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This Easy Form makes a Transfer On Death Instrument for your property located in Illinois. A Transfer on Death Instrument, also called a TODI, lets you give real estate to your loved ones without including it in your will.
This Easy form does not send your form to your loved ones. You can download the Transfer on Death Instrument and instructions at the end of the program.
Learn more about giving someone your house when you die.This program will help you make your documents. It will ask questions for you to answer. At the end of the program, you will get completed documents and instructions. You can save and print them, or the program can email them to you.
Form completion time: 10 minutes to 20 minutes
You will be able to save your work in the middle of the program.
The interview and forms are in English.
Can I use this program?
To use this program, you must be a preparing a Transfer on Death Instrument (TODI) for your real property.
What do I need first?
To complete this program, you will need:
- Your Property Index Number (“PIN”), which should be on your deed, your property tax bill, and other documents recorded against the property. You can obtain the PIN from your County Clerk’s Office, Assessor’s Office, and sometimes at your county’s website.
- The legal description of the property. You can find this in the property deed or other documents recorded against the property. If you do not have these, you can find them at the office of County Recorder of Deeds or their website. For example, in Cook County, you would go to the Recorder of Deeds website and search for your deed using your PIN. You could then view an image of the deed which contains the legal description.
You can find your PIN at your County Clerk's Office or Assessor's Office, and sometimes at your county's website. If your property is in one of the counties below, click their website to look up your PIN:
- Cook County PIN Lookup
- DuPage County PIN Lookup
- Kane County PIN Lookup
- Lake County PIN Lookup
- McHenry County PIN Lookup
- Will County PIN Lookup
You can find the legal description on the deed or other property documents. These can be found at the office of the Recorder of Deeds in the county where the property is located. For example, in Cook County, you would go to the Recorder of Deeds website and search for your deed using your PIN. You could then view an image of the deed which contains the legal description.
If your property is in one of the counties below, click the link to look up your deed:
- Cook County Recorder of Deeds
- DuPage County Recorder of Deeds
- Kane County Recorder of Deeds
- Lake County Recorder of Deeds
- McHenry County Recorder of Deeds
- Will County Recorder of Deeds
If your property is in a different county, use a search engine like Google to find your county's Recorder of Deeds website and see if you can look up your deed for free online.
What documents will this create?
This program prepares the following documents:
- Instructions
- Illinois Transfer on Death Instrument
- Notice of Death Affidavit and Acceptance of Transfer on Death Instrument
After you complete your TODI, you and 2 witnesses must sign and date it in front of a Notary Public. Then you will need to bring it to your county's Recorder of Deeds office to record it. See the instructions that are made by this Easy Form for more information.
Each county has its own process for recording deeds. Contact your county's Recorder of Deeds office for details.
Worried about doing this on your own? You may be able to get free legal help.
