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Illinois Compiled Statutes

Information maintained by the Legislative Reference Bureau
Updating the database of the Illinois Compiled Statutes (ILCS) is an ongoing process. Recent laws may not yet be included in the ILCS database, but they are found on this site as Public Acts soon after they become law. For information concerning the relationship between statutes and Public Acts, refer to the Guide.

Because the statute database is maintained primarily for legislative drafting purposes, statutory changes are sometimes included in the statute database before they take effect. If the source note at the end of a Section of the statutes includes a Public Act that has not yet taken effect, the version of the law that is currently in effect may have already been removed from the database and you should refer to that Public Act to see the changes made to the current law.

ESTATES
(755 ILCS 6/) Electronic Wills and Remote Witnesses Act.

755 ILCS 6/Art. 5

 
    (755 ILCS 6/Art. 5 heading)
Article 5. Electronic Wills
(Source: P.A. 102-167, eff. 7-26-21.)

755 ILCS 6/5-5

    (755 ILCS 6/5-5)
    Sec. 5-5. Signing electronic wills.
    (a) To be valid under this Act, an electronic will shall be executed by the testator or by some person in the testator's presence and at the testator's direction, and attested to in the testator's presence by 2 or more credible witnesses.
    (b) The testator may sign the electronic will with the testator's electronic signature or may direct another person in the presence of the testator to sign the electronic will. A person signing at the testator's direction shall not be an attesting witness, a person receiving a beneficial legacy or interest under the will, or the spouse or child of a person receiving a beneficial legacy or interest under the will.
    (c) Each witness shall sign the electronic will with an electronic signature in the presence of the testator after seeing the testator sign, seeing the testator direct another person in the testator's presence to sign, or seeing the testator acknowledge the signature as the testator's act.
    (d) If the will is attested to by a remote witness, the requirements for an attestation by a remote witness under Section 15-10 also apply.
(Source: P.A. 102-167, eff. 7-26-21.)

755 ILCS 6/5-10

    (755 ILCS 6/5-10)
    Sec. 5-10. Revocation.
    (a) An electronic will may be revoked in the following ways:
        (1) execution of a later will declaring the
    
revocation;
        (2) execution of a later will to the extent that it
    
is inconsistent with the prior will; or
        (3) execution of a written instrument by the testator
    
declaring the revocation.
    (b) If there is evidence that a testator signed an electronic will and neither an electronic will nor a certified paper copy of the electronic will can be located after a testator's death, there is a presumption that the testator revoked the electronic will even if no instrument or later will revoking the electronic will can be located.
(Source: P.A. 102-167, eff. 7-26-21.)

755 ILCS 6/5-15

    (755 ILCS 6/5-15)
    Sec. 5-15. Digital assets and electronic commerce.
    (a) At any time during the administration of the estate without further notice or, if there is no grant of administration, upon such notice and in such a manner as the court directs, the court may issue an order under the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (2015) for a custodian of an account held under a terms-of-service agreement to disclose digital assets for the purposes of obtaining an electronic will from a deceased user's account. If there is no grant of administration at the time the court issues the order, the court's order shall grant disclosure to the petitioner who is deemed a personal representative under the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (2015).
    (b) Except as specified in this Act, the Electronic Commerce Security Act does not apply to the execution or revocation of an electronic will.
(Source: P.A. 102-167, eff. 7-26-21.)