Case Involving An Attempt to Cancel a Family Settlement Agreement

In Wilkonson v. Yovetich, 249 Ill. App. 3d 439, 445-46, 618 N.E.2d 1120, 1125-26, 188 Ill. Dec. 550 (1993), the plaintiff's were among the parties to a family settlement agreement on an estate. The plaintiff's sought to rescind the agreement in which the defendant, the decedent's widow, agreed to forego certain rights in return for cash and property. The Court concluded the complaint could not survive a section 2-615 motion to dismiss because the defendant had given up substantial rights, including her right to administer the estate, collect a widow's award, denounce the will or claim a spousal share. The Court determined that the parties could not be placed in the same position they had occupied four years earlier when the defendant relinquished these rights. "The defendant cannot regain these legal rights she has given up. Moreover, the administration of the estate cannot be undone." Wilkonson, 249 Ill. App. 3d at 446.