Under Illinois law, the executor or administrator of an estate may open the Probate proceedings with the court as an Independent Administration.
Under Independent Administration, the executor or administrator has authority to administer most aspects of the estate without court supervision. He has authority to sell estate real estate without first seeking approval from the court. This reduces the expense of the Probate process.
Most individuals who name an executor in their wills have confidence in the person they have chosen and prefer to include language stating that it is their intent that the estate shall be independent of the supervision of any court. While a judge has the authority to make any independent administration a supervised administration, a judge will give weight to a statement in a Will specifying independent administration and will grant a request to terminate an independent administration specified in a Will only upon demonstrated good cause by the party requesting termination.
Consult your estate planning attorney for further information.