McDunn v. McDunn

── McDunn v. McDunn ── Court: Appellate Court of Illinois Date: June 05, 2026 Category: General 2026 IL App (1st) 241419 No. 1-24-1419 SIXTH DIVISION June 5, 2026 ____________________________________________________________________________ IN THE APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS FIRST JUDICIAL DISTRICT ____________________________________________________________________________ KEVIN McDUNN, WILLIAM McDUNN, ) Appeal from the Circuit Court of KATHLEEN McDUNN, and TIMOTHY ) Cook County. McDUNN, ) ) ) Plaintiffs-Appellees, ) No. 2022 CH 00959 v. ) ) SUSAN McDUNN, ) The Honorable ) Thaddeus L. Wilson, Defendant-Appellant. ) Judge Presiding. ____________________________________________________________________________ JUSTICE PUCINSKI delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. Presiding Justice C.A. Walker and Justice Hyman concurred in the judgment and opinion. OPINION ¶1 In this action under the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act (Heirs Property Act) (755 ILCS 75/1 et seq. (West 2022)), defendant Susan McDunn appeals from the circuit court’s order apportioning attorney fees and expenses that resulted in her owing a net of $2,753.43 to plaintiffs, the denial of her corresponding motion to reconsider that apportionment, and the denial of her motion to strike certain portions of plaintiffs’ submissions. For the following reasons, we reject defendant’s arguments and affirm. ¶2 BACKGROUND  1-24-1419 ¶3 This appeal arises from a partition action under the Heirs Property Act concerning real estate that the parties inherited from their late mother. Defendant and the four plaintiffs (Kevin McDunn, William McDunn, Kathleen McDunn, and Timothy McDunn) are siblings. Their mother, Evelyn McDunn (Evelyn), owned a townhome in Palos Hills, Illinois. ¶4 In November 2014, Evelyn executed a “Transfer on Death Instrument” (TODI) stating her intent that, upon her death, the townhome would be conveyed in equal shares to each of her five children, the parties herein. Evelyn died in March 2017. ¶5 The four plaintiffs herein subsequently expressed their desire to sell the townhome, but defendant was the lone sibling who declined to consent. In January 2022, the plaintiffs attempted to persuade defendant to agree to have a real estate agent list the property for sale, but defendant did not agree. ¶6 On February 3, 2022, this action commenced when Kevin filed a complaint for partition by sale. The original complaint named Kevin as the sole plaintiff and defendant as the sole defendant; it identified the three other siblings (William, Kathleen, and Timothy) as “interested parties.” ¶7 The complaint attached the TODI and pleaded that the parties had an undivided interest in the property as tenants in common. It pleaded that the partition action was brought “for the common benefit of the parties” to secure their respective interests in the property and that division in kind