of the sisters dies before the bachelor, leaving children, her half-share is not…