Probate and Estate Administration Attorney — Chicago and Cook County

At least seven months, and usually longer. The representative must publish notice to creditors for three weeks and give them a claim date no earlier than six months after the first publication under 755 ILCS 5/18-3, so no estate can safely close before that date passes. Add the weeks to get letters issued, the time to sell real estate, and the final income-tax returns, and a straightforward independent administration in Cook County commonly runs most of a year. Disputes among heirs, a federal or Illinois estate tax return, or a business to wind up extend it.

When the decedent left assets in their sole name, with no beneficiary designation or joint owner, that cannot be collected with a small estate affidavit. For deaths on or after August 15, 2025 that means personal property over $150,000 (not counting motor vehicles registered with the Secretary of State), or any real estate titled in the decedent's name alone. Assets in a trust, joint tenancy property, accounts with named beneficiaries and real estate under a recorded transfer on death instrument do not require probate.

A sworn form under 755 ILCS 5/25-1 that lets an heir or legatee collect a decedent's personal property without a court case. It is available when no letters of office have been issued or applied for, and the personal estate passing by will or intestacy is $150,000 or less excluding registered motor vehicles, which may be transferred by affidavit regardless of value. The $150,000 limit applies to deaths on or after August 15, 2025; the limit was $100,000 before that. The affidavit cannot transfer real estate, and the person signing it is personally liable for debts and for distributing correctly.

The executor (named in the will) or administrator (appointed when there is none) collects the decedent's assets, files the will, obtains letters of office, publishes and mails notice to creditors, inventories the estate, pays valid claims and taxes, files the decedent's final income-tax return and the estate's returns, sells property if needed, and distributes what is left to the heirs or legatees. In independent administration most of this is done without court orders, but the representative is accountable to every interested person and can be required to account to the court.

The Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County charges $479 to open a decedent's estate under its October 1, 2025 fee schedule, plus publication costs, copies of the letters of office, and a surety bond premium if the will does not waive bond. Attorney's fees and the representative's fees are paid from the estate and must be reasonable; the court reviews them in supervised administration and on request in independent administration. We quote our fee in writing at the start, and in most estates it is the largest single cost, which is why a funded trust is usually cheaper for the family than a probate case.

In the Probate Division of the Circuit Court of Cook County. The clerk's office is at the Richard J. Daley Center, 50 West Washington Street, Room 1202, Chicago, IL 60602, phone (312) 603-6441, open Monday through Friday 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Lawyers file electronically through eFileIL. The original will must be filed with the clerk immediately after death under 755 ILCS 5/6-1, even if no estate will be opened.

Under Article XXVIII of the Probate Act, 755 ILCS 5/28-1 and following, an independent representative administers the estate without court orders or filings except where the Act or an interested person requires them. The court grants it unless the will forbids it or an interested person asks for supervision. Supervised administration requires court approval of major steps and a court-approved accounting. Independent is faster and cheaper; supervised gives heirs who distrust the representative, or a representative who wants court cover, a judge's sign-off.

An individual may represent themselves in their own matter, but a representative acting for an estate in the Probate Division is generally expected to appear through a lawyer, because the representative is acting for others, and the clerk's instructions for opening an estate are written for lawyers filing through eFileIL. The practical reason is liability: a representative who distributes before the claims period ends, misses a tax return, or pays the wrong heirs is personally responsible. For a small estate affidavit you may not need a lawyer at all, and we will say so if that is your situation.