When must I bring an Illinois attorney claim for injury first occurring at the client’s death?

Establish that the injury did not occur until the person receiving the professional services died. Later discovery alone does not establish this branch.

Obtain the death date, services chronology, letters of office and order admitting the will to probate, if any.

Identify applicable Probate Act claim and will-contest periods and the services edition, including the pre-January 1, 2022 transition.

1. Establish that the injury did not occur until the person receiving the professional services died. Later discovery alone does not establish this branch.
2. Obtain the death date, services chronology, letters of office and order admitting the will to probate, if any.
3. Identify applicable Probate Act claim and will-contest periods and the services edition, including the pre-January 1, 2022 transition.
4. A qualifying probate event within two years changes the death-based branch to the later applicable Probate Act claim or will-contest period. That period may be earlier than death plus two years. The current subsection (d) also states six years after services. Subsection (g) must be checked for pre-2022 services before claiming that current text bars a historical action.
5. Commence the separate professional-services action within its established periods. A probate claim or will contest is not itself a filed attorney-malpractice action.

No computed date is published. Establish the applicable statutory periods and then check their governing counting and closed-day provisions separately.

Fictitious comparison. One qualifying injury arises at death without probate during the following two years. Another has timely will admission. The latter requires the actual Probate Act comparison rather than the same death anniversary.

Death, probate, service dates and the 2022 transition require separate facts. A two-year death preset cannot select the applicable filing period.

The probate event must occur within two years

Subsection (d) specifies letters of office or will admission within the two-year death period. Actual orders and the applicable Probate Act provisions establish the comparison.

Initial and later disability are distinct

Subsection (e) addresses minority or legal disability at accrual. Subsection (f) stays limitations for qualifying later disability but expressly preserves repose.

The 2022 transition is conditional

For services before January 1, 2022, subsection (g) preserves an action timely under the January 1, 2021 version and filed within a reasonable period not exceeding six years after the amendment. It does not grant every old claim six more years.

• This source guide computes no date and does not determine whether the required facts are established.
• Preserve the operative edition, actual documents and relevant court orders. Historical applicability requires its own review.

• Establish that the injury did not occur until the person receiving the professional services died. Later discovery alone does not establish this branch.
• Obtain the death date, services chronology, letters of office and order admitting the will to probate, if any.
• Identify applicable Probate Act claim and will-contest periods and the services edition, including the pre-January 1, 2022 transition.
• Subsection (d) specifies letters of office or will admission within the two-year death period. Actual orders and the applicable Probate Act provisions establish the comparison.
• Subsection (e) addresses minority or legal disability at accrual. Subsection (f) stays limitations for qualifying later disability but expressly preserves repose.
• For services before January 1, 2022, subsection (g) preserves an action timely under the January 1, 2021 version and filed within a reasonable period not exceeding six years after the amendment. It does not grant every old claim six more years.
• Commence the separate professional-services action within its established periods. A probate claim or will contest is not itself a filed attorney-malpractice action. File with the proper clerk in the required format. Rule 9 ordinarily requires civil electronic filing, subject to its exceptions and exemptions. Rule 9(f) ordinarily requires submission before midnight in the court time zone unless a statute, rule or actual order specifies a different time. A submission on a closed clerk day ordinarily receives the next open-day stamp. Preserve the actual electronic file mark, receipt and any filing-relief order. Filing and service are distinct acts.