Duty To File Will
Many people are understandably anxious when someone close to them passes away. "Is there something I should be doing?" is a question I hear quite often. Another is, "Do you need the Will right away!?"
"Right away" might be pushing it, but I think that finding the decedent's Will is a good place to start. For one thing, the Will might -- shouldn't, but might -- contain burial instructions. For another, there's ยง6-1(a) of the Illinois Probate Act, which says that "[i]mmediately upon the death of the testator any person who has the testator's will in his possession shall file it with the clerk of the court of the proper county." While this section does say "immediately," it's really only invoked when a person in possession of a decedent's Will refuses to turn it over. Section 6-1(b) speaks directly to these types of shenanigans, discussing criminal penalties for a person who "wilfully alters or destroys a will without the direction of the testator or wilfully secretes it for a period of 30 days after the death of the testator."
Note the reference to A Will, which may or may not be THE Will. A decedent can have more than one Will, and it's up to the court -- not the person in possession of a Will of the decedent -- to decide which is the valid one. If John Smith dies and you have a copy of his Will in your possession, you need to file it in the appropriate county, even if you know that John Smith had another Will that invalidates the Will in your possession.
