Claims and Limitations

Almost a year ago, I wrote a little about claims and their limitations.  Late last week, I had two situations where this issue arose again:

1. The State's Attorney filed a claim against the estate of one of my clients, on behalf of a hospital where my client was treated in 2001 and 2002.  My client died in 2003.

2. A potential client e-mailed me about the possibility of filing a statutory custodial claim in her mother's estate.  Her mother died in 2000.

Claims are barred in both of these situations because of §18-12(b) of the Illinois Probate Act.  This section bars almost all claims filed more than 2 years after a decedent's death, even if a probate estate was never opened for the decedent and even if notice of the decedent's death was never sent to the claimant.