I received a call from a lady today who told me that her cousin had passed away. The caller was power of attorney agent for her cousin. After the cousin died, the lady tried to go to the bank to get into the cousin's safe deposit box. The bank refused her access to the box. She told me that the bank indicated that she could get a "court order" to enter the box. I suspect that the bank was talking about opening a probate estate to get "Letters of Authority" to represent her deceased cousin's estate. I aksed the lady if there was an estate plan. She told me it was probably in the safe deposit box.
Uncommon? Nope. Most people, quite correctly, keep their important documents, their will or other estate planning documents, in their safe deposit box. But what happens if the executor, power of attorney agent, or other family member is not listed as a person authorized to access the box?
The State of Illinois comes to the rescue. The Safety Deposit Box Opening Act (755 ILCS 15) allows an "interested party" to provide an affidavit to any bank controlling a safe deposit box of a deceased person to file an affidavit with the bank indicating that the person is interested in filing the deceased person's will or making arrangements for the deceased person's funeral and the person believes the box may contain the will or burieal documents of the deceased person and the bank in control of the box may then open the box to search for a will or codecil to a will. If a will or cedecil is found, the bank has a legal obligation to file the will or codecil with the probate court will depository in the County where the bank is located.
As a result, it makes a lot of sense to keep a will in a safe deposit box. The real trick is letting everyone know where the bank is.
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