Judge erred in reopening closed estate

Trial Notebook

By Steven P. Garmisa

Hoey & Farina

Posted July 1, 2015 2:39 PM

Six years after an Effingham County judge signed a March 2007 order that closed Walter L. Carlen’s estate and discharged the executor, the estate’s sole judgment-creditor, First State Bank of Beecher — which scored a $139,470 judgment against the estate in 1998 based on several promissory notes — petitioned to reopen the estate so it could revive the unpaid judgment and add post-judgment interest.The bank’s June 2013 petition relied on Section 24-9 of the Illinois Probate Act, which authorizes …

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