Illinois Disclaimer of Interest (Transfer on Death Instrument Beneficiary)

An Illinois transfer on death instrument passes real property to its designated beneficiary at the owner's death, but the beneficiary is never obliged to take it. This form is the written disclaimer by which one designated beneficiary of a recorded Illinois transfer on death instrument, after the owner has died, declines the whole of the interest that would otherwise pass, with the content that Section 2-7 of the Probate Act of 1975 requires and in a format the county recorder records.

A beneficiary who says no, and where the interest goes instead

The Real Property Transfer on Death Instrument Act makes the transfer at death subject to the beneficiary's right to disclaim, and Section 80 of that Act routes the disclaimer through the Disclaimer Under Nontestamentary Instrument Act to 755 ILCS 5/2-7. Under Section 2-7(d) a disclaimed interest passes as if the disclaimant had predeceased the owner, and the disclaimer relates back to the owner's death for all purposes. The transfer on death instrument and Section 65 of the Act then decide the destination: to the remaining designated beneficiaries where there were several, to the owner's estate where the disclaimant was the only one, and to the disclaimant's own descendants, per stirpes, where the disclaimant is a descendant of the owner and the instrument says nothing different. The disclaimant directs none of it.

What Illinois requires on the page

Section 2-7(b) asks for three things: a description of the property or interest disclaimed, the disclaimant's signature, and a declaration of the disclaimer and its extent. This Illinois disclaimer of interest form supplies them in order. It identifies the disclaimant, the deceased owner, and the transfer on death instrument by its date, document number, and recording county; it carries the legal description, street address, and parcel number; and its declaration disclaims, irrevocably and without qualification, in whole, the entire interest that would otherwise pass under the instrument. The same paragraph states that the disclaimant has not accepted, transferred, or waived the interest, tracking the bars in Section 2-7(e), under which acceptance must be affirmatively proved and the mere passage of time is not acceptance. Illinois sets no deadline of its own; the nine-month limit belongs to the federal qualified disclaimer rule in 26 U.S.C. 2518, which the guide describes beside the Illinois rule.

Delivery, recording, and the county recorder

A disclaimer takes effect through delivery or filing under Section 2-7(c), and for real property the section allows an executed counterpart to be recorded with the recorder of the county where the real estate lies. The form is built for that recording: letter size sheets, the 3 inch by 5 inch blank space at the upper right of the first page and the half-inch margins of 55 ILCS 5/3-5018.2, the preparer statement of 55 ILCS 5/3-5022, a return address, and the recorded instrument's document number, the related-document reference of 55 ILCS 5/3-5020.5. A delivery entry records the person to whom a counterpart was delivered, and one acknowledgment certificate in the Illinois short form of 5 ILCS 312/6-105(a) follows the signature.

One beneficiary, one signature, the whole interest

The form recites exactly one disclaimant: a natural person who is a designated beneficiary under a transfer on death instrument made and recorded by an owner who has since died, signing in his or her own capacity and disclaiming the whole of the interest. It carries one signature block and one acknowledgment certificate. An adult child named beside a sibling who prefers that the sibling take the family home, and a beneficiary who declines a parcel burdened beyond its value, present the pattern this form recites. A partial disclaimer of a fractional share, which Section 2-7(a) permits, is not set up in this form; neither is a disclaimer signed by a guardian or executor for a beneficiary, which rests on leave of court, nor a disclaimer by a trustee or company named as beneficiary, which is acknowledged in a representative capacity. A surviving spouse's renunciation under Section 66 of the Act is a separate recorded instrument with its own seven-month filing period, prepared separately and not included in this package.

The package includes the fillable disclaimer of interest form, a completed example filled in for a realistic DuPage County fact pattern, and the guide that walks through every numbered section, the delivery paths, and the effect of a completed disclaimer. This description and the guide describe the form and the governing statutes in general terms; they are not legal advice.