Is Your Illinois Will Still Valid After You Move to Texas?

Moving is exhausting enough without wondering whether the documents you paid for a decade ago still work. The short answer is reassuring. The longer answer is where the money is.

Validity usually survives the move

Texas generally honors a will that was validly executed under the law of the state where it was signed. An Illinois will properly executed in Illinois is not void because the testator later became a Texan. So the fear that a move silently revoked the will is almost always unfounded.

The reverse direction deserves more caution than it usually gets. Texas recognizes a holographic will, wholly in the testator’s handwriting and signed, with no witnesses at all. A document like that is not a safe thing to carry into another state, and anyone leaving Texas with one should have it re-executed rather than assume it travels.

Validity is not the same as workability

A will can be perfectly valid and still create an expensive probate. Several features matter enormously in Texas and are usually absent from an Illinois-drafted document.

The first is independent administration. Texas allows an executor to administer an estate with very little court supervision, which is the single largest cost saver in Texas probate, and the will should say so expressly. If it does not, the situation is awkward rather than hopeless: under Tex.

Est. Code § 401.002 the distributees may agree to independent administration even where the will is silent. That works when the family is united and fails exactly when it is needed most, which is why the language belongs in the document rather than in a hoped-for agreement.

The second is the bond waiver. Without express language waiving bond, the estate may have to purchase one.

The third is the self-proving affidavit. Texas has its own statutory form. A will proved by other means can still be admitted, but doing so may require locating witnesses years later, which is exactly the problem the affidavit exists to avoid.

The fourth is the executor. A nonresident who has not appointed a resident agent for service of process in Texas can be disqualified from serving, so an out-of-state executor needs that appointment on file, and the practical burden of administering Texas real property from Illinois is real even where it is permitted.

The fifth is a deadline nobody mentions at the closing table. A Texas will generally must be offered for probate within four years of the date of death. Miss it and the estate is usually treated as intestate, with the property passing to the heirs the statute names rather than the people the will named. A will that sits in a drawer through a move, a decline, and a funeral can run out of time.

What the move actually changes

The property law changes, and that matters more than the will. Texas is a community property state and Illinois is not.

Assets acquired during marriage after establishing Texas domicile are characterized differently than the same assets would have been in Illinois. Texas has strong homestead protections and a surviving spouse’s right of occupancy that has no Illinois counterpart. Illinois gives a surviving spouse the right to renounce the will and take a statutory share, which Texas does not.

The tax picture flips too. Illinois imposes its own estate tax at a $4 million exclusion. Texas has no state estate tax. That is a substantial reason people move in this direction, and a substantial reason to make sure domicile is documented rather than assumed.

What to review after a move

Update the will for independent administration, bond waiver, and a Texas self-proving affidavit. Replace the financial and medical powers of attorney with Texas statutory forms, because acceptance by banks and hospitals is a practical problem more than a legal one.

Review beneficiary designations, which the will does not control. And if real property was left behind in Illinois, plan for it specifically, because that property will be governed by Illinois law no matter where the owner lives.

This week: Find your will and check three things: does it name an independent executor, does it waive bond, and does it have a self-proving affidavit. Then locate your powers of attorney and note which state’s form they use.

If you moved between Texas and Illinois and your documents did not move with you, have them reviewed rather than assumed. Call or text 512.761.8479.