Trustee Notice to Beneficiaries Requirements in Illinois

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Illinois runs two separate 90-day notice tracks

Section 813.1(b)(1) is the trust-information notice. It is due within 90 days after the trust becomes irrevocable and tells each qualified beneficiary that the trust exists, what trust-instrument copy the beneficiary may request, and whether the beneficiary may receive or request accountings. Unlike several states' versions of this rule, the core Illinois clock runs from irrevocability itself, not from the trustee acquiring knowledge of irrevocability.

Section 813.1(d)(1)(A) is the acceptance notice. Within 90 days after accepting, the trustee notifies each qualified beneficiary of the acceptance and gives the trustee's name, address, and telephone number. If no trustee was acting when the trust became irrevocable, acceptance also starts the separate 90-day information- notice clock under subsection (b)(1).

These duties do not have identical override rules. Section 105(b)(10) prevents the trust terms from displacing the post-2020 § 813.1(b)(1) information duty. The acceptance notice in subsection (d)(1)(A) is not on § 105's mandatory-rule list, so the general rule allowing trust terms to prevail applies to it.

Qualified beneficiaries include the current and next distribution horizons

Section 103(30) defines a qualified beneficiary as every current beneficiary and presumptive remainder beneficiary. A current beneficiary is a present distributee or permissible distributee. A presumptive remainder beneficiary is someone who would be eligible if the trust terminated now or if all current distributees' interests ended without terminating the trust.

The information notice can recur. New 90-day clocks start when the trustee learns that a qualified beneficiary has an Article 3 representative who did not previously receive notice, that a qualified beneficiary no longer has such a representative, or that there is a new qualified beneficiary.

Delivery is flexible, but electronic receipt has a consent condition

Section 109 requires a method reasonably suitable under the circumstances and likely to result in receipt. It lists first-class mail, personal delivery, delivery to a last known residence or business, and a properly directed electronic message. It does not require certified mail or publication for the surveyed notice.

A trustee need not notify someone whose identity or location is unknown and not reasonably ascertainable. For the statutory presumption of electronic receipt, §§ 109(e) and 813.1(h) require the beneficiary or other person to have agreed to electronic delivery or access.

Information fees and confidentiality are limited

Section 813.1(e) permits a reasonable information fee for a nonqualified beneficiary, or for information already provided to the qualified beneficiary or the beneficiary's Article 3 representative. It does not state a general charge for the first required notice.

If the trustee is bound by confidentiality restrictions on a trust asset, subsection (f) requires an eligible beneficiary to accept the same restrictions before receiving information about that asset. The trustee need not disclose information that applicable law otherwise prohibits from disclosure.

What trips people up

• The two 90-day periods are separate. Acceptance starts the contact notice; irrevocability starts the trust-information notice. One event can make both due, but their contents and override rules differ.
• The core irrevocability clock is not written as a knowledge rule. Later representative and beneficiary changes do run from the trustee's acquired knowledge.
• Corporate succession has a narrow exception. When a corporate trustee succeeds by merger, consolidation, or an affiliate transfer and contact information does not change, the successor chooses appropriate timing and manner instead of using the ordinary 90-day acceptance rule.
• A capable revocable settlor remains in control. Under § 603(b), beneficiary rights are subject to the settlor's control and trustee duties are owed exclusively to that settlor while the settlor personally can revoke.
• The initial notice is not a transaction-warning service. Section 813.1(j) expressly says the section creates no duty to notify a beneficiary in advance of trust-property transactions.

Common questions

Do pre-2020 Illinois trusts receive the same 90-day notices?

Not under § 813.1. Section 813.2 governs a trust that became irrevocable before January 1, 2020, and a revocable-trust trustee who accepted before that date. It requires annual and final accounts but does not create the surveyed acceptance-or- irrevocability notice.

Can a beneficiary waive notice?

Yes. Section 109(c) permits the person to waive notice. Section 813.1(g) separately permits a qualified beneficiary to waive required information by a writing delivered to the trustee and to withdraw a waiver for future accountings in the same manner.

Must an Illinois trustee use certified mail or obtain a notarized proof of service?

No. Section 109(a) lists first-class mail and several other likely-receipt methods. The surveyed statutes do not require certified mail, a process server, notarization, or a recipient acknowledgment for this notice.

Does sending the notice end every duty to beneficiaries?

No. Section 813.1(b)(7)'s full-discharge rule requires both the paragraph (1) notice to each qualified beneficiary and the annual and termination accountings owed to the beneficiaries entitled to them.

Statutes and sources

• 760 ILCS 3/103(9), (28), (30)-(31) — current-beneficiary, presumptive- remainder, qualified-beneficiary, and revocable definitions. Official Illinois section 103 (accessed 2026-07-31).
• 760 ILCS 3/105(a), (b)(10), (12.5) — trust terms generally control, while specified post-2020 information duties and rights remain mandatory. Official Illinois section 105 (accessed 2026-07-31).
• 760 ILCS 3/109(a)-(e) — delivery, unknown recipients, waiver, and receipt presumptions. Official Illinois section 109 (accessed 2026-07-31).
• 760 ILCS 3/603(b)-(c) — capable and incapacitated settlor rules while the trust remains revocable. Official Illinois section 603 (accessed 2026-07-31).
• 760 ILCS 3/813.1(a)-(j) — post-2020 scope, information notice, acceptance and trustee-change notices, fees, confidentiality, waiver, receipt, and no-advance- transaction-notice rule. Official Illinois section 813.1 (accessed 2026-07-31).
• 760 ILCS 3/813.2(a)-(d) — annual and final accounting rules for pre-2020 trusts and trusteeships. Official Illinois section 813.2 (accessed 2026-07-31).