Illinois Probate Bond
An Illinois representative’s bond runs 1.5 times the value of the personal estate when a surety company signs it, or double that value with individual sureties — 755 ILCS 5/12-5. Whether you need one at all doesn't turn on estate size. It turns on 755 ILCS 5/12-4: did the will excuse bond, and did the court accept that waiver.
Most Illinois estates open under independent administration — the default track under 755 ILCS 5/28-2 — and a lot of representatives assume that means no bond and no oversight. It doesn't. The bond requirement runs on its own statute, and independent administrators pick up a duty supervised administrators don't have: mailing the estate inventory to the surety, not the court, within 90 days of Letters (755 ILCS 5/28-6(b)). This page walks through both tracks, the 1.5x math, and how Cook County’s Probate Division actually processes the filing.
Independent administration changes who gets your inventory, not whether you post bond
755 ILCS 5/28-2 makes independent administration the default: the court grants it whenever the petition doesn't request supervised administration and the will doesn't forbid it, or when the representative later petitions to convert out of supervised administration with notice to interested persons. It cuts down on court filings — an independent representative generally doesn't have to file the inventory or annual accountings with the court the way a supervised representative does. What it does not do is touch the bond statute. 755 ILCS 5/12-2 and 5/12-4 operate on every representative regardless of track.
Illinois independent vs. supervised administration
Same bond duty, different paperwork trail
| Independent administration | Supervised administration | |
|---|---|---|
| Who requests it | Default — granted unless will forbids it or someone objects | Requested in the petition, or ordered after an objection |
| Bond still required? | Yes, unless will excuses it or court waives (§ 12-2, § 12-4) | Yes, same waiver rules apply |
| Inventory goes to | Interested persons (§ 28-6(a)) AND the surety within 90 days (§ 28-6(b)) | Filed with the court for judicial review |
| Accountings | Not filed with the court unless demanded | Filed with and approved by the court |
| Governing statute | 755 ILCS 5/28-1 through 5/28-11 | 755 ILCS 5, general probate provisions |
An interested person can petition to require supervised administration for good cause even after independent administration is granted; the reverse (converting from supervised to independent) requires the representative's own petition and notice under § 28-2.
The one duty unique to independent administration: 755 ILCS 5/28-6(b) requires the independent representative to mail the surety — by certified mail, within 90 days of Letters — a copy of the estate inventory. Supervised representatives file their inventory with the court instead; independent representatives generally don't, but they owe that same document to whoever backed their bond. We flag this deadline on every Illinois policy we write.
Why the same estate produces two different bond numbers
755 ILCS 5/12-5 doesn't set one multiplier — it sets two, and which one applies depends on who signs as surety, not on the estate. Individual (personal) sureties post double the personal estate value. A surety company — the kind we place — posts 1.5 times that value instead. That half-turn discount is the statute rewarding a bonded, licensed corporate surety over two friends co-signing a promise.
Illinois representative's bond — corporate surety
755 ILCS 5/12-5 — the multiplier rises to 2x (double) if the bond is secured by individual sureties instead of a surety company. Real estate the representative takes possession of can add to this figure at the court's discretion, based on expected rental income.
"Personal estate" in 755 ILCS 5/12-5 means cash, securities, and other personal property — not real property equity. If the representative also takes possession of real estate, the court can add to the bond "having regard to the income from the real estate," but that add-on is a separate, discretionary calculation layered on top of the 1.5x base, not folded into the personal-estate multiplier itself. For how Ohio's flat 2x rule or Georgia's 1x-corporate rule compare, see the probate bond cost by state guide.
When 755 ILCS 5/12-4 actually excuses the bond
Every individual representative owes an oath and a bond under 755 ILCS 5/12-2 unless the will excuses it or the court waives it. Section 12-4 is where that excusal actually lives:
Official Illinois Requirements
"Except as provided in paragraph (c) of Section 6-13 with respect to a nonresident executor, no security is required of a person who is excused by the will from giving bond or security and no greater security than is specified by the will is required..."Illinois Probate Act of 1975 • 755 ILCS 5/12-4
Read the carve-out closely: a will's waiver doesn't automatically cover a nonresident executor. Section 12-4's own text still points to “paragraph (c) of Section 6-13” — but 6-13 was later amended to insert a new felony-eligibility subsection at (c), which pushed the nonresident-executor language down a letter. The bond discretion 12-4 is actually pointing to now lives at 755 ILCS 5/6-13(d), which lets the court require bond from an out-of-state executor “notwithstanding any contrary provision of the will.” Beyond that named exception, Illinois courts also retain general discretion to require security when they have reason to doubt an estate is otherwise protected — a contested will, a representative with a troubled financial history, or estate assets the will-drafter didn't anticipate. A waiver clause is a strong starting position, not a guarantee.
Section 12-4 also carries special provisions for testamentary guardians of a ward's estate and for the Office of the State Guardian — those run different bond logic than a standard executor or administrator and are outside the scope of this page.
How Cook County’s Probate Division actually processes a bond filing
Roughly a third of Illinois estates run through Cook County, whose Probate Division sits in the Richard J. Daley Center, 50 W. Washington St., Chicago — the division office is in Room 1202. Petitions and bonds are filed electronically through the Clerk of the Circuit Court's e-filing system, with limited exemptions for self-represented filers. Once assigned, a decedent-estate case is calendared into one of five dedicated decedent-estate courtrooms — separate from the division's adult- and minor-guardianship calendars — and you don't choose which one.
The Clerk's office publishes two standard bond forms for representatives: Oath and Bond of Representative – Surety and Oath and Bond of Representative – No Surety. We prepare and file the Surety version, executed by our admitted carrier, so it's ready before your Letters hearing rather than requested and re-filed after a delay.
Outside Cook County, each of Illinois' other 101 counties runs its own circuit clerk probate process. The 755 ILCS 5/12-5 multiplier and the 5/28 independent-administration mechanics apply statewide either way — what changes downstate is the filing procedure and turnaround, not the underlying bond math. Run your numbers through the probate bond calculator or read more on what determines your surety bond cost.
Getting the bond filed before your Letters hearing
Confirm the track and the waiver
Independent or supervised, and does the will excuse bond under § 12-4? Both facts determine what we quote — not the estate size alone.
Give us the personal estate figure or the court order
Have a judge-set amount? We bond to that number. No order yet? We run the 1.5x corporate-surety math from your estate estimate.
Tell us the county
Cook County or one of the other 101 — each circuit clerk has its own accepted local procedure for the statutory bond form.
We underwrite and issue
A quick look at the representative’s credit and the estate. Most Illinois probate bonds clear underwriting the same day.
File, then mark the 90-day inventory deadline
We deliver the executed bond on the county-accepted form, and if you’re under independent administration, we flag the § 28-6(b) inventory-to-surety deadline so it doesn’t lapse.
Have a court order or an estate estimate? We'll write the bond to the figure and file it on your county's accepted form.
Start my Illinois probate bond quoteRelated Illinois and probate bonds
Illinois fiduciaries and estates often need more than the representative's bond itself:
What Illinois representatives ask about this bond
Does independent administration mean I don't need a bond in Illinois?
No — that's the most common misread of the Illinois Probate Act. 755 ILCS 5/28-2 makes independent administration the default when a petition doesn't request supervised administration and the will doesn't forbid it, but the bond duty under 755 ILCS 5/12-2 runs independently of which track the estate is on. What actually excuses the bond is a will provision under 755 ILCS 5/12-4, an all-heir waiver the court accepts, or the court's own decision that no security is needed — not the choice of independent administration. Independent administrators actually pick up one bond-related duty supervised administrators skip entirely: mailing a copy of the estate inventory to the surety by certified mail within 90 days of Letters, under 755 ILCS 5/28-6(b).
Is the Illinois probate bond 1.5x or double the personal estate value?
Both figures are real — they apply to different sureties. 755 ILCS 5/12-5 sets the penal sum at not less than double the value of the personal estate if the bond is secured by individual (personal) sureties, or not less than 1 1/2 times the value of the personal estate if a surety company acts as surety. A corporate bond — the kind an admitted surety company issues — runs the lower 1.5x figure; asking two individuals to co-sign personally costs the estate double. That 1.5x-vs-2x split is also why a $300,000 personal estate produces a $450,000 corporate-surety bond, not $600,000.
What happens if I don't send the estate inventory to my surety within 90 days?
755 ILCS 5/28-6(b) requires an independent representative to provide the surety on the bond — by certified mail — a copy of the inventory of the real and personal estate within 90 days after Letters of Office issue. This is separate from, and in addition to, mailing the inventory to interested persons under 28-6(a). Missing it isn't just a paperwork lapse: the statute ties independent-administration status to compliance, and an interested person can petition to convert the estate to supervised administration if the independent representative doesn't meet the Article XXVIII duties. We track this deadline for every Illinois bond we issue and send a reminder before it lapses.
Can a will waive the Illinois probate bond entirely?
Usually, yes — 755 ILCS 5/12-4 says no security is required of a person the will excuses from bond, and no more security than the will specifies can be required, subject to two carve-outs. First, a nonresident executor doesn't get the waiver automatically. 12-4's text cross-references "paragraph (c) of Section 6-13," but 6-13 has since been amended to add a felony-eligibility subsection at (c), which moved the nonresident-executor bond language to 755 ILCS 5/6-13(d) — the court can still require a bond from an out-of-state executor even when the will says no bond is needed. Second, the waiver doesn't bind the court's independent judgment: a judge who has reason to doubt the estate's security — a contested estate, a representative with a history of financial trouble, or assets the will didn't anticipate — can require bond anyway. Budget for the possibility even with a clean waiver clause.
Where do I file a probate bond in Cook County?
Cook County's Probate Division sits in the Richard J. Daley Center at 50 W. Washington St. in Chicago, with the division office in Room 1202. Cases are filed electronically through the Clerk of the Circuit Court's e-filing system (with limited exemptions), and the division runs five separate decedent-estate courtrooms plus dedicated adult- and minor-guardianship calendars — you're assigned one based on your case number, not by choice. The Clerk's office publishes two standard bond forms: "Oath and Bond of Representative — Surety" and "Oath and Bond of Representative — No Surety." We issue on the Surety version and file it on your case before your Letters hearing. Illinois' other 101 counties each run their own circuit clerk's probate filing process — smaller downstate courts often accept the same statutory form with less standardized local procedure than Cook County.
Does the Illinois bond amount include real estate the representative controls?
Not by the base formula — 755 ILCS 5/12-5's 1.5x-or-double multiplier runs against the personal estate only (cash, securities, and other personal property), not real property value itself. But if the representative takes possession of real estate, the statute lets the court add "such additional amount as the court determines, having regard to the income from the real estate" — so a rental property or farmland under the representative's control can raise the bond even though the underlying real estate equity doesn't factor into the base 1.5x calculation the way it does in some other states.
All content is researched from official state and federal sources (.gov) and verified before publication. BuySuretyBonds.com works with Treasury-certified, A-minimum rated surety carriers serving all 50 states.
General information, not legal, tax, or underwriting advice. Illinois probate bond requirements, amounts, and administration procedures are set by the Illinois Probate Act of 1975 (755 ILCS 5, including §§ 6-13, 12-2, 12-4, 12-5, and Article XXVIII) and by local circuit court rules, and they change over time. Confirm the current requirement with the circuit court handling your matter — and with Illinois probate counsel on waiver and nonresident-executor questions — before relying on this page, then request a quote for your specific bond form and amount.
Independent or supervised, get your Illinois probate bond filed
Tell us your county, your administration track, and the figure on your order (or your estate estimate). We write the bond at the correct 1.5x corporate-surety amount and get it filed before your Letters hearing — free quote, no obligation.
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