3.3 Estate Sales after P.A. 104-145 (effective January 1, 2026)
Key Takeaways
- P.A. 104-145, effective January 1, 2026, added Section 5-10 definitions of estate sale and estate sale service; estate sale service is an auction service for personal property at an estate sale and does not include the sale of real property.
- IDFPR's December 2025 Estate Sale FAQ requires a licensed auctioneer when all four facts occur: the sale is for another person and for compensation; it is advertised and scheduled for a certain date and time; it is open to the public; and personal property is being bid on or negotiated for purchase.
- A licensed auctioneer is not required when the sale is performed by an owner, a beneficiary of a trust or will, an executor or administrator, or a guardian or receiver pursuant to court order.
- Section 10-1(e) does not apply the Act to a third-party reseller (retail, consignment, or distributor) who received ownership to sell the goods anonymously and who does not conduct an estate sale.
- Section 10-1(f) covers a receiver, trustee in bankruptcy, guardian, administrator, or executor, and a person acting under a court order, public authority, judicial decree, trust agreement, deed of trust, or will.
Estate Sales after P.A. 104-145 (effective January 1, 2026)
Until 2026, many Illinois "estate sales" — tag sales of a decedent's furniture, china, and garage contents, advertised for a weekend, open to walk-in buyers who negotiate prices — sat in a gray zone between garage sales and regulated auctions. Public Act 104-145 (P.A. 104-0145), effective January 1, 2026, closed that gap by defining estate sale and estate sale service in 225 ILCS 407/5-10 and by adding subsections 10-1(e) and 10-1(f). IDFPR's Division of Real Estate published an Estate Sale FAQ in December 2025 that is the Department's working four-part test. Official FAQ: https://idfpr.illinois.gov/content/dam/soi/en/web/idfpr/faq/realestate/dre-estate-sale-faq-12-2025.pdf.
The FAQ is labeled general information, not a substitute for the statute. On the exam, know both the 5-10 / 10-1 text and IDFPR's four-part "all of the following" reading.
New 5-10 definitions
Estate sale means a sale for liquidation of personal property of an estate owned by one or more individuals, families, or legal representatives of the estate that is advertised and scheduled for a predetermined amount of time and to which the public is invited to participate in a negotiation or bid for the purchase of the personal property.
Pull that definition apart. It is personal property, not the house. It is a liquidation of an estate. It is advertised and scheduled for a set window — not an open-ended shop. The public is invited. Buyers negotiate or bid. A private family division of heirlooms with no public invitation is not this definition. A retail store that happens to have bought estate goods last year and sells them over the counter all winter is not this definition.
Estate sale service means the performance of an auction service for the owners of personal property to be sold at an estate sale, where an auctioneer undertakes the responsibility of conducting the sale. Estate sale service does not include the sale of real property.
That last sentence is a jurisdictional fence. Selling the decedent's house at auction is not "estate sale service." It is a real-property auction, which loops back to 10-1(a)(3) (RELA licensee) or to ordinary auctioneer licensure plus whatever Real Estate License Act duties apply. Do not tell a seller that a personal-property estate-sale credential covers the farmhouse.
Because estate sale service is defined as the performance of an auction service, it sits inside the 10-1(a) prohibition on providing an auction service without a license. P.A. 104-145 did not create a fifth stand-alone 10-1(a) verb; it defined the activity so the existing "auction service" trigger reaches compensated public estate liquidations.
IDFPR's four-part test — all must be true
The December 2025 FAQ asks: what type of estate sale will require a licensed auctioneer? An estate sale is the sale or liquidation of personal property of an estate; it requires a licensed auctioneer to conduct when all of the following occur:
- The sale occurs for another person and is for compensation;
- The sale is advertised and scheduled for a certain date and time;
- The sale is open to the public; and
- Personal property is being bid on or negotiated for purchase.
This is an AND test, not an OR test. Fail any one element and the FAQ does not require a licensed auctioneer for that reason (another 10-1 trigger might still apply if the person is conducting a conventional auction). The first element is the Section 5-10 auctioneer definition in estate-sale clothing: for another, for compensation. A paid company that advertises "Estate Sale this Friday–Sunday, 9 to 4, public welcome, make an offer" and sells furniture by tag or bid has all four.
| FAQ element | Present (license more likely) | Missing (FAQ does not require an auctioneer on this test) |
|---|---|---|
| For another + compensation | Hired company, 25% of gross, running the sale for the family | Owner, executor, or unpaid family member conducting it |
| Advertised and scheduled | "Saturday 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., 414 Elm, rain or shine" in the paper and on Facebook | No public ad, no set event window |
| Open to the public | Walk-in public invited | Invitation-only heirs and named friends |
| Personal property bid or negotiated | Tags, offers, bidding on contents | Real estate only; or no negotiation/bid mechanism |
Who may run the sale without an auctioneer license
The FAQ's next question: what type of estate sale will not require a licensed auctioneer? If the sale is performed by an owner of the property, a beneficiary to a trust or will, the executor or administrator of an estate, or a guardian or receiver pursuant to a court order, an auctioneer is not required to perform the sale.
That list is the Department's reading of the owner exemption plus the new 10-1(f) fiduciary and court-order language. It does not mean the family may hire an unlicensed commercial estate-sale company. The exception is about who performs the sale. If the executor hires a paid third party to advertise, staff, and negotiate the public weekend sale, the third party is acting for another for compensation — FAQ element 1 is back on, and the four-part test can require a licensed auctioneer.
Worked examples:
- Executor, no company. Letters of office in hand, the executor advertises a weekend house-contents sale, stands at the door, and negotiates. FAQ: auctioneer not required. 10-1(f): Act does not apply to an executor.
- Paid tag-sale company. Same house, same ads, but a company takes 30% to run the public sale. All four FAQ facts are present. Licensed auctioneer required.
- Beneficiary. A will beneficiary sells inherited furniture from the porch over one advertised weekend, keeping the proceeds as the owner/beneficiary. FAQ: not required.
- House plus contents. The real property is a RELA / auction question; the contents, if a compensated public estate sale, are the estate-sale service question. Do not merge them.
10-1(e) — Third-party reseller; no estate sale
Section 10-1(e): Nothing in the Act shall be construed to apply to a third-party reseller of personal property where owners or representatives of an estate have transferred ownership of the property to the reseller to be sold anonymously. A third-party reseller may include, but is not limited to, a retail seller, a consignment seller, or a distributor who does not conduct an estate sale.
The FAQ matches this: if beneficiaries or representatives transfer ownership to a third-party reseller such as a retail or consignment shop, local distributor, or donate the goods, there is no requirement for an auctioneer by any party.
Two conditions do the work: (1) ownership transferred to the reseller to be sold anonymously (the shop is selling shop inventory, not "the Smith estate this Saturday"); (2) the reseller does not conduct an estate sale. A consignment shop that takes title (or the functional equivalent the statute describes) and dribbles pieces out under the shop's name is 10-1(e). The same operator who leaves the goods in the decedent's house, advertises "Smith Estate Sale, Saturday 9–4, public invited," and negotiates with walk-ins is conducting an estate sale and cannot hide behind 10-1(e).
10-1(f) — Fiduciaries, court, public authority, trusts, and wills
Section 10-1(f): Nothing in this Section shall be construed to apply to any person as a receiver, trustee in bankruptcy, guardian, administrator, or executor; any such person acting under an order of any court, under the direction of any public authority, or pursuant to any judicial decree; or any such person acting pursuant to a trust agreement, deed of trust, or will.
Read 10-1(f) as a status-and-instrument exemption for the fiduciary or court-directed actor, not as a license for whoever the fiduciary hires. A bankruptcy trustee liquidating estate personal property under the bankruptcy court's order is inside (f). A commercial auctioneer the trustee hires to cry a public sale is still providing an auction service for another for compensation and still needs a license unless another exemption fits that auctioneer.
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| ESTATE PERSONAL PROPERTY — LICENSE QUICK PATH (2026) |
| |
| Who is performing the sale? |
| Owner / beneficiary / executor / administrator / |
| guardian or receiver under court order → FAQ: no auctioneer |
| (10-1(f) also covers receiver, bankruptcy trustee, and |
| actors under court order, public authority, decree, |
| trust, deed of trust, or will) |
| |
| Ownership transferred to retail / consignment / distributor |
| to sell anonymously, and no estate sale is conducted? |
| YES → 10-1(e); FAQ: no auctioneer |
| |
| Hired company, for compensation, advertised & scheduled, |
| public invited, personal property bid or negotiated? |
| ALL FOUR YES → licensed auctioneer required (IDFPR FAQ) |
| |
| Real property (the house) is not "estate sale service" (5-10). |
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Memorize the effective date (January 1, 2026), the two 5-10 definitions, the FAQ's all-four test, the performer exceptions, 10-1(e), and 10-1(f). Cite P.A. 104-145 and the IDFPR FAQ when a question names them.
Per the IDFPR December 2025 Estate Sale FAQ, a licensed auctioneer is required to conduct an estate sale when which of the following is true?
After her father dies, an Illinois executor with letters of office advertises a weekend house-contents sale, open to the public, with tags and room to negotiate. She takes no fee and hires no outside company. Must she hold an auctioneer license?
Adult children transfer title of estate furniture to a consignment shop that will sell the pieces anonymously on the shop floor over several months, without conducting an advertised estate sale. Under 10-1(e), what is the licensing result?