Dooley v. Reimer Farms, Inc.

On October 31, 1968, when a testator named John Dowling died, the anti-lapse provision of section 49 of the Probate Act (1967 Act) stated:

"When a devise or legacy is to a descendant of the testator who dies before the testator and there is no provision in the will for that contingency, the descendants of the devisee or legatee take per stirpes the estate so devised or bequeathed.” (Emphasis added.) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1967, ch. 3, par. 49.)

Section 12 of the 1967 Act then provided that a child born out of wedlock is an "heir of his mother and of any maternal ancestor *** from whom his mother…