Opinion ID: 2160904
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Public Policy Regarding Freedom of Testation

Text: Neither the Constitution of the United States nor the Constitution of the State of Illinois speaks to the question of testamentary freedom. However, our statutes clearly reveal a public policy in support of testamentary freedom. The Probate Act places only two limits on the ability of a testator to choose the objects of his bounty. First, the Act permits a spouse to renounce a testator's will, whether or not the will contains any provision for the benefit of the surviving spouse. 755 ILCS 5/2-8 (West 2008). Thus, absent a valid prenuptial or postnuptial agreement (see, e.g., Golden v. Golden, 393 Ill. 536, 66 N.E.2d 662 (1946) (wife can effectively bind herself to accept provisions of husband's will, thereby estopping her from renouncing the will after his death)), the wishes of a surviving spouse can trump a testator's intentions. Second, a child born to a testator after the making of a will is entitled to receive the portion of the estate to which he would be entitled if the testator died intestate, unless provision is made in the will for the child or the will reveals the testator's intent to disinherit the child. 755 ILCS 5/4-10 (West 2008). The public policy of the state of Illinois as expressed in the Probate Act is, thus, one of broad testamentary freedom, constrained only by the rights granted to a surviving spouse and the need to expressly disinherit a child born after execution of the will if that is the testator's desire. Under the Probate Act, Max and Erla had no obligation to make any provision at all for their grandchildren. Indeed, if Max had died intestate, Erla, Michael, and Leila would have shared his estate (755 ILCS 5/2-1 (a) (West 2008)), and if Erla had died intestate, only Michael and Leila would have taken (755 ILCS 5/2-1(b) (West 2008)). Surely, the grandchildren have no greater claim on their grandparents' testate estates than they would have had on intestate estates. Similarly, under the Trusts and Trustees Act, [a] person establishing a trust may specify in the instrument the rights, powers, duties, limitations and immunities applicable to the trustee, beneficiary and others and those provisions where not otherwise contrary to law shall control, notwithstanding this Act. 760 ILCS 5/3 (West 2008). Thus, the legislature intended that the settlor of a trust have the freedom to direct his bounty as he sees fit, even to the point of giving effect to a provision regarding the rights of beneficiaries that might depart from the standard provisions of the Act, unless otherwise contrary to law. Another legislative enactment that reveals a strong public policy of freedom of testation was the adoption, in 1969, of the Statute Concerning Perpetuities (765 ILCS 305/1 et seq. (West 2008)), for the purpose of modifying the common law rule that a will or trust provision that violated the rule against perpetuities was void ab initio. 765 ILCS 305/2 (West 2008). The statute permits the settlor of a trust to create a qualified perpetual trust by including in the instrument a provision that the rule against perpetuities does not apply and by granting certain specified powers to the trustee. 765 ILCS 305/3(a-5), 4(a)(8) (West 2008). The statute also specifies other circumstances under which the rule shall not apply. 765 ILCS 305/4(a)(1) through (a)(7) (West 2008). In addition, the statute adopts a set of rules to be applied when determining whether an interest violates the rule against perpetuities. 765 ILCS 305/4 (c)(1) through (c)(3) (West 2008). With regard to trusts, the statute provides that a trust containing a provision that would violate the rule against perpetuities, as modified by the statute, shall terminate 21 years after the death of the last surviving beneficiary who was living at the beginning of the perpetuities period (765 ILCS 305/5(a)(A) (West 2008)) or else at the end of the 21-year perpetuities period if no beneficiary was living when the period began to run (765 ILCS 305/5(a)(B) (West 2008)). Thus, the trust is not rendered void ab initio, but is merely terminated by operation of law at the conclusion of the perpetuities period. Also, in 1953, the legislature adopted the Rule in Shelley's Case Abolishment Act (765 ILCS 345/1 et seq. (West 2008)), to abolish the common law rule that a life estate to A, with a remainder to A's heirs, shall pass to A in fee simple. As demonstrated by the Probate Act, the Trusts Act, the Statute Concerning Perpetuities, and the Rule in Shelley's Case Abolishment Act, the public policy of the state of Illinois protects the ability of an individual to distribute his property, even after his death, as he chooses, with minimal restrictions under state law. Our case law also demonstrates the existence of a public policy favoring testamentary freedom, reflected in the many cases in which a court strives to discover and to give effect to the intent of a deceased testator or settlor of a trust. See, e.g., Harris Trust & Savings Bank v. Donovan, 145 Ill.2d 166, 172, 163 Ill.Dec. 854, 582 N.E.2d 120 (1991) (The first purpose in construing a trust is to discover the settlor's intent from the trust as a whole, which the court will effectuate if it is not contrary to public policy); Harris Trust & Savings Bank v. Beach, 118 Ill.2d 1, 3, 112 Ill.Dec. 224, 513 N.E.2d 833 (1987) (In construing either a trust or a will the challenge is to find the settlor's or testator's intent and, provided that the intention is not against public policy, to give it effect). The record, via the testimony of Michael and Leila, reveals that Max's intent in restricting the distribution of his estate was to benefit those descendants who opted to honor and further his commitment to Judaism by marrying within the faith. Max had expressed his concern about the potential extinction of the Jewish people, not only by holocaust, but by gradual dilution as a result of intermarriage with non-Jews. While he was willing to share his bounty with a grandchild whose spouse converted to Judaism, this was apparently as far as he was willing to go. There is no question that a grandparent in Max's situation is entirely free during his lifetime to attempt to influence his grandchildren to marry within his family's religious tradition, even by offering financial incentives to do so. The question is, given our public policy of testamentary freedom, did Max's beneficiary restriction clause as given effect by Erla's appointment violate any other public policy of the state of Illinois, thus rendering it void?