Under Illinois intestate succession, state law — the Illinois Probate Act — decides who inherits when someone dies without a will. If you leave a spouse and descendants, your spouse receives one-half of the estate and your descendants share the other half. A spouse with no descendants inherits everything; descendants with no spouse inherit everything.

Key Takeaways

• Illinois law, not your family, decides who inherits without a will.
• A spouse and children split the estate one-half and one-half.
• Stepchildren and unmarried partners inherit nothing under Illinois intestacy.
• With no known relatives, property escheats to the county or state.
• A valid will or funded trust replaces these default rules.

“What happens if I die without a will in Illinois?” It’s one of the most common questions families ask, usually after it’s too late to change the answer. Here is the plain truth: if you don’t write a will, Illinois has already written one for you — and you may not like what it says. In the next ten minutes you’ll know exactly where your property would go today, and what it takes to choose differently.

In this article:

• What happens if you die without a will in Illinois?
• Does my spouse get everything if I die without a will in Illinois?
• No spouse, no children: who inherits next in Illinois?
• What “per stirpes” means — a quick example
• Adopted children, half-siblings, and other family situations
• Why the state’s default plan rarely matches what families want
• How a will or trust replaces Illinois’s default rules
• Frequently asked questions

What happens if you die without a will in Illinois?

When you die without a will in Illinois, you die “intestate,” and the Illinois Probate Act decides who inherits your estate instead of you. Intestate succession in Illinois follows a fixed order based on which relatives survive you. Your wishes, spoken or assumed, carry no legal weight.

The order works like this:

Descendants means your children, grandchildren, and each generation below them. Notice what the chart measures: marriage and bloodline. Nothing else counts.

These rules govern only your probate estate. Property owned jointly and accounts with named beneficiaries generally pass outside a will altogether, so they skip this chart. To see which assets go through the court process, read how probate works in Illinois.

Does my spouse get everything if I die without a will in Illinois?

A surviving spouse inherits everything only when there are no living descendants. Under 755 ILCS 5/2-1(a), if an Illinois decedent leaves a surviving spouse and a descendant, the spouse receives one-half of the entire estate and the descendants receive one-half per stirpes.

That result surprises many married couples. Most assume the survivor gets it all. Instead, the half-and-half split can leave a grieving spouse sharing the estate with adult children at the hardest possible moment.

The rule flips only when no descendants exist. Under 755 ILCS 5/2-1(c), if there is a surviving spouse but no descendant, the entire estate passes to the surviving spouse.

No spouse, no children: who inherits next in Illinois?

When there is no surviving spouse and no descendant, the estate climbs the family tree. Under 755 ILCS 5/2-1(d), the estate passes to the decedent’s parents, brothers, and sisters in equal parts; if one parent has died, the surviving parent takes a double portion, and descendants of a deceased sibling take that sibling’s share per stirpes.

If no one in that group is alive, Illinois law keeps searching outward through more distant relatives, beginning with grandparents and their descendants. Lawyers call this question one of heirship: the legal determination of exactly who qualifies as an heir.

And if the search comes up empty? The property “escheats,” a legal term meaning it passes to the government because no heir can be found. Under 755 ILCS 5/2-1(h), if there is no surviving spouse and no known kindred (a decedent’s blood relatives), real estate escheats to the county where it is located, and personal property escheats to the State, delivered to the State Treasurer under the Revised Uniform Unclaimed Property Act. For an Evanston home, that means the house itself would go to Cook County, not vaguely “the state.”

If you’re the one left settling an estate with no will, start with Illinois probate services.

What “per stirpes” means — a quick example

Per stirpes is Latin for “by the roots,” and it means each branch of a family takes an equal share, with a deceased heir’s portion flowing down to that heir’s own children. The phrase appears throughout Illinois inheritance laws, so it’s worth seeing in action.

Picture an Evanston widow with three grown children. Her middle son dies before she does, leaving two children of his own. When she later dies without a will, her estate splits into three branches. Her two surviving children take one-third each. Her late son’s two children split his one-third, receiving one-sixth apiece. His branch of the family is not erased; his share simply moves down to his kids.

Adopted children, half-siblings, and other family situations

Illinois intestacy treats adopted children and half-blood relatives as full heirs, but it gives nothing to stepchildren or unmarried partners.

Adopted children

Under 755 ILCS 5/2-4(a), an adopted child is a descendant of the adopting parent for purposes of inheriting from that parent. An adopted daughter inherits exactly as a biological daughter would.

Half-blood relatives

755 ILCS 5/2-1 provides that in no case is there any distinction between kindred of the whole and the half blood. A half-brother inherits the same share a full brother would.

Children in utero

Under 755 ILCS 5/2-3(a), a posthumous child of a decedent, one in utero at the decedent’s death, receives the same intestate share as if born during the decedent’s lifetime.

Stepchildren and unmarried partners

Stepchildren you never legally adopted are not heirs under Illinois intestacy, no matter how close the relationship. Unmarried partners receive nothing as well. Under the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act, 750 ILCS 5/214, common-law marriages contracted in Illinois after June 30, 1905 are invalid, so decades of partnership create no inheritance rights on their own. Only a will or trust can protect these relationships.

Why the state’s default plan rarely matches what families want

Illinois’s default plan distributes property strictly by marriage and bloodline, and real families rarely fit that mold. Think of a Northbrook couple raising kids from two prior marriages, or a Skokie woman whose partner of twenty years would receive nothing at all. Intestacy has no answer for either of them, and it says nothing about who you would want raising your children.

If reading this made you realize Illinois’s plan isn’t your plan, a short conversation can fix that.

How a will or trust replaces Illinois’s default rules

A valid will replaces intestate succession with your own instructions about who inherits and how much. A revocable living trust, a document you control and can change during your lifetime, goes a step further: once funded with your assets, a living trust can pass property outside probate entirely.

Which tool fits depends on your family and what you own. The post on choosing between a will and a trust walks through that decision, and the Illinois estate planning services page explains what building either one involves.

When to talk to an Illinois estate planning attorney

Some situations make the default rules especially costly. Consider getting counsel if any of these sound familiar:

• You have stepchildren or a blended family you want included in your plan.
• You have a longtime partner you never married.
• You own property in another state.
• You own a business or a share of one.
• You signed a trust years ago but never retitled assets into it.

Frequently asked questions