Effect of transfer on death instrument at owner’s death.
    (a) Except as otherwise provided in the transfer on death instrument, in this Act, in the Probate Act of 1975, or in any other Act applicable to nontestamentary instruments, on the death of the owner, the following rules apply to the real property that is the subject of a transfer on death instrument and owned by the owner at death:
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Terms Used In Illinois Compiled Statutes 755 ILCS 27/65

  • Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. Source: OCC
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • Per stirpes: The legal means by which the children of a decedent, upon the death of an ancestor at a level above that of the decedent, receive by right of representation the share of the ancestor
  • Probate: Proving a will
  • Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
  • Right of survivorship: The ownership rights that result in the acquisition of title to property by reason of having survived other co-owners.

         (1) Subject to the beneficiary‘s right to disclaim
    
the transfer, the interest in the real property is transferred to the beneficiary in accordance with the instrument.
        (2) If the owner has identified 2 or more designated
    
beneficiaries to receive concurrent interests in the real property, the interests are taken in equal and undivided shares with no right of survivorship.
        (3) Except as provided in paragraph (5), if the owner
    
has identified a single designated beneficiary and the designated beneficiary fails to survive the owner or is not in existence on the date of the owner’s death, then the real property shall pass to the owner’s estate.
        (4) Except as provided in paragraph (5), if the owner
    
has identified 2 or more designated beneficiaries to receive concurrent interests, and one or more, but less than all, designated beneficiaries predecease the owner, then the interests of those that lapse or fail for any reason are transferred to the other remaining designated beneficiary or beneficiaries in proportion to the interest of each in the remaining part of the real property held concurrently.
        (5) If the designated beneficiary who dies before the
    
owner is a descendant of the owner, the descendants of the deceased designated beneficiary living at the time of the owner’s death shall take the deceased designated beneficiary’s share of the real property per stirpes.
    (b) Subject to the Probate Act of 1975 and the Conveyances Act, a beneficiary takes the real property subject to all conveyances, encumbrances, assignments, contracts, options, mortgages, liens, and other interests to which the real property is subject at the owner’s death.
     (c) A transfer on death instrument transfers real property without covenant or warranty of title even if the instrument contains a contrary provision.
     (d) If there is no sufficient evidence of the order of the owner and designated beneficiary’s deaths, otherwise than simultaneously, and there is no other provision in the transfer on death instrument, for purposes of this Section, the designated beneficiary shall be deemed to have predeceased the owner.