Mark Twain Illinois Bank v. Hicks

At issue in this appeal is the constitutionality of section 2 — 2(d) of the Probate Act (755 ILCS 5/2 — 2(d) (West 1994)), which provides that the estate of an illegitimate intestate who dies without a surviving spouse or descendants shall be distributed to his or her mother and the mother’s children/descendants. The circuit court of St. Clair County entered a judgment finding section 2 — 2(d) unconstitutional because it permitted only mothers, and not fathers, to inherit by intestate succession from their illegitimate children, and thereby unlawfully discriminated on the basis of gender, in…