In re Estate of Bennoon

Illinois Appellate Court
Civil Court
Probate
Citation
Case Number: 
2014 IL App (1st) 122224
Decision Date: 
Friday, June 20, 2014
District: 
1st Dist.
Division/County: 
Cook Co., 6th Div.
Holding: 
Affirmed.
Justice: 
HALL
Decedent died, leaving no known heirs. Order of heirship was amended to include maternal heirs, but paternal heirs remained unknown. Court properly denied petition to amend heirship to add Petitioner as paternal great-nice of Decedent. Court properly found expert witness identified by County Public Administrator (who had been appointed as supervised administrator of estate), who had worked for Ukranian Bar Association doing geneology research, qualified to render opinion on genealogy. Court properly denied comity to order from Ukiranian court, as court proceeding was conducted ex parte, and no evidence that Respondent was given notice of proceeding or that proceeding was adversarial. (ROCHFORD and REYES, concurring.)