Your state’s pack. New issues arrive periodically on Mondays. Bookmark it. I built this for the Illinois T&E solo who knows the Probate Act of 1975 (755 ILCS 5) cold but still loses an afternoon a week hunting the current homestead number, the Community Care Program / “Persons who are Elderly” waiver (HFS Medical Assistance) posture, whether the latest Illinois bar ethics opinion changes how you scope an engagement, or whether a recent Illinois Appellate Court decision just moved the law on capacity, undue influence, or a trustee’s duties. What’s below is what mattered in Illinois lately — the week’s developments and the recent rulings from the bench.
For licensed attorneys. This pack is general legal information and professional commentary for practicing attorneys — it is not legal advice, does not apply to any specific matter, and creates no attorney-client relationship. Verify every authority against the cited primary source before relying on it with a client. Published by Mike Moss, a Utah-admitted attorney, as an AI-enablement information product; it is not an offer of legal services and is not a representation that the author is admitted to practice in your jurisdiction.
Three developments from the last seven days that I think actually matter to a Illinois T&E solo. Each one has a read that lands on your practice specifically — and each one comes with the citation so you can verify the detail yourself before you use it with a client.
P.A. 104-120 amended 735 ILCS 5/12-901, raising the homestead exemption to $50,000 per individual ($100,000 aggregate), effective January 1, 2026 — superseding the old $15,000 / $30,000. The same act also raised the motor-vehicle and tools-of-trade exemptions.
Two places this bites immediately: bankruptcy-exemption schedules filed in the Northern, Central, and Southern Districts of Illinois, and the Medicaid home-equity analysis. A forms library refreshed before January 1 still cites $15,000 — more than triple low. Re-run the creditor and Medicaid math on the new figure before relying on any prior template.
735 ILCS 5/12-901 (P.A. 104-120, eff. Jan. 1, 2026) · ilga.gov · 735 ILCS 5/12-901
The first statewide judicial AI policy permits responsible use of generative AI by attorneys and judges, imposes no AI-disclosure requirement, and places full accountability on the user for anything submitted. It governs T&E filings the same as any other.
If you use AI to draft a petition or trust instrument in Illinois, you need not disclose the tool — but you own every word, including a hallucinated citation. The no-disclosure posture is a convenience, not a safe harbor: verify authorities before filing, and pair the court policy with the ISBA/ARDC practitioner guidance for the confidentiality and competence pieces.
Illinois Supreme Court Policy on Artificial Intelligence (eff. Jan. 1, 2025) · illinoiscourts.gov · AI policy
In October 2025 the ISBA AI Committee published an FAQ / best-practices set and the ARDC released the “Illinois Attorney’s Guide to Implementing AI.” Together they are the practitioner-facing complement to the Supreme Court’s AI policy.
This is the operational checklist for an Illinois T&E solo: how to vet an AI tool, when client data triggers confidentiality duties, and how to supervise AI-assisted work product. Read it alongside the court policy — the court tells you the accountability rule, the ISBA/ARDC guidance tells you the workflow that keeps you on the right side of it.
ARDC, Illinois Attorney’s Guide to Implementing AI; ISBA AI Committee (Oct. 2025) · isba.org · ARDC AI guide
Decisions from the courts that bind an Illinois practitioner — the Supreme Court of Illinois and the Illinois Appellate Court, the U.S. District Courts for the Northern, Central, and Southern Districts of Illinois, and the Seventh Circuit — read for what actually changes how you draft, advise, and plan. Trusts and estates broadly, not Medicaid alone: wills and capacity, undue influence, fiduciary duty, trust construction, and estate recovery. One read, the holding, and the official cite.
Across the Supreme Court of Illinois, the Illinois Appellate Court, the Northern, Central, and Southern Districts of Illinois, and the Seventh Circuit, no qualifying trusts-and-estates or estate-recovery decision has been logged with a full citation this period. Per the lane’s no-invent rule, this row says so plainly rather than inflating a holding.
Nothing to re-paper from the bench this period; controlling authority is unchanged. CourtListener is used for discovery only and is never cited here as authority.
Awaiting verified weekly signal — CourtListener used for discovery only, never cited as authority.
This slot holds the next significant trusts-and-estates or estate-recovery decision from Illinois’s appellate courts or the federal courts covering Illinois. The lane reads each opinion before it lands here, and reads-and-discards Medicaid program/provider litigation as not T&E. When the trailing window has no new ruling, this row says so plainly rather than inventing one.
Nothing to re-paper from the bench this period; controlling authority unchanged.
[Official reporter · court · date — never courtlistener.com]
This week in Illinois for the T&E solo with Illinois Medicaid clients: the developments from the Illinois State Bar Association (Trusts and Estates Section), the Illinois Supreme Court, and HFS that actually moved your practice this period — each one primary-source verified.
Bar and Medicaid changes land on different schedules and aren’t indexed by practice focus. Every item here was checked against its primary source, with the link, so you can verify before relying on it.