Estate of Bantsolas: Land Trusts, Acceptance, and Probate

The Estate of Bantsolas (pdf here) case is an interesting one in that it discusses a probate issue (a citation to recover assets), land trusts, and what could almost be described as a contractual issue.

The matter involved a land trust, of which a woman named Baseleky Bantsolas was the sole owner. On November 30, 1996, Mrs. Bantsolas signed an amendment to the land trust, naming beneficiaries of the trust upon her death. Evidently, prior to this amendment, there was no beneficiary on the land trust, so upon her death, Mrs. Bantsolas's interest in the land trust would pass to her estate.

Mrs. Bantsolas's attorney got confused, and sent the land trust amendment to the wrong place (Chicago Title, instead of Chicago Trust -- same building, different entities). Eventually, Chicago Trust received the amendment, and accepted it -- a day AFTER Mrs. Bantsolas died.

Was the amendment valid? Or, put another way, does the property in the land trust belong to Mrs. Bantsolas's estate, or to the two individuals she named as beneficiaries of the land trust? Both the trial court judge (Cook County Probate Judge Jeffrey Malak) and this court say it belongs to the beneficiaries. Their reasoning: an amendment is effective upon delivery, and the estate did not meet its burden to show that delivery failed to occur during Mrs. Bantsolas's lifetime.

There are two burdens/presumptions at work here:

1. The burden on the estate to prove that the property belonged to Mrs. Bantsolas at the time of her death.

2. The presumption in favor of delivery.