There is increasing interest among trustees and beneficiaries to
resolve disputes and modify trust documents without going to
court. For many years, the primary mechanism to accomplish
that in Illinois has been the Virtual Representation Statute, 760
ILCS 5/16.1, which allows parties to make such agreements without
court involvement, even when minors and unborn beneficiaries may
have interests. However, there were aspects of the original
statute that made it difficult to apply, and even after it was
amended in 2009, the types of disputes and modifications that could
be addressed were not entirely clear.
On August 15, 2014, Governor Patrick Quinn approved Senate Bill
2984, amending §§16.1 and 5.3 of the Trusts and Trustees
Act (760 ILCS 5/16.1, 5/5.3). The new legislation, Public Act
98–0946, goes into effect on January 1, 2015, and is likely
to expand the scope of agreements allowed under §16.1.
