What is Illinois’s small estate affidavit limit in 2026?
Illinois raised its small-estate-affidavit limit to $150,000, effective August 15, 2025, under Public Act 104-0346 (755 ILCS 5/25-1). If the person died before that date, the old $100,000 cap still controls. The affidavit is the tool that lets a small estate skip formal probate.
Can a small estate affidavit transfer the house itself?
No. A small-estate affidavit moves personal property only — bank accounts, vehicles, belongings — never real estate. To pass the house to heirs you need formal probate or a recorded Transfer on Death Instrument (755 ILCS 27). The affidavit alone cannot convey title to a home, so it never lets you sell the house fast on its own.
How long does Illinois probate actually take?
Realistically six to seven months at the earliest. Once an estate is opened, the creditor-claims period runs at least six months from first publication, and all claims are barred two years after death (755 ILCS 5/18-3). The house usually can’t be cleanly sold until that window is properly handled.
Will I owe capital gains tax when I sell?
Usually little or none. Inherited property gets a stepped-up basis to its fair market value on the date of death (IRC § 1014). If you sell near that value, there’s almost no taxable gain — one of the few breaks that actually makes selling an inherited Illinois house simpler than people expect.
The honest math on an inherited Illinois house
While the estate works through probate, the house keeps costing money every month: property taxes keep running (often around $500 a month on a typical Illinois home), plus vacant-home insurance, utilities, and upkeep on a place nobody lives in. Six or seven months of that adds up fast.
Because the stepped-up basis (IRC § 1014) usually erases capital-gains tax either way, the real comparison isn’t tax — it’s carrying costs and agent commission (about 6%) against a clean cash sale that closes in days once you’re legally cleared to sell. For a lot of heirs, what you actually keep ends up close, without the months of bleed.
Tell us the date of death and the county the property sits in, and we’ll tell you honestly where probate stands before we ever talk price. No pressure, no obligation.